Meet Dolly, our new sponsor dog. She has come to us via a vet, and little is known about her previous life but we think she is about 3 years of age.
Well, fair to say that Dolly has had a lovely year. She is in good health, and enjoying hurling around, even though she injured herself jumping up at the front door a few weeks ago and had to have some anti inflammatory medicine to help her recover.
In summer we went to the Isle of Man and Dolly had a great time exploring the glens and beaches. She had her first ride on an old electric tram up to Ramsey, and was really well behaved. We stayed at a self catering cottage which had a field for her to play in, complete with apple trees so she could eat the fallen ones, and especially heaving in rabbits to chase. What more could a girl want?
We have had rogue builders working on the house which were sacked earlier this year, and now have other builders coming in and out. Dolly has found this a bit of a strain, but has decided they are not worth biting, just tries to get rid of them by lots of barking. I would love to join her , but one dog making the noise is enough for anybody. In complete honesty, she had done really well throughout and we are proud of her.
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Dolly has decided that squirrels were put on this earth to be chased. The only problem is they cheat like mad, and run up trees, which she does not appreciate. The last few weeks there have been dozens of them, and she has had to ignore some in order to chase others. She runs for miles on her morning walk, but is a little more dignified in the afternoon. What we don't understand is she lets them come up to the back door at home, and even lets them destroy my containers with bulbs in!
We have decorated our spare room this year, and Dolly thinks it has been done just for her. She loves it, and creeps up there at every opportunity. Photo of her on her favourite bed attached, along with some modelling of her Christmas jumper!
Dolly has had a lovely time during the Covid lockdown as she had most of the family at home, which is where she thinks they should be... looking after her.
She now quite likes going to the dog groomers, and puts herself into a trance whilst she is washed and cut. Then she becomes a mad whirling creature the moment they have finished.
Dolly's favourite game is to walk alongside my granddaughter helping herself to whatever the toddler has in her hand... usually food. Dolly loves the baby's wooden Duggee toys, and often wanders off (or slinks away more likely) with one of them in her mouth.
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We recently went to Norfolk on holiday, and Dolly came with us of course. We stayed outside Cromer just by the beach, and Dolly started every day with a long walk along the beach to Overstrand where we had breakfast in a very dog friendly cafe on the clifftop. It was the perfect start to her day and ours. By the end of the holiday she was used to running in and out of the sea, which was lovely to watch. There was no chance of swimming though! In the car on the way home Dolly let us know how sad she was by groaning. She has turned out to be very vocal, usually at 5am in the morning when the sun is up and she thinks we should be too.
Dolly's lack of socialising when she was a puppy has had a profound affect on her, and she can sometimes annoy other dogs by running at them. They then chase her and she screams loudly and sounds awful. Usually we put her on a lead if we see another dog walking towards us, and that reassures her, but sometimes they just appear. She has a small group of 'friends' that she is used to walking with, and is fine with them. We notice that if she meets a dog as a puppy, she is always fine with them even when they have grown up. However, her anxiety means that we have to be very vigilant with her when we are away from the house.
Sally
Mike
Dolly has been keeping quite well this year. She has loved the lockdown year as she has had the whole family to play with
instead of just her mum, which she thinks can be quite boring! We have had builders around for a lot of the year and Dolly has decided they are a great source of food as they often go out to buy themselves a pie, and this has been a problem for us, as we don't like her eating the silver foil pie dishes. She, on the other hand, considers them a luxury.
More recently she has loved the snow we have recently experienced. This is new to her, as she was in a shed all her life before she as rescued, and we haven't really had snow since we have had her. She sees a large patch of it and hurls round as though she is a puppy, and ends the snow out everywhere. It is such fun to watch.
Dolly has settled really well now she has had some training and knows that there are expectations she needs to respect. She loves going for walks, and especially those where she is allowed off lead and there might be fox poo to roll in. If no fox poo then bird poo is a good second best. Luckily she also really enjoys having baths.
