A good day

Latest pic of Jess, I think there is a slight improvement

Today and yesterday have been good days, no little accidents. Gave both dogs a good brush - it is quite strange having a short haired dog after my hairy Bernese. My last short haired dog was Bess a Rotty x Lab - a beautiful girl who I sadly lost at the young age of 8 yrs due to paralysis after a spine infection.

I have noticed with Jess that when she wakes from a deep sleep her tongue is sticking out slightly - see photo on previous post. She always looks so groggy bless her but it is nice to see as when she first came she only catnapped so hopefully she now feels safer and more settled.

Jess is still doing well with the cats, I have to watch her with them in the garden as if they play chase with each other I can see that Jess would like to join in but I don't quite trust her enough for that to happen yet. She is happy to be next to the cats when they are on my lap but is still wary as Dudley the male has been known to swipe at her if he feels she is too close. This has made her wary with Tabetha and Whizzy but she has nudged then and given a sloppy kiss - or was that a way of tenderising them before the chomp !!

Jess with Tabetha

I went along to a training class this evening that one of my friends attends. I chatted to the trainer about taking Jess along in a few weeks time, this will I hope be a good way of allowing her to socialise and although I will be doing a lot of training with her myself it will be good to do some training with other dogs in close proximity.

I hope that in a few weeks time Jess will be a lot more settled and feel safer that she wont be going anywhere else. I am due to take her back to the kennels this Saturday for her microchip to be fitted.

That's all for now folks !!!

Next chapter in the ups and downs of Jess's new home

Excuse the glowing eyes - am not good with photo editing !!

Well I am off for a week at the moment and am hoping to make progress with Jess. I am a great follower of both Jan Fennell and Cesar Milan's style of training and I feel that a lot of their training makes perfect sense. I have used this method a lot with my dogs and feel the results warrant the continued use.

I use a lot of praise and reward for good behaviour and do my best to react to any problems - especially the lack of housetraining - with calm and not saying anything, taking Jess into the garden and praising her when she 'performs' as she should and I am pleased that I was actually here at one point when she went to wee in the hall so could catch her in time with a 'NO' and take her outside immediately and praise her and reward with a biscuit for going in the correct place. It is like having a puppy again lol

Unfortunately I cant walk them at the moment in the local parks because of the kennel cough, Billie is still very badly affected by it, well I say badly - I have not had a dog with kennel cough before but I just hate seeing her coughing and with green mucus coming from her nose now and then. Jess doesnt seem to have it very bad at all and only the occasional cough. It worried me enough to take Billie into my vet who put her on anti biotics and then later took a nasal swab which has thankfully come back with no nasty surprises and he has advised that I just need to let it play itself out.

Any training at the moment is taking place at home in the house and garden, I have taken them out occasionally to a local off road area to stretch their legs but keep well away from any dogs. Jess knows 'come' and although she pulls slightly - especially if she sees a dog in the distance - she is easy to distract with a change of direction or 'tsch' noise to get her to focus on me. I use a flexi lead on her so she can sniff about.

I have been very wary of adding up any costs involved in taking Jess on but have decided to keep a tally just out of interest. Will maybe put this on here seperately, or maybe I wont want to frighten myself lol

There seems to be slight improvement in Jess's weight but I am very wary or rushing it, the condition of the coat I think will take a while as well, I had to give in and bath her on her second day here though - I have hardly any sense of smell and she smelt ripe to me so must have been bad. she was so good, I lifted her into the bath and luckily it has the metal grabrails inset in the bath (previous owner of the house was an elderly lady) and I clipped her lead to this but needn't have bothered she never moved around at all. In one way it is lucky she is underweight at the moment, any heavier and I wouldnt be able to lift her in and out.

