A collie, Trailhound and Scooby Doo......
Discussion
So I thought I'd start a thread about my dogs. More so as a bit of a tribute.
I was never a 'dog person' - I could never understand the appeal of fur everywhere etc. Then, 10 years ago I was 'persuaded' (read: not given much choice) by the other half to visit Dogs Trust with a view to re-homing a dog. We went, looked and didn't really see any that we liked / would fit in with us. A few days later we went back, and after about 5 minutes in the kennel block my heart melted; there was a dog we'd not seen on the previous visit - a ginger and white collie/alsation cross. We met him, he liked us as much as we (well, I) liked him, so we brought him home. His name was Charlie and he was 18 months old. He'd been re-homed to a family who then took him back after he supposedly bit a child. However, he didn't appear to have a nasty bone in his body. A couple of weeks later we took Charlie home - with the parting words from DT staff ringing in my ears and making me query what the hell I'd signed up to - "He is one of our more difficult dogs!"
I know every dog owner says the immortal line of "He is the perfect dog", but from day 1 Charlie was amazing - he had zero separation anxiety, was house trained, picked up other training almost immediately (I trained him to bark on verbal command within 15 mins, and bark on a non-verbal command in a further 10!). After a couple of months it was decided over a bottle of wine that we should look for a friend for Charlie, so the next day, off to Dogs Trust we went again. We'd gone to look at a partcular dog, who it turns out wasn't actually available. We had a wander around and, saw in the very end kennel, looking a little wild eyed and nervous, a 12 month old black and white hound called 'Todd'. The other half fell in love with him immediately, and we introduced the 2 dogs. Considering he had a cut on his face from another dog biting him, 'Todd' was very chilled out and he and Charlie got on really well from the very first moment they met. We decided that if 'Todd' was ok with Charlie, he'd be ok with us. We renamed him Woody (as Todd isn't really a dogs name!) and took him home.
(Yes, that is a bird chick he is looking after - he spent days following it around the garden looking out for it!)
Woody was found as a stray on the streets, so very little was known about him. Coupled with the fact he was a hound puppy, this made things quite difficult initially. He suffered separation anxiety, chewed a lot of things and ran off from us following his nose. The first 12 months were an incredibly steep learning curve. A lot of research showed that he was a Trailhound - bred for fell running in Cumbria - very fast and with a lot of stamina (they are raced for 10 miles over the fells). With a lot of patience and training Woody soon got the idea. For anyone considering a dog - please consider a Trailhound - they are amazing dogs with lovely temperaments, and despite their breeding, they don't need massive amounts of exercise! Although they are cheeky little sods - as the mourners at a funeral once found out when he ran off to squeeze through a gap in a church yard fence to say hello to everyone as they are just paying their last respects to a loved one!
At the back end of February this year, Charlie was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. He had a tumour removed and we were hopeful it had been caught in time. Unfortunately it wasn't the case - it had spread to his spleen and liver. He lasted about 5 weeks before it got too much for him. I was heartbroken - he was definitely my dog - he was a real daddies boy and was my confidant at some really low points! The hardest thing I've ever had to do is make that final journey to the vets with him, but he had told us he was no longer up for fighting it as it spread through his body. My first ever pet, and at 36 I was lying on the floor of the vets crying my eyes out cuddling my dead dog. Woody took it really hard - after all, how do you explain to an 11 year old dog that has spent the best part of a decade living with his best mate 24/7 that he is now the only dog? As far as he was concerned his mate had been there one moment and then never came home. He started to suffer really bad separation anxiety again and wasn't himself. We decided to do the only thing we could do......
.....So, after another discussion over a bottle of wine, we started looking for a new friend for him. We saw hundreds of dogs on line, visited tens of others, liked some, disliked others. Woody, being the aging gent he is, likes to play, but also likes his own space. A lot of dogs we met didn't take "No" for an answer when Woody told them they were going too far, causing him so bare teeth and snap. Then, 2 weeks ago, I was pointed in the direction of a kennels and re-homing place in Gloucester who had a couple of possible contenders in. I went over with Woody and met Teddy - a 12 month old German Shepherd cross who had been dumped in a pound with a 7 day destruction policy because the family that owned him were "bored" of him! Woody was incredibly relaxed in the company of Teddy, and Teddy was a real gentleman when it came to reading Woody and his body language. We had a couple more meetings and it was decided that we would have Teddy on trial to see how we got on. After 3 hours he'd made himself right at home....
I'm not entirely sure what his breeding actually is - he runs like a lurcher (however, that may be due to being a puppy and all gangly legs at the moment!). He loves to be near people and is like Scooby Doo because he likes sitting on my lap resting his head on my shoulder! He is a spanner! He has suffered separation anxiety but appears to be getting over it slowly and has only had 2 accidents in the house (more because he has been drinking loads to rehydrate after playing with Woody for hours on end!). He is picking up his other training quite quickly too. And the bonus is that I think they get on better than I could have ever imagined. This is after 4 days together......
The adoption papework will be signed tomorrow and he will have found his forever home, less than a week after coming to us!
He will never replace Charlie, who will always be my perfect dog, and I still feel pangs of guilt, but if we can offer another dog a loving home, then I reckon Charlie would be ok with that!!
