Mr Hardy does good..

If people could overlook the fact that Hardy is blind they would all be lining up to adopt him. Hardy is as close to a perfect dog as you can get. He gets on with all dogs, loves all people walks nicely on lead, stops at kerbs and sits (on your feet) eats well, sleeps well, clean in the house and not destructive, I suppose all of us are flawed and Hardy is no exception! he doesn't appear to like cats!! I don't know how he learned that he doesn't but if he sniffs one out he will creep closer and closer and just when you think he has sniffed past it, he turns and makes a grab for it. I am sure he can learn to put up with cats though?
Hardy's best feature of all is how loving he is, He will curl up on the sofa with you or will happily sit by your chair to be loved on, he is not a pest though, when you stop stroking him he will lay down and snooze by your side as happy as can be.

Hardy probably didn't have a lot of experience of lead walking before being rescued by Wiccaweys but over the last couple of weeks he has grown in confidence to the point where he will run at full speed when on a longline! I think that shows just how much he trusts people?
When we go on the fields near home he is happy to sniff his way around learning about all the dogs who went there before him and then the mood will take him and he is off for a sprint.

We love Hardy and if someone would like to give us a bigger house and a larger income we will keep him. :-)

Hardy says adopt me please as I am a fantastic little bloke :-)

BOBBIE DOES SOME TRAINING !!

Bobbie is a challenge, in more ways than one !! I've been doing some basic training with her and she can do sit, down and a very good recall..HOWEVER she only does this when SHE wants to and in HER own time !!! She is not food or toy orientated but completely fixated with my own dog Bazra. She watches his every move and her eyes never leave him. In fact Bazra was hard work to train as he too is not food or toy motivated and he would do things in his own time. We used to make everyone laugh at training classes and I cannot believe that Bobbie is the same to train, how strange is that ?

Anyway I started off with Bobbie on her own and she eventually did a few sits etc. I find that she cannot sit straight and always sits on one side which I presume is a result of her hip injury. But this doesn't worry me, I am just so pleased that she does a nice sit when asked. Bobbie found it difficult to concentrate as she was more concerned that she couldn't see Bazra !! Then I let both Bazra and Pluto out and continued to work with Bobbie. Soon Bazra decided that he wanted to join in and did some lovely heelwork, sits, stays, front recalls etc and Bobbie just folowed him and copied him, she was so funny. Everytime Bazra did a down she would lay next to him and followed him doing sendaways and was running alongside him when he was doing front recalls. She did get a bit gobby and reminded me of "one of those irritating flies" buzzing about but Bazra, who is nicknamed " Mr Grumpy" just carried on and enjoyed himself.

I am beginning to think that whoever adopts Bobbie wil need to adopt my Mr Grumpy Bazra as well, ha ha !!!!

As ever never a dull moment with Bobbie around.

Love Eleanor

Hardy's Progress- A thief amongst us

A few words about Hardy. If his behaviour carries on as it is, I feel I shall have no choice but to report him to the Why? Because the boy is stealing hearts right left and centre! Where ever he goes and who ever he meets he comes away with another heart! I know he can't help being such a good, loving cuddly sweetheart but surely he is carrying a concealed naughty spot about his person?! After all, how many dogs in his situation would:

Love everyone he meets?
Get along with a wide variety of dogs with a wide variety of temperaments?
Be clean in the house from day 1?
At bedtime head into his crate without being told or encouraged to?
Never steal food?
Not be frightened by the sound of lawnmowers? (at stupid o'clock in the morning, thanks neighbors!)
Sit calmly while you put his lead on him before going out for a walk?
Have a run on a long line without being able to see where he is going, putting his trust in you completely?
Give such sweet cuddles it makes your heart thump?
Give the most gentle kisses it makes you want to cry?
Not turn away from the camera?
When out for a walk & you stop to speak to someone, sits quietly by your side?
Gives big dopey smiles with a big floppy tongue hanging out?
Share his bathwater with his foster mum?

Hardy is such a wonderful boy, he deserves a family of his own where he can enjoy life to the full. A family that will want & love Hardy for being Hardy, because he is such a great & loving boy. Not because they feel sorry for him because he can't see (his ears & nose do quite well at seeing in the house & garden) I know that family is out there and one day will come forward, but in the meantime we are loving every moment with Hardy

You have been warned! If you see Hardy heading your way I suggest you or he WILL steal your heart, that is guaranteed!

