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The Ugly One.
Just over a year after adopting Connie, my older brother took a job at the Dogs Trust in Evesham, and soon afterwards I got a weekend job as a canine carer at the same centre. A few months before I started there we decided to start looking for a third dog. It was going to be hard to find a dog that Connie would live with, but we found one called Harvey at work - another male black Lab, who seemed a likely candidate as Connie has always liked Labs (because of Wilbur) and she is usually happier with male dogs. Unfortunately it didn’t work out as he was very boisterous and Connie was more scared of him than anything, and just didn’t seem comfortable with him around.
Walking round the centre afterwards we came across a dog called Ria. She was sitting in her kennel, not barking or drawing attention to herself, just looking at us. She had saddest looking face you could imagine. The kennel board said she was a Rhodesian Ridgeback cross, that she couldn’t live with dogs or children, and that people tended to pass her by as they thought she was ugly. 
I remembered seeing her picture on the Dogs Trust website a few years earlier, and I remember thinking to myself thatshe was the kind of dog I’d like to own - she was defiantely unique, and you wouldn’t forget that face easily. We gave her some treats and a fuss, but knew we didn’t have a suitable home for her what with having 2 other dogs and 2 children in the family!
My brother asked about her later and we were pleased to find out that her carer did think she’s be fine with kids and dogs - it was just that in her only previous home she had quickly been brought back and they claimed she had bitten them. She was such a gentle dog however that the staff didn’t beleive this was the whole story. So we did a dog mix, and to our amazement Connie took to her straight away - they ignored each other most of the time but even had a little run together. Wilbur tried to mount her and got snapped at (understandably) but he didn’t try it again. So after going through the usual procedure we brought Ria home.
She’d been picked up as a stray in Ireland before being sent over here where she stayed in kennels for almost 4 years with little interest in her - considering we were her first real home she fitted right in. We had a few scuffles between the girls but Connie soon realised that Ria is bigger and older than she is and was happy to take a lower position than her. Looking at Ria it’s easy to see that she’s got a lot of Staffie in her as well as the Ridgeback and probably some Greyhound aswell. 
She must have had pups at some point as her nipples are stretched and she’s just very motherly - she’s made a little nest under the trees where she hides her toys, and she always licks the other two dry after walks! She’s so keen to stay with us that she never strays out of sight on walks, and wouldn’t dream of running away. She was quite reserved when we brought her home but now she’s very affectionate and a lovely girl who’s really come out of her shell. It’s funny that having been overlooked all those years in kennels, now when we’re out and about she gets loads of comments - people saying how lovely she is and asking about her breed. 
Since she has a sob story as well she always gets lots of sympathy from her admirers. She’s gentle, great with the children, good with other dogs and will do anything for food - a typical Lurcher. Once she’s had her run in the morning she’ll laze around until we take her out before bed. The picture opposite is from her first holiday when we went camping in Wales - she’d obviously never seen a beach before as the sand made her go crazy! That’s another nice thing about rescuing a dog - seeing them enjoy all the things they’ve missed out on. Seems like we’ve always had her.
The moral of the story? Go for the ugly ones that nobody else wants - they’ll pay you back a thousand times more.
No commentsThe Unwanted Puppy
Since it was Connie’s 4th birthday on Easter Sunday, I’ll tell you about her first. Connie is a female crossbreed, who I’ve decided is probably Border Collie and Golden Retriever, but then a lot of people tend to ask if she’s a Nova Scotia Duck Toller. I have to agree that she looks very similar to a Toller, but you’d expect her to be crossed with something more common, wouldn’t you? Still, that’s part of the fun of getting a rescue - you never quite know what could be in their ancestry. 
We were asked by a friend if we’d like to take her on as her owners couldn’t handle her anymore, and they knew we were looking for a friend for Wilbur, our black Labrador who was 5yrs at the time, and we said yes. Her first owners had adopted her as a cute little puppy, but as she grew older they discovered that she clashed with their holiday plans. She’d clearly never been properly groomed, as her long coat was severely matted and she hated having a brush used on her. She didn’t like men or children due to lack of early socialisation; according the the owner they had socialised her with kids by tying her up outside the school gates, and were surprised to return and find her being teased by children. She was also quite handshy - her first owners hadn’t deliberatley tried to mistreat her but they had obviously been misinformed and thought that Connie needed to be “shown who’s boss” by being smack on the nose whenever she greeted the children! She’d been passed around from temporary home to temporary home when her owners wanted to go away for the weekends, and didn’t really seem to have much confidence at all. 
Though she got on perfectly with Wilbur and they were fast friends within a few days, and we never had a disagreement between them, we quickly found that Connie was dog agressive; not all the time, but when meeting dogs she would either love them or take a sudden dislike and attack them. Though she never caused any serious injuries we decided it was our responsibility to ourselves and other owners to muzzle her in public. There were times during the first few months when we wondered if we’d made a mistake in taking her on, but when I looked at how happy she clearly was with us and Wilbur I realised how much I already loved her. The thing with a rescue dog is that they aren’t always used to such a good life, and you can tell by the way Connie loves our attention that she has bonded very strongly with the whole family. Our first priority once she’d settled in was to give her a much needed bath and haircut. Then I started socialising her with dogs and people, taking her to agility classes (which she is a natural at) and trying to work on her problems. Every little improvement was incredibly rewarding, and the agility was a great confidence builder for her - I’d recommend it to any rescue dog owner, as it also strenghtens the bond between you. You don’t need a Collie to take part either, and there’s no need to go in for competitions if you don’t feel like it. After about a year she’d improved so much around people. Within the first few months of having her she’d tried to nip two men - now adults and children alike can come up and stroke her without me worrying about what she’ll do. The dog agression is still there, and it seems to be more a question of managing it now, but having properly introduced her to the muzzle she has no problem wearing it and can go offlead and play with other dogs like any other pet. 
All in all, she’s a pretty happy pooch, and though she can be trying sometimes, I wouldn’t swap her for the world. The day we knew she truly was pleased to be with us was when her old owners came to visit her. As they were leaving, one of them held the garden gate open and called Connie’s name, trying to prove a point by getting her to attempt to follow them into their car. Connie promptly ran full speed into our house and hid under the dining room table! Our next rescue dog would come a year or so later, but I’ll write another post for her.
