7 weeks of having Jess

Well as the title says, I have had Jess for 7 weeks as of today. See if you think there is an improvement in her body condition? I think so

A shinier, alert looking Jess (a dog had just appeared in the distance at the park)

There have been a lot of improvements in the time I have had Jess, a few set backs but not too many. The housetraining is much better, although there are still the occasions of her weeing by the front door when I am out, still a part of her separation anxiety but this is slowly improving. She does still sometimes seem to panic when she wakes from a deep sleep until she realises where she is and lets out a deep sigh and snuggles down in her bed for another snooze. I hope that she now feels safe and secure.



We are not at the point of her being off lead yet and we still have a long way to go with general training. There is still the very dominant body posture as soon as a dog is spotted in the distance, she mostly is good with them when she finally meets up with them although she seems to focus a lot on any kind of small white dog, she has mouthed at dogs if they attempt to play or move away from her quickly. Hopefully this will improve once she is told 'no' a few times when she does this, she will also mouth when she gets excited, Jess has been learning how to play, she fetches a squeaky ball and brings it back but does occasionally mouth when playing. There are no teeth used and she backs off immediately .



Jess is slowly gaining weight still, have now cut her food down slightly. I will order her a bioflow collar to help with her stiffness in her legs, she is dragging her back legs a lot less, only the occasional time and is now up to 40-60 minutes walking a day. Billie and Jess visited the groomer this week and both look lovely. I use Lisa's Pride n Groom in Gillingham, Kent and have to say I am always pleased with the result, my Bernese Billie has a 'bikini trim' lol, clipping some of the fur from under her tail and also some from the inside of her legs, she is not shown and although they are not normally clipped it does help as she seems to make a beeline to any bushes !! Lisa is very patient with Billie as she rests a lot while at the groomers due to her age and stiffness, Jess was very good and behaved perfectly.

This is a picture taken in Capstone Park after their bath day.

All I have to sort out with Jess now is her penchant for dragging the cat beds out - hopefully not with the cats in them !! while I am out. She also jumps up onto the settee as soon as I leave and pushes it against the radiator. I have found incriminating scratch marks on my lovely pine dining table which is near the side window that she jumps up at. I have looked online but not been able to find a website where I can hire cameras. The sort you see used in tv programmes etc to watch what is happening when you are not there. Will keep looking online as this would be really good to see what she is up to while I am out.

Well that is all for now folks. Will update again in a weeks time. My sister will have visited from Wales by then with her Bernese - Luka.

Learning more about Jess

Well on Sunday will be a month since Jess came home. The above picture is from our last walk at Capstone Country Park. They are thankfully over their kennel cough now, not a single cough from them since Sunday.

Jess is still sometimes hard to understand and her body language is something I am getting used to. I think it will be a long time before I would be able to allow her off lead unless in an enclosed area with only dogs she knows. She focuses on any dog in the distance and runs back and forth on her lead and if there was no lead I do not think she would return to me and ignore whatever she sees in the distance.

Hopefully Jess will be enjoying her new home and companions as much as I (and hopefully her companions) are enjoying her company. There is no doubt more to learn on both sides.

Only a short update this time but will be back with more.

Light at the end of the tunnel

It is now three weeks and four days since I brought Jess home. The housetraining has come on in leaps and bounds and I am pleased to say that on my first full night shift away from home on Monday there was only one small puddle in the hall. Linda had been over to Jess twice, once at 10 pm and then again at 06:30 am to let the dogs out in the garden, I then got home at 09:20 and took both dogs to the park for a good run.

As I have said previously I may get some comments from people regarding my working full time but still taking on a rescue dog. Although I do work strange and sometimes long shifts, my work is mostly nights when the dogs would be sleeping anyway and they are always taken for a good walk both before I leave and when I get home. The exception has only been due to the kennel cough and not wanting to go to my normal parks where a lot of dogs go. There must be people out there who go to bed early - maybe 9-10 pm and get up later than 06:30 and if you think how long dogs are left in kennels - often fed about 4-5 pm and then kennel lights turned off and closed until the next morning.

Both my dogs have toys and bones to chew on/play with while I am away and as both dogs are older they do tend to sleep a lot anyway. There is a treat ball put out which is mostly rolled around by Jess - Billie, considering her love of food, is not too interested I guess it is too much effort for her she prefers her food to be hand delivered straight to her mouth !!

Billie is on her 3rd dose of anti biotics and there is a definate improvement, she is only giving the occasional cough indoors and I havent heard her cough outside for a couple of days now. The fresh air seems to help outside. While I was at the vets I had Jess weighed and she has put on almost 2 kg since I have had her, she weighed 34.8 kg when I got her and is now 36.2. The average weight I can find for a Rottie female is 38kg but Jess is I would say a smallish girl so feel no more than a kg for her to put on so I will start to cut her food back slightly now as I do not want her to put on too much as this would put strain on her hind legs. Billie is on a constant diet bless her it hasnt helped being so restricted with exercise so I can now hopefully build them back up.