Julia

BOBBIE HELPS IN THE GARDEN !!

Let me help you with the weeding !!!



Here's the holes I dug earlier !!

This is more like it, come on Bazra, lets have a game !!

Bobbie has spent the day helping or should I say getting her nose into everything in the garden, she is great fun to have around and just loves being with company. However we now have a tail less blackbird in the garden. He was none to pleased when Bobbie managed to sneak up on him as he was busy looking for food and made a hasty exit leaving his tail behind in her gob!!

Love Eleanor

BOBBIE GETS TRAPPED !!

This morning Bobbie went out with the "big dogs". I say that because Bobbie is very small and compact, infact I call her my pygmy collie and I can easily pick her up and tuck her underneath my arm, so the "big dogs" are just average size collies. Anyway she had a great time running around, playing football........well her idea of football is simply to herd the other dogs and the ball and keep them tidy. Then they all went for a swim and Bobbie joined them and when the water was too deep for her she held onto Bazra's tail !!! she is so cheeky.

When we got back the dogs went into the garden to relax.

We are both bird ringers and in our garden are a few traps/nets which we use to catch the birds and often when we are at home we set one of the traps by putting out food and setting the door to close when the bird enters. The trap is checked regularly and when Neil went to check the trap guess what we had caught ?? Yes , Bobbie was in it happiliy helping herself to the cheese and bird seed! She wasn't a bit bothered that she couldn't get out and just carried on munching.

You need eyes everywhere with Bobbie as she will find her own mischief to get into if you don't give her something to do. Bazra , Pluto and the rest were pushing up the zzzzzz's, but not little madam. You just cannot help but love her.

Love Eleanor

BOBBIE

Bobbie has been with us since the beginning of February. When she arrived she was very underweight, was in pain due to a severe limp and had a nasty dose of kennel cough.

A week later she had a big operation on her hip to try to put the joint back where it should have been and relieve the pain. However due to the nature of the injury it was only possible to chop off the top of her thigh bone and hope that her muscles will grow to support her leg/hip joint. [ top picture] We then began an intensive course of physiotherapy, short walks and hydrotherapy in the bath. She has certainly kept us busy but she is making steady progress and she now uses this leg more and more and her muscles are getting stronger. The vet felt that recovery was going to take 6 to 12 months, but that she would always have a weak joint. HOWEVER no one has told Bobbie this and she still wants to do everything at a 100 miles an hour and to be honest does everything a normal collie does AND she is so fast at running, much faster than many fit 4 legged dogs.

Initially it was a bit of a shock to have a puppy in the house again and we had forgotten about the sharp teeth, puddles, chewing slippers etc...but we soon learnt. She has certainly livened our house up, including our old dog Pluto as she loves to play with him and vice versa and she has had an amazing influence on my "Mr Grumpy" as they play happily together and " he" plays with no one !!

Bobbie is a very busy girl, she is bright, intelligent and just has to be doing something. She knows her own mind and can be gobby and bossy. But she is an absolute delight and loves her cuddles.

Everybody loves her, especially my parents who tend to spoil her......of course I don't !! She loves helping my Dad in the garden. This usually means she digs holes or runs around with flowerpots and then hitches a lift in my Dad's wheelbarrow [bottom pic] Somehow I don't think much gardening gets done when Bobbie is around.

Must sign off now as its gone very quiet downstairs which usually means one thing..............she's chewing on something!!!!

Love Eleanor

Hardy

Hardy arrived at Wiccaweys from Ireland a week ago and came to stay with us a couple of days later. Hardy soon settled in and within a couple of days it was as though he has always been here.Hardy gets on well with our 2 dogs, Luca (10 year old Golden Retreiver) and Indy (4 year old Border Collie) Hardy is blind so for a little while he followed Luca around until he figured out where he was but now he just strolls around the same as our boys and rarely bumps into things.
Hardy is a delightful boy to have with us, he is relaxed, well behaved and very affectionate. We spent the weekend dog walking at Wiccaweys and Hardy walked with many dogs and got on great with all of them he also spent loads of time schmoozing with all the volunteers and visitors. Hardy loves people.

This afternoon I took Hardy for a long walk to some rough fields near home, I put him on a 30ft longline so that he could have a good snuffle around. I started teaching him left and right so that I could steer him around trees and he started picking it up quickly. We will continue to work on this as it gives him a bit of freedom but keeps him safe.

Hardy is resting now after a busy day.