Sandy; a breathrough.

sorella

Two years ago, when we moved into a rented house, we found a beautiful collie tied 24/7 to a 56 lb weight.

We had to tread carefully as it was our landlord's family.

And we only pieced the terrible story together slowly. Of course we asked immediately it we could care for the dog whose home we were in. She was so thin we thought she was part greyhound, full of worms and not spayed.

And wired to the moon; never still. When we walked the hills with her and our other wee dog, she knew every gap in every hedge. Never trained and she would not come on recall. But so full of love. And her table manners!

Mammy had died some five years before, and they had bought Sandy as a wee puppy for Daddy.

The house was their retirement bungalow.

But Daddy was not interested in the puppy. And in fact he never spent a night in the house after Mammy died. Always he slept with his children;s families many miles away.

We were ordered to put our own dog in the shed; we quietly took no notice. She is a Jack Russell/basset cross we rescued as a puppy and has always been with us.

It was in the shed that the collie puppy was locked, tied up, for every night. It has no windows, so totally dark. can you imagine what she went through? And they thought that that was OK?

For almost five years.

No real affection and a poor diet.

When we moved, we managed to bring her away; with permission. By then she had been spayed.

had they refused we would have taken her; our friends at pet rescue were ready to help.

She needs a ferocious amount of exercise; wired. Here the problem is that the fences are in poor state and she can access a field and ??? the road. And we are getting too old to chase her.

Just is perpetual motion.

She cowers and crawls if she sees a lead; her terror of doors we have now sorted out. She would get stuck half in, half out:) Poor girl.

Also she and the wee one have never sorted their pack status. They march to very different drums.

I am alone here much of the time and until all this had never known dogs.

Last week it just got too much; I was ill and put a long trailing lead on her to try to catch her. This of course upset her as she had been tied up and beaten.

So we had a case conference; and truly thought it may be best for her to find her a new home where she would be the only dog and within secure fencing and with someone able to walk her for miles - which I cannot do now.

After the long phone call that night, I went to take the dogs out for a last pee - as one does.

And I took the lead off Sandy.

They both came quietly to me; and for the first time in two long years, I stood with a doggy chin in each hand. Side by side.

Utter bliss that was. Two pairs of brown eyes looking up at me.

Sandy was so quiet; I told them to go to sleep when she started scratching at my door ( which she has wrecked)

And there was blissful silence, and they slept half the next day too.

Sandy has stopped her manic running and most of the time will come when i call. She eats normally now, not that desperate wolfing of food.

Something clicked in her doggy brain that day; that she is loved, can heal, is safe and can be still. That she can rest.

She has not tried once to get into the field; there are cattle there now which was the final straw for me as I cannot run.

Her exercise needs have moderated so now I can handle that.

And we knew and know that a move now would probably kill her; or she would escape and come back. ( we spoke to one animal rescue place who would have sent her to the UK; she would have died )

As some of you know, we work in Canada in animal rescue, so I had expert and caring advice. Often a badly abused dog is irrecoverable.

So we are deeply thankful that Sandy has turned this huge corner. Always in her worst moods, she would come, lay her head on my lap, offer her paw... So full of love.

We know too that these dogs tend to have a shorter life span; her extreme running will ensure that too; she has dysplasia already which we are treating with glucosamine and cod liver oil. And her teeth are bad also. White bread and cheap tinned dog food will do that; it has taken two years for her to learn what bones are for.

So now we wait for these two to settle with each other; it would be wonderful if they would lie and sleep together.

It has been a long haul; but Sandy was given to us for a reason, and we are honouring that now and cherishing her as long as she lives.

That man? We got a message that he misses Sandy. Word fail. And they are now abusing a wee spaniel they bought for their children. Tied up 24/7...... yes we have reported that.

Thank you for the responses to the appeal we made here also. So many good dog folk...

Blessing this day.

greeneyedspirit

Well done Sorella. That's an amazing story, thanks for sharing. It's good to hear that the girl got a second chance at life.

spiderdog

what a lucky dog she was to find you.......:):):):)

sorella

We are blessed by her.

And I am blessed to have such expert help coming in from Canada.

What else could we do but care for her? Four families they were, and no one would take her in. Had we not done so, she would have stayed tied to that great weight.

For me it has been hard as until three years ago I had never been near a dog like this; used to breed Siamese and said I was NOT a dog person.

A baptism of fire indeed.

Sandy was so alone that she was semi-feral; we wondered how she kept her fur so clean; always spotlessly white. Never a doggie smeall, whereas the little one does smell and has to be bathed.

She does this by rolling in wet grass until clean, then shakes the water off. She never rolls in anything dirty. Maybe it is the human smells that make them do that?

Because of serious allergies no chemical are used here, so she still cleans herself, and washes her feet when she comes in.

She was introduced to indoors slowly; first the back porch in that house. She would "tidy" any bits of mud or grass that got in there into a corner so carefully. Keeping her den neat.

One of my main worries was that she would mess; but she was totally clean from the start.

Soon, hopefully, these two will make real friends; they will play together but the rows over territory and food!

But the difference is amazing now.

I will try to upload a photo.....

seanybiker

she sounds like a lovely dog. Cleaning up after herself is handy.

sorella

Sandy is the collie obviously. The wee one is a Jack Russell/Basset cross. The mother, Jack Russell, was abandoned when she was in pup. Took a while to work out what the other half was. But the face she can put on is pure Bassett, as is her body shape. It was easier before as we had access to space and bog that was safe to run in.