Today I have not been a good girl, have not been out much and left her, will remedy that tomorrow and be out a bit longer. Dont want her to think I am here all the time this week or will be harder when I go back to work. I have used any and all training I can think of as Jess suffers a lot with separation anxiety, this seems to be the main time she messes and jumps up at the windows. Have been leaving by different doors, for different times. Sometimes I go out in the car and come back quickly, wearing wellies sometimes which usually signals to my dogs that it is their walk. Have gone out with my work bag and only been out a short while. I also stick to the idea of not greeting them when I come home, I walk in and do something - anything - like put the kettle on, sit down and wait til they settle and then call them to me for a big fuss and cuddle. This seems to have worked well with my existing dog and seems to be working for Jess. There is no jumping about when I come in, she is nicely calm and is getting to know the routine. I make sure I prepare their food but I eat first. She has learnt that when I sit down to eat it is her time to rest on her bed. Any sitting too near or looking like begging a quick 'OFF' and she will go and lay down until her meal time. I cant believe really (apart from the toilet training) how well she is settling in and she just has such a sweet temperment.

Well that is enough for now - more to follow

The story of my first Rotty rescue

Jess on her first outing from the kennels to properly meet Billie

Well here goes with my first ever blog!! I am not sure if anyone will even look at this, will wait and see

I have owned dogs for most of my years from the age of 1o, these have been mostly pups or taking in dogs from 'friends' who have either grown tired of them or had problems

I lost my 2nd German Shepherd Ven in July 2007 1 week after his 13th birthday. Ven was my 2nd German Shepherd.
Ven 2007 aged 13 years

This left me with my beautiful Bernese Mountain Dog lady called Billie (yes she is a girl) - see picture - who is now the grand age of 9 and will be 10 in June. I have kept it from her that the average age for her breed is 7-8 yrs. Billie was bred by my sister who still has Billie's brother Merlin, his half sister Morgan and one of Morgan's pups Luka. (makes for a very full house at Christmas !)

Billie aged 7 yrs

Anyway getting back to the main topic of this blog - Jess.

I made the mistake of visiting the local council pound with a friend Linda which we have done now and then in the past - I moved to live opposite Linda in June 2007, she has been my best friend for approx 28 years !! and we are more like sisters.

oh my god am I that old !!!

Linda has 3 dogs already and was not really looking and I have tentatively looked as have missed having two dogs.

So anyway there I am looking in the pens at the kennels - giving it the AAH factor, in the first row of kennels the ever present staffy that you find at rescue kennels. In the end pen there were a pair of brown eyes looking out through the entrance door - then appeared a little bit more of the head. A smallish Rotty head emerged, followed by an underweight body with an obvious problem of some kind to her back legs, having had at least one litter of pups possibly a lot more. Wanting to say hello but very unsure. I crouched down by the pen fence and talked quietly to her she came over and leaned against me through the mesh with those beautiful brown eyes I stroked her wrinkly nose.

Jess's ribs when I first walked her

We continued looking around the kennels seeing all the many staffies there and a gorgeous cross bred that was approx 8 months old and looked like a wolfhound terrier cross or something !! a very thin black greyhound (another regular inhabitant of rescue centres!!!) but I was drawn back to the kennel with Jess in. The kennel maid brought her out to me and she sat beside me and looked up at me !!

We walked her a bit outside the kennel but didn't go far, Jess obviously has a problem with her back legs/spine and sometimes drags her back feet (I thought maybe muscular atrophy as my shepherd had suffered from this and similar gait) Enquired if I would be able to bring my dog to meet her which was agreed.

Next day I returned with Billie and they seemed fine, not gambling about but then it is a long time since Billie has done that - she is more a gentle stroll type of girl - but they ambled about happy to walk beside each other. I then asked if they would be happy for me to take Jess into my vet for him to check her over. Which they agreed to.

