In my last article I explained how we found a two year old Welsh Terrier for sale online. This really was an answer to my prayers: after a discussion on the practicalities of collecting her from Manchester we rang back and asked them to reserve Lula (that’s the name she already had) to rehome with us.  The owners were distraught at parting with their Welsh Terrier but they both worked demanding shift patterns and could not give sufficent time to caring for Lula.  To show that I was serious about adopting the dog I sent a deposit and emailed some references that they could check.  This was important – they did not offer her to a rescue organisation as they wanted to know who adopted Lula, to reassure themselves that she was going to a loving home.

One week later my husband travelled north to bring Lula back, and after a sad parting from her original family Lula sat quietly in the car for the five hour journey and she behaved perfectly.  She had her own crate, food and treats with her so that we could give her continuity.  When they arrived I greeted her with a big kiss (of course), and she explored her new surroundings curiously.  We made sure we fed her soon after arriving, and then took her to the local pub for a drink.  Lula took all this in her stride, and was introduced to plenty of new people and dogs. Her capacity to cope with such a big change has a lot to do with the sturdy and dependable qualities for which Welsh Terriers are renowned.  Incredibly, at the end of her first evening, she had already shown us one of her favourite games – ‘Tug’.  Here is a nice photo of the first of many games of tug – we get plenty of exercise, too. that is one of the reasons I ahve not posted many articles about Lula yet: I am so occupied playing with her, taking her for walks and – best of all – cuddling her.

After a couple of depressing attempts to adopt a dog from Dog Rescue centres we were quite exasperated. The procedures at some of them appear to be designed to prevent the dogs finding their forever homes. For example, we saw a dog of the same cross breed as Kevin, which was Collie/German Shepherd, through a charity operating in this county. We rang up to fix a time to see her and hear about her history. We could see her at the foster home, but if we liked her it could be weeks before a home visit took place – as we are on the edge of their area. I explained that we’d been inspected by our local dog rescue but that wasn’t good enough – they want to inspect themselves. With the price of petrol and administrative costs I’d have thought the results form a well-known charity would be good enough. So we regretfully cancelled the visit. Suppose my heart went out to this dog and she was going to stay in foster care for another month?

Our next step was to go back to the breed-specific rescue organisations: none had any dogs in this area.

Then, in desperation, I searched to see if there were any fully grown Welsh Terriers available. This has always been a favourite breed of mine, and I decided to have a quick look online to see. I am against buying puppies as I feel this encourages puppy farming. Well, I searched and could not believe my eyes when a pic of a cute little Welsh Terrier bitch appeared on the screen, with a rehoming ad. from her owners. I rang the phone number immediately to see if she was still looking for a home and offered to take her. One small matter – she was living near Manchester and we are in Sussex, but there are so few opportunities to find a nice dog like this that we decided to make the journey. We have some family living nearby, so that made the trip more sensible.

The time has come to let another dog into our lives, and I am really looking forward to adopting a dog again.

I have been following the story of a lovely-looking Jack Russell called Spice, he’s an active young boy so he’d give me plenty of exercise. He reminds me very much of  Tye, brother of Sadie, who we care for from time to time.

Spice is a lot browner across his body but they both have the same lovely face.  I’m smitten.  If you are interested in adopting Spice, you can find his story over at Rescue Remedies

Sharing your life with a deaf dog

Owning a deaf dog can be both a rewarding and educating experience. Owning a dog that has good hearing and sight can often lead us into being a little lazy, when it comes to establishing effective patterns of communication between us and our pet. For the most part we struggle through with a few voice commands and maybe the occasional hand signal, that often change depending on the situation. Fortunately, in a lot of situations our dogs learn to navigate their way around our impromptu communication style and, begin to ‘catch on’ to what it is we want from them. Read more »

Tips For Training A Rescued Dog

Training a dog takes patience and dedication. To achieve the desired results in rescued dog will take double the dedication and patience. However, the rewards will be worth the effort.

The practice of neutering and spaying of dogs has been around for many years but unplanned births continues to be a reality. As a result of this there are just not enough homes for all of the puppies that are born. When we add the number of dogs that get lost or wander away, rescue missions and shelters everywhere are filled to capacity. For many of these dogs being euthanized will be the sad reality. Read more »

A breed that I would consider adopting is the Irish Terrier.  This is a breed sometimes known as the daredevil of dogdom.  The Irish terrier is brash, bold and always ready for action and adventure. These dogs like to chase anything that appears, and run and hunt and explore.  They need plenty of  physical and mental exercise every day, in a safe area. If you have to go for long walks with your terrier you can take the ipods as long as you stay aware of distractions around you and keep him on a lead.  Given sufficient exercise, these dogs are surprisingly well-mannered and dignified indoors.

The Irish Terrier is closely related to the Wheaten Terrier, also to the Bedlington Terrier, Border Terrier,
Cairn Terrier and the Dandie Dinmont Terrier. The closest relative is, of course, the Airedale Terrier, to which the Irish Terrier bears a very close resemblance.