I was never a 'dog person' - I could never understand the appeal of fur everywhere etc. Then, 10 years ago I was 'persuaded' (read: not given much choice) by the other half to visit Dogs Trust with a view to re-homing a dog. We went, looked and didn't really see any that we liked / would fit in with us. A few days later we went back, and after about 5 minutes in the kennel block my heart melted; there was a dog we'd not seen on the previous visit - a ginger and white collie/alsation cross. We met him, he liked us as much as we (well, I) liked him, so we brought him home. His name was Charlie and he was 18 months old. He'd been re-homed to a family who then took him back after he supposedly bit a child. However, he didn't appear to have a nasty bone in his body. A couple of weeks later we took Charlie home - with the parting words from DT staff ringing in my ears and making me query what the hell I'd signed up to - "He is one of our more difficult dogs!"
I know every dog owner says the immortal line of "He is the perfect dog", but from day 1 Charlie was amazing - he had zero separation anxiety, was house trained, picked up other training almost immediately (I trained him to bark on verbal command within 15 mins, and bark on a non-verbal command in a further 10!). After a couple of months it was decided over a bottle of wine that we should look for a friend for Charlie, so the next day, off to Dogs Trust we went again. We'd gone to look at a partcular dog, who it turns out wasn't actually available. We had a wander around and, saw in the very end kennel, looking a little wild eyed and nervous, a 12 month old black and white hound called 'Todd'. The other half fell in love with him immediately, and we introduced the 2 dogs. Considering he had a cut on his face from another dog biting him, 'Todd' was very chilled out and he and Charlie got on really well from the very first moment they met. We decided that if 'Todd' was ok with Charlie, he'd be ok with us. We renamed him Woody (as Todd isn't really a dogs name!) and took him home.
(Yes, that is a bird chick he is looking after - he spent days following it around the garden looking out for it!)
Woody was found as a stray on the streets, so very little was known about him. Coupled with the fact he was a hound puppy, this made things quite difficult initially. He suffered separation anxiety, chewed a lot of things and ran off from us following his nose. The first 12 months were an incredibly steep learning curve. A lot of research showed that he was a Trailhound - bred for fell running in Cumbria - very fast and with a lot of stamina (they are raced for 10 miles over the fells). With a lot of patience and training Woody soon got the idea. For anyone considering a dog - please consider a Trailhound - they are amazing dogs with lovely temperaments, and despite their breeding, they don't need massive amounts of exercise! Although they are cheeky little sods - as the mourners at a funeral once found out when he ran off to squeeze through a gap in a church yard fence to say hello to everyone as they are just paying their last respects to a loved one!
At the back end of February this year, Charlie was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. He had a tumour removed and we were hopeful it had been caught in time. Unfortunately it wasn't the case - it had spread to his spleen and liver. He lasted about 5 weeks before it got too much for him. I was heartbroken - he was definitely my dog - he was a real daddies boy and was my confidant at some really low points! The hardest thing I've ever had to do is make that final journey to the vets with him, but he had told us he was no longer up for fighting it as it spread through his body. My first ever pet, and at 36 I was lying on the floor of the vets crying my eyes out cuddling my dead dog. Woody took it really hard - after all, how do you explain to an 11 year old dog that has spent the best part of a decade living with his best mate 24/7 that he is now the only dog? As far as he was concerned his mate had been there one moment and then never came home. He started to suffer really bad separation anxiety again and wasn't himself. We decided to do the only thing we could do......
.....So, after another discussion over a bottle of wine, we started looking for a new friend for him. We saw hundreds of dogs on line, visited tens of others, liked some, disliked others. Woody, being the aging gent he is, likes to play, but also likes his own space. A lot of dogs we met didn't take "No" for an answer when Woody told them they were going too far, causing him so bare teeth and snap. Then, 2 weeks ago, I was pointed in the direction of a kennels and re-homing place in Gloucester who had a couple of possible contenders in. I went over with Woody and met Teddy - a 12 month old German Shepherd cross who had been dumped in a pound with a 7 day destruction policy because the family that owned him were "bored" of him! Woody was incredibly relaxed in the company of Teddy, and Teddy was a real gentleman when it came to reading Woody and his body language. We had a couple more meetings and it was decided that we would have Teddy on trial to see how we got on. After 3 hours he'd made himself right at home....
I'm not entirely sure what his breeding actually is - he runs like a lurcher (however, that may be due to being a puppy and all gangly legs at the moment!). He loves to be near people and is like Scooby Doo because he likes sitting on my lap resting his head on my shoulder! He is a spanner! He has suffered separation anxiety but appears to be getting over it slowly and has only had 2 accidents in the house (more because he has been drinking loads to rehydrate after playing with Woody for hours on end!). He is picking up his other training quite quickly too. And the bonus is that I think they get on better than I could have ever imagined. This is after 4 days together......
The adoption papework will be signed tomorrow and he will have found his forever home, less than a week after coming to us!
He will never replace Charlie, who will always be my perfect dog, and I still feel pangs of guilt, but if we can offer another dog a loving home, then I reckon Charlie would be ok with that!!
Edited by mustdash on Friday 28th April 17:23
Edited by mustdash on Friday 28th April 17:24
moorx said:
What a wonderful post about your dogs and tribute to Charlie 
I am so pleased that you have found a new friend for Woody, adopting another dog is the best tribute you can pay to the one you've lost.
Please keep us updated on Teddy's progress.
(Love Woody, but I'm a bit hound-biased
)
Thank you. I am so pleased that you have found a new friend for Woody, adopting another dog is the best tribute you can pay to the one you've lost.
Please keep us updated on Teddy's progress.
(Love Woody, but I'm a bit hound-biased
)I love hounds too, but I do think having 2 hounds in the house is just asking for trouble. We will always have a hound, without a doubt! I do love my mongrel cross breeds too though - I don't know why.
Teddy is doing really well - while he looks quite thick, he's actually very bright - he has managed to master 'wait' in a very short space of time!!
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