Next day everywhere was covered by snow and roads horrendous so had to leave it another day before returning. Took Jess into my vet who knowing I live on my own and aware that I do not have unlimited funds - advised that 'if you are sensible you will return her to the kennels and walk away' in a tone of voice that shows he knows (having been my vet for nearly 30 years) that I am far from sensible !! Without a full exam using x rays etc he was unable to give an exact diagnosis but has said she is likely suffering from degeneration of the spine - more or less the spinal muscular atrophy I had thought of. She also has front legs that click outwards at the wrist joint when walking, underweight and slight discharge from eyes. After examining her the vet feels she is in no pain and the spine will eventually give out and she will be paralysed on her rear end (the same as my shepherd Ven bless him) so I decided to return her to the kennel for the night (was very tempted just to take her home then !) and think very carefully about this as I would not be able to insure her due to age and pre existing conditions. I returned Jess to the kennels and hated walking away from her, I passed on the verdict of my vet to the kennel staff and advised I would go home and would think about it overnight. I also had to consider my 3 cats at home !!

Well !!! to say I didn't sleep much would be an understatement !! I returned to the kennels and asked if I could take her home to see how she was with the cats and if all OK I would keep her overnight to see how things progressed. I have to say here that the kennel owner and staff were always helpful, never pushy and happy to fit in with me taking Jess out to vets etc.

Just look at those eyes !!!
On Sunday 8th of February Jess came home and is still here !!


Jess is my 7th dog but she is my first adult dog from a pound with absolutely no history so I guess we will both have a lot of adapting to do !!

When I picked Jess up from the kennels I had my girl Billie on the back seat and put Jess in the estate part. We then went to our local park to walk them before coming home so they both came in together. Billie rarely has a lead on except for late night walks (mainly because she will scavenge on roadsides - you can probably tell from the picture that she is obviously starved !!) so I put the flexi lead on Jess. She seemed pleased to be out in the open and walked along quite happily if a bit wobbly.


We returned home - luckily my cats have lived with dogs all their lives and been used to friends and my sister's dogs visiting so when a new dog is in the house they move around very slowly. Jess was very interested in the cats but was very good when told NO and backed away from them, the cats are not afraid to tell off strange dogs and let them know who is boss. All seemed good so far, I phoned the kennels and let them know that Jess would be staying here overnight.


Jess spent the evening choosing between a high sided square bed or a thick duvet type bed although a lot of the evening was spent with her head on my leg trying not to fall asleep. Billie was so good with her and no jealousy at all and they spent a lot of time with both their heads next to each other on my lap. I had a fright at one time I had forgotten to pick up Billie's bones I heard crunching and came in from the kitchen to find the dogs both lying on the rug together chewing the bones . We went back to the park in the afternoon with one of Linda's dogs Jay - a border collie from Cornwall. Jess was OK with Jay although at one time she showed dominant behaviour of trying to put her head over his neck and the beginnings of trying to mount him which Jay objected to - no surprise, Jess mouthed him but no teeth involved and it was all very quick.


I settled Jess overnight in the kitchen with the square bed, she started to bark about 01:40 but on opening the door saying NO and retreating she was quiet the rest of the night, the same the next night but have had no mid- night barking since. The house training is a totally different matter though, and non existant. I cant obviously say for sure that she was an outside kennel dog but there are definitely no restraints in that department lol

Unfortunately two days after she was home I discovered that she has kennel cough and has passed it to Billie who has become quite severe with it, has progressed with green gunge coming from her nose. I am hoping it will not have any long lasting effects, I have just found out that her brother has been diagnosed with a heart murmur.

It seems very hard to realise that Jess has been here two weeks now. Jess has now had both her vaccinations and has had one lot of treatment for mites and wormer and one more in a week.

I may come in for a lot of criticism here when I say that I work full time with long and mostly night shifts, I did think things over but felt that I could still offer another dog a good home and I am very lucky in moving just over a year ago to live opposite my best friend as it works out so well for both of us, Linda works days so I walk two of her dogs the Cornish Border Collie and rescue Greyhound (the old girl - Collie x Spaniel, goes into the garden or stays in her bed upstairs) at lunchtime and Linda walks Billie for me. Linda is a godsend when I work days at weekends as she will pop across and let the dogs out for me and feed them. The shift pattern I work doesn't lend to a steady routine for toilet training but I am hoping that it will help Jess to follow Billie's lead.