Happy Endings - New Beginnings
Hooch’s story
Back at the end of April 2007 we had to have our old girl put to sleep at the grand age of 12 years and 8 months – not bad for a Bullmastiff. Colleagues at work kept asking when we were getting another dog and my standard reply was – there’s no rush, we’ll enjoy Tippa as an only dog for a while and I’m sure something will turn up eventually. They were all convinced that I was expecting to open the front door one morning and find a Bullmastiff with a big red ribbon around its neck waiting for us.
Well, what happened next was almost like that.
I am a member of the UK Bullmastiff Forum and keep an eye on the site for any rescue dogs that might appear. One Monday night in late August, I logged on to see that a young, male was in a kennel in Sheffield and wanted moving to a safe place for neutering and subsequent re-homing. Within minutes of the posting a reply followed saying we can help. I told my husband that we’d just missed a dog in Sheffield and that was it. But I followed this young dogs story and by Wednesday there was a post saying he was being moved to Essex the following (bank holiday) week. At this point I just had to post and say we live 14 miles from Sheffield, couldn’t we help? – then told Paul what I’d done. I got a reply asking for my phone number and I’d be contacted the following day. This was now August 23rd, Debbie from UK Bullmastiffs rang me with the kennel address, I couldn’t believe it, the kennel is about one and a half miles from us. We duly went up to the kennel and collected the young dog with a view to fostering him until he’d been neutered.
We had a mad few hours after Debbie gave me the address for the kennels. This poor boy met all-sorts of things that he didn't expect in the space of about four hours and he was a bit stressed about it all, but he took it all in his stride. Put it this way it didn't stop him eating his tea and a spoonful of Tiramisu for pudding afterwards. Well, he is very thin and needs some special treats. He was very thin with very little muscle on his backend and we could almost count every rib and vertebrae that he had when we collected him.
I still cannot believe that somebody, somewhere hasn’t missed him, if they aren’t missing him then they didn't deserve him
When we arrived home with him, we decided to do meeting and greeting with Tippa, our bitch on neutral ground - the driveway at the front. Tippa just ignored him and he plonked a paw on the top of her head, in greeting. The people at the kennel said he'd been out with a bitch and he'd been fine with her and he was ok with other dogs too. I asked if they'd given him a name and they said none that I could repeat so, we've been thinking and in the end decided that Hooch isn't the most original but he did smell, was dirty and boy can he flick the spit, so he's Hooch.
Our neighbours came out to say hello as we set off for a short walk and he loved the attention. He's not good on the lead but we'll sort that out. When we got back another neighbour came over to see him and he greeted her like a long lost friend. We decided coffee on the patio was a good idea to see how we got on together on home turf - not a problem, Hooch wanted stroking and Tippa ignored him. He was moulting in clumps so I decided I had to do something about it and expected a fight to get him to stand and be groomed, but he just stood as good as gold whilst I brushed him. By this time I’d decided that the smell was too much, it had to be dealt with and so he just had to be bathed. In true Bullmastiff style he's not into water but does like the play at the end with the towel. He now smelt a lot sweeter.
Having survived the first night and all was well, Tippa had ignored Hooch until they'd both had breakfast and then she initiated playtime, definitely a good sign. It was a very sedate bounce but a bounce never the less.
We live directly across from an access path onto the Trans Pennine Trail and from there we have a nice network of woods and paths to walk. We decided a walk in the wood would be nice - it is only a short walk and has ups and downs to build his muscles up and shade to keep us all cool.
After the stresses of the previous day we had a very lazy day and did nothing much apart from an ear cleaning session. Hooch was now much happier and settled in himself. The more we see of him I just can't believe that nobody came to claim him - he is such a lovely dog - apart from his wind problem but when the kennel food has worked its way out we'll be fine
Debbie kept in close contact to see how we were doing and to say that already there had been some interest for him from the websites – UK Bullmastiff Rescue and Rain Rescue. By now we’d fallen for him and said that I hoped we were top of the list of possible adoptive 'parents'. Debbie was thrilled – Hooch could have a forever home with us as soon as we had completed two weeks assessment of him.
I still keep looking at him and can't believe that someone could just abandon such a lovely dog.
