Motlie is a little crossbreed dog, (possibly bearded collie cross). When I was working as a health visitor in Brighton I noticed a young dog always outside a flat near the surgery where I was based. He slept on a doormat and spent most of the days trying to greet everybody that walked past. After some inquiries, I found out that he belonged to a family well known for violence and drug use. One day Motlie seemed to be very unhappy and I went to talk to him only to find he was walking rather stiffly and was more than miserable. Neighbours told me he had been used as a football the previous night after a row between the adults who owned him.
Luckily I was able to talk to Motlie's owners later that day and as he wasn't wanted, they agreed to let me have him. He had already had three homes at his tender age of ten months, I was his fourth.
As I drove home that night, Motlie (his original name was different) looked out of the car windows in amazement. I don't think he had ever known anything but concrete. Grass and countryside was something new. On the way home we stopped at my vet and Motlie was given a good check over. He was bruised underneath and had a problem passing water. Luckily that was because of the extensive bruising and after a few days it improved. He had very sore hips that took a long time to get right.
Motlie settled in. To begin with he couldn't understand why he was suddenly allowed to sleep inside. Each night he went to the front door to go to what was, he thought, his mat outside. He viewed me as just a person who brought the food, not anyone to get close to because I think he expected to be moved on to someone else quite soon. He couldn't bear to be touched very much, was unsure about being stroked and preferred to lay where he could see everyone in case he had to get out of the way quickly. They were part of his learned survival tactics.
Slowly he became part of the family. But Motlie had major depressions where he almost became unable to cope with the day. The best way to deal with him was to put him on his bed (he had one under a table) cover him with a blanket with only his nose poking out and he would sleep for a couple of days. Suddenly he would get up and the world for him would be ok again. The vet never found a medical reason for this behaviour but I believe it was a reaction to the trauma he had experienced previously.
Dogs can become depressed just like we can.
Motlie didn't know how to play. Anything like a toy in the hand was seen as a weapon. I had to sit on the floor and try to get a reaction while playing with a toy but never lifting it off the floor or he would cringe and wait for the expected hit. I got him a small teddy, as he seemed to like to cuddle up to it when he had his bad days. In all this time Motlie never showed any sign of aggression or bad temper, he was a real sweetie.
Slowly things for him got better. After nine month he seemed to realise that he was staying and he started to relax. It was also the beginning of him starting to play. He suddenly grabbed his teddy toy, threw it in the air and pounced on it. -- We were on our way.
The next step was to join a dog club to socialise Motlie. While he was street-wise, he did not have many manners that endeared him to other dogs. Motlie's view of life was, if it was moving, run after it to sniff it, if it was stationary, rape it. Basic manners start at home, social refinements need a different approach and we were at a stage where Motlie could go into a group of people and dogs without going into a panic. Motlie liked being taught things. He is a bright little dog and the obedience classes went down well. Then we had a go at agility. Motlie never looked back. Apart from his bad days, he picked up the agility challenge with both paws.
Apart from giving me a nasty fright when he had nephritis of the kidneys, Motlie has been a great inspiration. He has taught me a great deal about the needs of traumatised dogs. We have had wonderful times at agility shows, especially when he won out of starters, not bad for a dog with his background and only being 17 inches high. I will never forget that day. By the time the 'midi' classes started in agility he was a highly skilled competitor and became no stranger to the red rosettes.
Motlie is now sixteen years old. An old guy, but a happy chap. It took years but the depressions eventually stopped. He comes on all the walks with the other dogs even though he has a heart problem and was neutered 18 months ago for testicular cancer.
I feed him twice a day off a spoon because after the nephritis in 1991 his appetite never really returned and Motlie is a dog who would starve himself. Between you and me I do think some of the feeding is a behavioural quirk, but I'm not arguing with him at sixteen years old. Anyway it gives us some very close contact each day that he enjoys. Motlie has his 'old age pensioner' veterinary checks every three months now just to make sure everything to do with his health is going along the right lines. He still comes to the agility shows as a spectator and loves his days out. He really is my miracle man and a very important part of my life.
The Trouble With Thomas
Tom sadly passed away on 13th October, 2001.
Rosemary has written a touching but fitting obituary
to him on the Time for Goodbye Section.
Tom is a black miniature poodle who originally came from the NCDL kennels at Roden. He was three years old and had had a tough time before he was left at the kennels. He settled in at home quite quickly but it became obvious that he was a chap who liked to spend a lot of time worrying about things. On top of that he had some pretty big fits.
