Charlie and Woody - a story.....
Discussion
Up until 5 or so years ago, I'd never really been a 'dog' person - they were something I could take or leave, but my other half has always had dogs, so, reluctantly, 5 years ago, I agreed to looking at getting a dog with her. We were only to get one on the agreement it would be a rescue - I'm ashamed to admit that it was for no reason other than I did not want to pay hundreds of ££ for a pedigree one. we went to our local Dogs Trust in Kenilworth and had a browse, but unfortunately there was nothing that really took our fancy (well, my fancy - the other half was too busy crying at all the sad little faces!). However, the day afterwards she told me that she wanted to go back and look at a little cross breed called 'Jess', who when we had seen her was very calm compared to all the others yapping away. We had to wait a few days before we could go back, but go back we did to see 'Jess' - who this time was like a rabid wolf - frothing at the mouth in her kennel and generally not as we had seen her the time before..... However, opposite 'Jess' was a dog that hadn't been there the last time we had visited. A golden coloured Collie / Alsation cross. I saw him, and in that instant, not only did I become a dog person, but my heart melted and I knew he was coming home with us. As I walked up to the kennel he put both front paws on the perspex and cocked his head to one side, before trying to lick my hand through the air holes..... We met him, loved him, and after the checks / wait etc brought him home... His name is Charlie....
Charlie was described (after I had signed the forms) as one of the Dogs Trusts more difficult dogs, which filled me with dread as a first time owner - however, if he is difficult, then I'm Santa Claus. He is uber intelligent (it's scary how bright he is), but doesn't have the neurotic tendencies of the Collie in him. He does however have the guard mentality of the Alsation, which is good. He was re-homed by a family who had to take him back after he allegedly bit one of the children (the kid had been left alone with him, there were no witnessess and no injuries, so I think he may have done the collie 'nip' due to over excitement, but I don't believe this dog would have ever bitten out of malice - that said, to be on the safe side we don't leave him unattended with children, just in case). Anyway, after having Charlie for a couple of months we had a bottle of wine one evening and decided that we wanted to take on a second dog as a companion (and my other half was feeling a bit neglected!), so began another search for another dog. After drunkenly perusing the Dogs Trust website, we took a trip over to Dogs Trust Shrewsbury to look at a dog we had seen on t'interwebpage. Unfortunately that dog had already been rehomed, so we had a wander round, and in the very last kennel we came to we saw a scraggly, thin Trail Hound with injuries to his face. My other half had the same feeling I felt with Charlie, and, as luck would have it he was available to rehome. We'd taken Charlie along with us, so introduced the dogs, who got on brilliantly so decided to take him. His name at the centre was 'Todd', which we thought was a bit of a crappy name, so we renamed him Woody....
Woody is a typical hound (we were new to the hound traits) so it was a very steep learning curve for all of us - he'd never lived in a home before, we weren't used to the over active nose / ability to get in to EVERYTHING / selective hearing etc. In fact after a few days of constant sleepless nights due to his seperation anxiety (we had never had any problems with Charlie who slotted in perfectly straight away so we didn't really expect issues with Woody) we came within about 8 hours of taking him back - I went down to him at 3am and shouted that enough was enough and he was going back in the morning. From that moment on, Woodys' behaviour picked up - yes, he still chewed things, yes his nose took him places we didn't want him to go, yes we lost him out on walks as we thought his recall was better than it was, but we were making progress.....
5 years on and they are as thick as thieves - always being naughty together, but you can't ever be angry with them! Woody is now off lead on walks - his recall is excellent, he loves to play with other dogs (despite the injuries to his face when we got him caused by another dog while he was a stray). In fact he has his own fan club at the vets - the vets nurses try to get in to see him whenever he is booked in as he is just such a friendly, loving dog (they both are, but Charlie doesn't really like the vets). We were looking at putting him forward as a PAT dog, but he pulls too much on the lead unfortunately.
Anyway, sorry for the long post - was only going to write a short one but it got longer and longer.....