After cocking his leg up on the kitchen wall on the first evening that was it, he asks to be let out, so he's been house trained. He's quite vain and stands looking at his reflection in the patio doors for ages and if he catches sight of himself in a mirror he goes back to have another look. He comes back when called - although in true Bullmastiff style his hearing is a bit selective, he sits to command, he sort of sits and stays for seconds, he likes coffee, he's not at all greedy with his food - at first he was leaving a bit for later but now it all goes in one go, he's getting the hang of he comes second in the feeding chain and has to wait till Tippa has started hers, he's quite gentle and doesn't snatch when you give him titbits, he gets terribly excited when the collars and leads come out for a walk. He is still a bit of a nightmare on the lead but he's getting better.
Sunday's walk was the longest ever - it should have taken about three quarters of an hour but it took us over two hours as we met most of the dog people in the village and they all had to come over to meet him. He loved all the attention
He obviously hadn't been on walks which involved undergrowth, Tippa tried to lead him astray and took him down to the steam - there's a path to get there but she just barges through the undergrowth to come back, Hooch just stood there and hadn't a clue what to do, so we had to go and tread down the brambles for him to get back to the path. Tippa then took him down a path with a fallen tree across it, again he'd no idea about getting over it but Tippa showed him – she is becoming a super teacher. We introduced him to a style on our next walk and he hadn't realised that he went through the great big hole in the fence at the side of it, Tippa had already gone through it before he arrived, we got there in the end, the second style he had to go under but he was right behind Tippa and copied her.
Talk about throwing this poor little dog in at the deep end. One week after Hooch came to us, we got our trailer tent out, set it up, let Tippa get in first so, of course he followed sniffed everything and sat down. We set off Friday morning to camp on a corner of the Newark and Notts Showground to meet a group of friends. Although he doesn't settle quickly in the car - he tends to look out of the window, eventually he laid down. On arrival we pegged them both out whilst we did erecting and they both laid watching us, when everything was ready they came inside together and I'd already put his bed down by Tippa's and that was it, he found his place in the doorway and settled to watch the world go by.
As our group of friends arrived he greeted them all terribly enthusiastically. Our treat on the first night is no cooking, so tea is from the local chippie and the dogs always get a fish to share - he'd definitely lost his appetite and found a donkey's (Sorry, that's a Yorkshire-ism). At bedtime we put both dogs up in the trailer part with us, they found their own space and stayed there - no, fighting to get him off our bed, he just stayed on his own bed and slept. Saturday he was introduced to bacon butties for breakfast - he was well impressed and then the day was just really lazy, an ice-cream man came to our corner so they shared ice-creams, we had a couple of walks around the showground and then time for tea. Tea is a communal thing and we just left them both together in the awning and they both settled down till the last walk before bed. Sunday morning after breakfast we took him over to see the ponies as a local pony club had a gymkhana and he was quite happy, watching the ponies do their thing. We had a walk round and met a couple from another group that were having a meeting there and they came over to talk and again he was there wanting to say hello - he is very friendly - we just have to stop him jumping in his enthusiasm, but he's getting there. After lunch we packed up ready for home - he was worried that he was going to be left but was fine as soon as he was in the car.
After a good night's sleep we took them both for their walk and as we got to the local station the train was just pulling in, so he was introduced to the train and was again quite happy to sit and watch it's arrival and departure, then down the field to meet the free range pigs and their piglets. He sniffed the air, watched the piglets grubbing about and then decided it was time we were off again.
Hooch had his final experience of that weekend - we introduced him to his harness and cart
The next weekend we took him to the local agricultural show, where he was wanting to meet and greet everyone he saw – he was so excited with everything. He kept two ladies amused by standing and watching the display by an old aeroplane overhead.
Following his brief introduction to the harness and cart, the following weekend saw him start his working life at the Fairground Organ rally at Widnes.
Our experience with Hooch just goes to show that there are some lovely dogs dumped in pounds, just because they are a bit on the dirty side and a bit smelly when they are in the pound following a wash and brush up it’s amazing the change that can occur. He was obviously a throw away dog and there are so many more just like him ready and waiting for homes – it isn’t necessary to go and buy a puppy, I will admit that a rescue dog can need a little bit more time and patience. As with all dogs you only get out of them what you put in – the only problems in taking a dog from the pound is that can end up with a fully grown dog that suddenly starts to feel secure and thinks it’s a puppy.
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