After about three months he started to settle and relax properly. He is a dog that likes close contact with people and never appeared to hold any grudges about his prior treatment. Being bright he liked being taught the basic manners of come, sit and down. He was introduced to agility and took to it like a duck to water. Being a dog that worries about everything, agility seemed to take his mind off his anxieties. Whatever the treatment was that he had experienced before coming to me the memories have never left him completely. They are diluted but some of the reactions Tom has to what appears to me to be simple situations indicate the horror that still remains in some of the corners of his mind.
Tom showed great courage and did well at agility. He qualified for Crufts in the Eukanuba mini challenge in 1993. Still being a novice agility dog he tasted what it was like to be at the greatest dog show in the world.
Tom's fits have always been a problem. There seems to be no trigger to them and he can start fitting when he is asleep. Because of this he is allowed to sleep on my bed. If he starts fitting, he wakes me and I deal with it. He has about three fits a year and they are sudden and without warning which makes it impossible to predict when one will occur. Luckily they have never stopped him enjoying agility.
One wonderful day was when Tom and Kays's Sam qualified for the Barbour pairs final at the Royal Show. They ended up third and we all had a good day out together.
Tom is now thirteen. He qualified for Crufts at eleven years old and ran in the Eukanuba knockout against the fasted and best on the agility circuit. He retired from agility in July 2000 at Roden NCDL kennels when their exemption show was called Tom's Retirement Party. Kay with Tom's friends Sam and Ozzie came to open the show and spend the day with us.
Tom is now a pipe and slippers man. He enjoys his retirement and like Motlie comes to all the shows to enjoy a day out. He helps me train the new young dogs by showing them how to do some of the equipment like the tunnels and A frame. Some days now he is a frail old man, on those days I worry about him. Other days he acts like a three year old and I feel he will be helping me for a long time yet. Like Motlie, he is rather special. They are my sunshine.
The Ginger Winger
I was told about Sam when Tom was having his regular clip. Julie my friend who runs a clipping business told me that he was a little chocolate toy poodle that needed a new home quickly as he was howling at night. The reason he was howling was because he lived his life in a cage at night alone and in the dark.
Sam arrived the next day. Very worried and stressed for a little puppy. He was desperately frightened and didn't sleep much that night. He grumbled and winged until the early hours. The next evening He followed me upstairs and failed to come down. Instead he sat at the top of the stairs and did a funny warble sound. It didn't take long to realise that Sam was afraid of the dark (he still is) but I purchased an electric nightlight and it solved his problem. They are like a plug with a section that is a dim light. They are also helpful if you have a sick dog that needs a bit of reassurance through the night.
Sam didn't have big problems like Motlie and Tom. He was traumatised by his experiences and had missed out on some of his puppy socialisation. It was a matter of starting at the beginning and building his confidence up. I am also suspicious that he came from a puppy farm, so his start in life wasn't very good to say the least.
After a few months he started to settle well. He took some interest in the agility equipment outside and one day followed Tom over the A frame. It was not long before he was attending his first show and enjoying the days out with the others.
Sam is a very sociable little boy. He loves everyone, he's not that good at agility but he comes out of the ring smiling, so that is good enough. The dogs that come to me do not have to do agility. They stay whatever they do or not do, but it gives them all something else to think about and not just dwell on past traumas.
Sam is now nine. Suddenly he is a fast agility dog, (after eight and a half years). I tell him it's his second childhood. While Sam is a happy little dog now, he still dislikes the dark and gets worried if his daily routine is changed. He has a face that shows all his fears clearly. To see fear on his face is heartbreaking. It doesn't often happen now.
Sam is the clown in the household. If I have a down day Sam will be the one to put things right by offering a big cuddle while wagging from his nose to the tip of his tail.
He is a very special little boy.
Loopy Lucy
Lucy sadly has now died.
Yet again I was told about Lucy while the dogs were having their clip. Lucy is a three-year-old white toy poodle who was desperate for a new home and was in danger of possibly being put down. Apparently she was not a dog that enjoyed good health and had a skin that tore and bled easily. A phone call happened and a car drew up and a lead was thrust into my hand a couple of minutes later the car was gone and Lucy was standing looking up at me in disbelief.