Charlie was described (after I had signed the forms) as one of the Dogs Trusts more difficult dogs, which filled me with dread as a first time owner - however, if he is difficult, then I'm Santa Claus. He is uber intelligent (it's scary how bright he is), but doesn't have the neurotic tendencies of the Collie in him. He does however have the guard mentality of the Alsation, which is good. He was re-homed by a family who had to take him back after he allegedly bit one of the children (the kid had been left alone with him, there were no witnessess and no injuries, so I think he may have done the collie 'nip' due to over excitement, but I don't believe this dog would have ever bitten out of malice - that said, to be on the safe side we don't leave him unattended with children, just in case). Anyway, after having Charlie for a couple of months we had a bottle of wine one evening and decided that we wanted to take on a second dog as a companion (and my other half was feeling a bit neglected!), so began another search for another dog. After drunkenly perusing the Dogs Trust website, we took a trip over to Dogs Trust Shrewsbury to look at a dog we had seen on t'interwebpage. Unfortunately that dog had already been rehomed, so we had a wander round, and in the very last kennel we came to we saw a scraggly, thin Trail Hound with injuries to his face. My other half had the same feeling I felt with Charlie, and, as luck would have it he was available to rehome. We'd taken Charlie along with us, so introduced the dogs, who got on brilliantly so decided to take him. His name at the centre was 'Todd', which we thought was a bit of a crappy name, so we renamed him Woody....
Woody is a typical hound (we were new to the hound traits) so it was a very steep learning curve for all of us - he'd never lived in a home before, we weren't used to the over active nose / ability to get in to EVERYTHING / selective hearing etc. In fact after a few days of constant sleepless nights due to his seperation anxiety (we had never had any problems with Charlie who slotted in perfectly straight away so we didn't really expect issues with Woody) we came within about 8 hours of taking him back - I went down to him at 3am and shouted that enough was enough and he was going back in the morning. From that moment on, Woodys' behaviour picked up - yes, he still chewed things, yes his nose took him places we didn't want him to go, yes we lost him out on walks as we thought his recall was better than it was, but we were making progress.....
5 years on and they are as thick as thieves - always being naughty together, but you can't ever be angry with them! Woody is now off lead on walks - his recall is excellent, he loves to play with other dogs (despite the injuries to his face when we got him caused by another dog while he was a stray). In fact he has his own fan club at the vets - the vets nurses try to get in to see him whenever he is booked in as he is just such a friendly, loving dog (they both are, but Charlie doesn't really like the vets). We were looking at putting him forward as a PAT dog, but he pulls too much on the lead unfortunately.
Anyway, sorry for the long post - was only going to write a short one but it got longer and longer.....
- Edited to say - anyone thinking of getting a dog, please, please, please consider a rescue dog. After having these 2, I would never buy a puppy from a breeder - there are so many gorgeous dogs waiting to be rehomed. Oh, and yes, we did try a third one - a Harrier Hound who was like a Tazmanian Devil with only 2 speeds - 100mph or stop.... Unfortunately we had to take her back as she was just too much....
Edited by mustdash on Friday 30th August 14:59
Yep, rescue dog every time for me. Ours came from Dogs Trust Merseyside, and we couldn't have asked for a better dog. Great with kids, already house trained and constantly wagging his tail!
Like yours, ours chose us more than we chose him. Came bounding up to the front of his kennel to meet us. Took him for a walk round the grounds and we immediately knew he was the dog for us.
Great pic of the two dogs together.
Like yours, ours chose us more than we chose him. Came bounding up to the front of his kennel to meet us. Took him for a walk round the grounds and we immediately knew he was the dog for us.
Great pic of the two dogs together.
Fantastic Post.
I too have a rescue dog, got him from a place in South Wales so I stayed at a nearby caravan site and picked him up and dropped him off every evening for 5 days which gave me a great opportunity to get to know him, test him in the car, with kids etc.
The wait for the checks to be done felt like they took forever but he has been my best friend since the day he arrived.
He's been staying with my mum recently due to relocating with work but he's moving back in at the end of the month, as is the girlfriend. I daren't mention that it's living with Gus again that has me so excited about the new house and not our pending co-habitation.
I too have a rescue dog, got him from a place in South Wales so I stayed at a nearby caravan site and picked him up and dropped him off every evening for 5 days which gave me a great opportunity to get to know him, test him in the car, with kids etc.
The wait for the checks to be done felt like they took forever but he has been my best friend since the day he arrived.
He's been staying with my mum recently due to relocating with work but he's moving back in at the end of the month, as is the girlfriend. I daren't mention that it's living with Gus again that has me so excited about the new house and not our pending co-habitation.
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