BOO BOO
We had been looking for a second dog for some time now and had been to visit various sanctuaries and shelters, however we needed to be wary of what dog we chose as we have cats, rabbits and of course, our cavalier, Barney. We decided to look on the Rain Rescue site after hearing a lot about various fundraising activities and kept checking each week as to what dogs they had in. One night we checked on the Rotherham page and we could not believe how gorgeous a certain little man was in his photograph, just sitting there looking so scared and lonely. We read the write-up about him and new at once that he was the dog for us. We got in touch with Jacquie and Boo's foster mum, Kay and arranged to meet him with our dog one evening.
When we arrived, Boo wasn't yet there and so we had a chat with Jacquie until Boo came, when he stood there barking at us because he was scared! He was very clingy to his foster mum and so we decided to take the two dogs for a walk down the lane to see how he was without her. The poor little mite, he was scared of absolutely everything, however deep down we all loved him and knew that he was the dog for us. 2 and a half hours later, we came home with booboo and settled him into his new home. He wouldn't eat out of his dish because of the noise it made, he was terrified of men and sunglasses, he cowered whenever we bent over to stroke him. Eventually over time, he began to realise that he could trust us and let us stroke him, it took over a week for him to trust us enough to take hold of his collar without rolling his eyes and cowering. We gradually started to work on training with him and we are making steady progress. We knew that it would take patience, time, love and genuine concern about Boo's well being to see him progress at all, and sure enough he did. People say to us, 'why bother with a rescue dog? You have problem after problem with them, you don't have all the fun of them being a puppy and fully trusting you. Why not go for another puppy?'. To this we tell them that rehoming boo is the most rewarding thing that we have ever done, it is not problem after problem but simply obstacles along the way that you have to overcome with time and patience, and rehoming is such a rewarding experience, the dog learns that he CAN trust you and will do absolutely anything for you, because for probably the first time in his life he has found love, stability and he knows that he can rely on you.
Boo has come on in leaps and bounds over the 3 weeks that we have now had him, he plays with other dogs and only barks at strangers occasionally, he has learnt what toys are for and discovered how to play. He enjoys watching his big brother, barney, doing his agility and is raring to have a go at it himself when he is old enough! We can't thank Jacquie and Kay enough for ensuring that we have another much loved member of the family, thankyou!!
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