Lucy came home and stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen floor. She was terrified, not of the other dogs but of what might be coming next. She held herself like a stiff board and hated being touched. Her skin was the colour of red beef. Apparently she had been on steroids for three years, had had her anal glands removed and had digestive problems.
I have a big air-travel kennel that I use in the kitchen sometimes. Lucy made that her home for four days. All she did was sleep, refusing food and water. I had to slip some water into her mouth off a spoon until she as ready to drink. Slowly, after about ten days, her skin returned to a normal pink colour and she began to try some food. Initially, Lucy's skin would tear like tissue paper and start to bleed if it was touched.
I have never given Lucy any steroids, but I have found the foods she thrives on and does not give her any allergic reactions and slowly her skin has improved. Occasionally her skin does flare up, but mainly on her feet and her regular clips keep that under control.
On top of all of that Lucy had slight continence problems. The removal of her anal glands (I never found out why) left her with a damaged anal sphincter. When she gets excited or worried she loses a little piece of faeces, about the size of a fingernail. She gets very upset about it, as she has no control over it happening. Slowly that has been sorted out with diet and a routine that has helped her regain control, (most of the time). I don't make anything of it and she always has a piece of newspaper down if I go out 'just in case'. That reassures her that there will be no comment if an accident happens. I think she has had enough problems in her young life without making that another one to add to them. Careful diet and exercise has almost disposed of that difficulty and has also sorted out her digestive problems, so I am very pleased with that. Her skin is now healthy and does not tear at a touch. She has never swallowed a steroid since she arrived at the cottage.
Lucy has never had much socialisation and is quite a sullen little dog. She basically expected bad treatment and did nothing with good grace. Lucy had no idea how to play or how to bark. She had no idea that she was a dog or how to communicate with other dogs. Life for her was a nightmare.
Lucy would communicate with a scream, high pitched and deafening. The other dogs were fascinated with her and continually offered their friendship. All Lucy would do was growl. She had no intention of a follow through to the growl, she just didn't know what else to do. It also gave me some insight as to what she had experienced in the past. All she knew was stress and tension.
Time, and lots of it was what Lucy needed. Celebrations occurred in the cottage when the first woof was heard, but it took me seventeen months before Lucy learned to play properly; firstly with the other dogs, and then with me. She has never looked back. Still a moody little dog, she is so much happier, has learnt to do agility and is keen to greet people who visit us.
Sadly Lucy damaged a cruciate ligament last year while walking in the forest. After surgery she has spent a year getting better and exercising the leg back to full health and strength. This year she just might try an agility show and if all goes well become one of the team. If not, she will enjoy the days out, picnics and camping.
The Reprobate
The phone call went something like this, 'we have a twelve week old poodle pup here, are you interested'? Answer, - 'I'm on my way'. That is how Fizz came to live here some 16 months ago. He was a little chap that had been sold to someone who decided after two days they could not keep him and he ended up in a rescue kennels.
Fizz had no real problems like the other dogs but he had missed out on some of his puppy socialisation and play. He had been made homeless at a time that bonding and confidence development was important. Back to basics was the order of the day with lots of play and Fizz has never really looked back. I am suspicious that he originally was a product of a puppy farm. However he has settled in well and is a great guy. He likes learning and has learnt all the agility equipment. Soon will go off on a day out to a show and see if he likes it.
Fizz is a great character, a real joker, is partial to chewing seat belts but is a pleasure to have around. I think we will have a lot of fun together.
Terrorists from Mars
The day that Tom had his retirement party at the rescue kennels I was introduced to two 'yoodles'. That is poodle cross Yorkshire terrier. I had had another phone call that had started, 'guess what we've got'. They were a year old and litter sisters. One was gold and one was black. At the end of the day, I drove home with these two little oddities in a cage in the back of the car.
They were no trouble but had very little experience of the variety of food and biscuit on offer and took a while to have the confidence to try different things. They were not used to walking on a lead but they were bright and soon realised what was wanted. They settled in well and were soon keen to please. Apart from being very confused about having a new home they had few worries about their lot in life.
Lottie and Gracie are now 18 months old and have got a good grip on basic obedience and have started to learn the agility equipment. They adore Fizz and play endlessly together. They are always up to no good, real terrorists and mischief is their middle name. They seem to have settled in well now and are relaxed about most things. Time will tell if they will like the shows we go to, but they do enjoy a day out and they love camping, (especially if they can worm their way into my sleeping bag), so fingers crossed. They really are little treasures and I wouldn't be without them.