My sister is due to visit from Wales in April and will have Billie's half nephew - think that is right Luka's mother Morgan is Billie's half sister - same Dam different Sires. This could be interesting !! my sister will be staying with me for a couple of days so will see how they get on. I am still finding it a learning curve to decipher Jess's body language when out. She gives off a very dominant body posture when she first sees a dog in the distance but has not shown any aggression. She does seem to have a high chase drive and I think if a dog ran she would chase. I am in no rush to allow her off lead and will see how things develop it will be much easier when this pesky kennel cough is well and truly over and I can socialise her more.

Jess seems to becoming more settled and is learning a few more commands, she now knows sit, come and we are working on the down ! she knows off and no. It feels like she has been with us a lot longer. I have found one of her most endearing traits is when she wakes up during the day or evening and this head slowly lifts from the bed with her tongue always sticking out and a bleary eyed look when she looks around as if to check she is still here in the warm in her bed and then snuggles down again for another snooze.

More to come on another day no doubt!!

Cost of a rescue dog

This is a listing of the costs involved in taking on my first older rescue dog Jess. I could have not spent out on vet treatment for Billie or included it here but I have been concerned for her being an older dog and the vet fees would not have been spent if I had not brought Jess home.

Lead .............................................................£3.50
Collar & Name Tag ...................................£12.00
Dog Bed.......................................................£25.00
Vacc, mite, wormer...................................£39.00
Homoeopathic Kennel cough nosode.......£10.27
Anti Biotics for Billie.................................£25.00
Nasal swab & 2nd anti biotic for Billie....£78.00
2nd Vacc & 2nd wormer/mite................£29.00
Public Liability Insurance - 1 yr.............£60.00
Anti Biotics for Billie..................................£25.00

TOTAL.....................................................£306.77

A not so good day!

Jess in the bed I bought for her but she takes turns on the other bed I had put out in case she prefers a flat bed. Billie prefers the settee !!

Well today I have had Jess for 3 weeks, in some ways it seems like yesterday and in other ways it feels that she has been here a lot longer.

I took her back to the kennels yesterday to have her microchip put in and I feel I let her down somewhat. I spoke to the owner of the kennels who does the micro chipping and said I didn't want to bring her back into the kennel area due to the kennel cough, he said he would come out to the car, I went to get her out of the car and he said he would do it inside the car - I felt it would be cramped but felt he knew best - well I should have stuck with my instincts...

The owner is not a small man and I guess the combination of him trying to inject the chip in a confined space - having me in front of her as well - well she snapped at him and bit him on his side. Jess backed away immediately. it was a snap and not what I would call an attack. He was fine about it, I think he realised why she had done it.

I wont hold this against her, she has shown no sign of aggression towards myself or others so far apart from this incident. Having seen the way she often flinches or cowers away if I make any sudden moves I wouldn't be surprised if she had not been hit in the past.

Really I suppose this is the worst side of rescuing a dog whose history you have no clue about. I could speculate until the cows come home - I wish I could know what she has been through in her life, it could be an awful lot if she is as old as we think. On talking with friends we have speculated that she has been kennelled and used for breeding. The hard patches of skin on her elbows and hind legs make me think she has lived outside, she also seems unsure of things indoors but I think has settled well so far.

On another note I have taken Billie back to the vets as the cough seemed worse, her nasal swab came back negative, the vet has put her on another course of anti-biotic so hopefully this will help. I feel so bad in not being able to take them for what I call proper walks - I have two lovely country parks near me that I use that have many different paths and fields. I don't want to take my dogs there at the moment and risk infecting other dogs. It will be lovely when the cough has gone though, all the places that Jess can explore with Billie and with Linda's three dogs.

Having taken the plunge and frightened myself I have also got a blog on here called 'the cost of a rescue dog' with the expenses so far with Jess, I have included the anti-biotic for Billie as they are a result of bringing Jess home. I don't regret for a single minute bringing Jess into our little family and it was wonderful for the first time yesterday when Jess had a go at playing - she does not seem to know what a ball or a toy is but when I was playing the fool (not unusual sadly !!) with Billie, Jess started to join in and to see her eyes brighter and her tail wagging was a joy to see. It is also so endearing when she wakes up all sleepy eyed in one of her beds !! her tongue is always sticking out slightly and she looks around if she has to check where she is.

well as they say in the cartoons :- that's all for now folks !!