Dolly has recently been to the groomers, and I am honestly very jealous as I could have done with a few hours of being pampered. She loves lockdown as it means she has us here at home with her, and that, in her opinion, is where we should be. She seems to go into a trance when she is being groomed, and it must be pretty wonderful considering the state she was in when she arrived with us.
We have builders around at the moment, and Dolly thinks this is a pretty good thing as where there are builders there are pies and biscuits. They have not been during lockdown but have now come back, so a pleasing situation all round.
Dolly has declared war on a couple of black and white cats who come into her garden. If she is in the house and sees them through the window she comes and dances in front of me so I open the door to let her out. Then she hurls off to sort them out. They usually escape over the shed roof which is very annoying for a dog who would love to fly after them but doesn't have wings.
Dolly has discovered she loves prawn crackers from the local Chinese takeaway, and has missed them so much during lock down that the other evening, having seen them on the kitchen unit (yes, they have reopened) she actually stole them! She will also gladly sell her soul in exchange for cheese. Crumbly Lancashire being her favourite. A good choice considering she came from there.
She is still very scared of black plastic bags and yard brushes, presumably because they bring back bad memories from before we had her. At least we are aware of it, and do our best not to have them around her. She always poos on concrete, never grass, and again this must be a left over thing from when she lived in a shed outside. She still loves puppies, and tolerates them very well. Other dogs are not appreciated as much. We would like to get another dog to be a companion for her, but it would have to be a young puppy as she would not accept anything else, and as we always welcome rescue dogs, it is not very likely. Never mind.
Sally
Well, it is almost a week since we brought home a weak, docile young lady: and now we have a bolshy teenager with lots of energy and the desire to run the household, I am pleased to say. She is almost healed underneath, so sees no reason to lie on her back and accept any nice treatment. Trying to trim her paws is no longer a lovely lethargic treatment, now it is a battle of wills between herself and me. It is wonderful to see her feeling able to have her say.
She is still out of her comfort zone if we go somewhere new, or if people come to the house, but is more willing to go and sniff them. She now has loads of energy, and sits by the front door begging to go out for a walk. We cant wait to take her somewhere fun, but I cant get her vaccinated until after Tuesday when she finishes the antibiotics. I will take her to the vets and see when she can be injected and spade, and if she needs any more treatment.
She does bite the inside of her back legs, and there are tufts of fur missing there. I will show the vet, but I think it is a nervous thing. When she is feeling bit out of control she paces around and around all the time. We are learning her body language quite well. She is an early riser, 4.30 or 5am being her preferred start to the day. Ravenous by l am when I feed her. We have bought her a new feeding bowl, with fat pillars in it, and she has realised that if she circles it she can still eat fast. Quick learner! However, it still takes her more than 30 seconds.
She loves chasing birds. She lets the plump pigeons settle in the garden and then chases them.... great fun! She loves to help with changing the beds...well, she calls it help. She gets under the sheet and then careers round to get it in knots. The word down is thoroughly ignored at all times.
Thank you Sally and Dolly
Meet Dolly, our new sponsor dog. She has come to us via a vet, and little is known about her previous life but we think she is about 3 years of age. However, she is a beautiful chocolate brown working cocker, and it looks as though she has spent all her life so far being used for breeding. It is increasingly obvious that she has never been in a house before, so probably lived in a shed. She is in foster now, and is learning all about house living. She has discovered that there are other dogs living in the mirrors and glass, which she finds very disturbing. Strangely enough they look just like her! She has terrible mastitis which is being treated with special baths, cream and antibiotics,and her skin has been flaking off. The fur under her chin is missing possibly from rubbing against a rope. She has terrible cuts on her belly. She is very caring of the teddy she has been given, treating it like a puppy. She is in a high state of anxiety and is finding it hard to adjust to a normal life. Yet underneath there is a gentle lovely personality which will come to the forefront with love, attention and training. At the moment she is getting used to her name.
If you would like to help with Dolly's vet's fees we would be grateful. She is going to be a long time getting over her previous life, and the physical and physiological scars she has been left with. £5 a month will help in every way! if you would like to become one of Dolly's sponsors, please contact our sponsorship volunteer Danielle Wilkes <danielle_sarah@outlook.com>. Many thanks.