We have a new member of the family ..... well not really new ... more like returning.
Jess has recently had lots of things going on in her life ..... not all bad ..... just hectic and she was finding it hard to cope with 2 energetic dogs, Kovu, her pregnancy and managing working too.
So after much heartache she felt that she would have to give her dogs away .... thinking that would be best for them. Thankfully, at the same time as she was thinking this .... Dan was considering getting a puppy and had already asked Greg and I how we would feel about this, as he still lives at home.
We were a little cautious about this as (and those of you who read the blog regularly will know) Harley is not exactly sociable with other dogs!
We had been through a similar situation before, introducing a new dog to the house, that just didn't work out at all. We had gone to a re-homing organisation (and I do think they do a wonderful job so this is not a reflection on them) where we met a very boisterous terrier and he immediately warmed to us.
Now whilst I am not criticising the re-homing organisation as such, I will criticise the person whom we dealt with. I explained that we already had 1 dog (Billie) who was still quite young and this was why we were looking for another dog, as a companion for her. Greg also emphasised that we had a cat, who was the boss. Oh and 3 teenagers too !
This lady had absolutely no interest in the rest of the household ...... had no inclination to engage with us in that sort of conversation which I did find surprising. She did reassure us that this dog was friendly with the other dogs in the kennels and that was as far as her concern went.
We duly paid our £100 and took "Bobby" home.
DISASTER !
We had him on a lead and as we walked in he and Billie gingerly sniffed around each other. They did seem fine although Billie appeared a little nervous. We took Bobby off the lead and all seemed quiet for a few minutes until he spotted the cat ............. I had never seen Scamp move so fast or jump so quickly up the stairs and onto the window sill of the landing . Scamp instantly knew this dog was not cat friendly. Bobby was snarling, growling and desperate to get to Scamp ... with Scamp hissing back at him wondering what chaos we had brought into his home!
We decided to call the lady to explain that we were happy to see how it all went overnight but that it did not feel right ..... including the fact that by now, Billie had hidden under my desk to keep out of the way!
The answer she gave is one I was horrified at and will never forget - and since have repeated this to anyone using her services - "well you could always get rid of the cat" !!!!!!!
I informed her that the cat was here first and, on looking to home a dog, we specifically asked her that question around the dog's sociability. She did not seem happy!
We duly kept Bobby overnight and repeatedly and gently tried to re-introduce him to Billie who by now had decided she wanted nothing to do with the "intruder". We had a couple of further attempts to get both Bobby and Scamp in the same room and it clearly was not happening.
In the morning, Greg and I took Bobby back to the lady's house, reluctantly. Her main concern was that she did not want to give us our £100 back - thankfully in the contract we signed there is a trial period - and I guess it helped that my husband became a little intimidating - particularly reiterating that we had asked about the dog's history and she had been reluctant to go into detail.
So we were lucky I guess that when we got Harley, as a young pup, he had only known a harsh beginning (Greg got him from the traveller's site) and, as a pup, he was easier to integrate, immediately accepting that Scamp was boss!
Of course then he and Billie mated, had 5 puppies and 2 of those puppies remained with us (Kenzi and Ruby).
Then, when they other dogs all moved out with Jess and Gina moving from home, he only had Scamp as his companion, and since Scamp's death he has become more unsociable to most other dogs except Billie and Kenzi.
So Dan's request for a dog seemed fraught with challenges .......... until Jess's dilemma arose and a very obvious solution appeared !
We took Kenzi (or rather Dan did) and Jess was able to keep Billie (one dog/half the worry)
Harley has already calmed down again - he and Kenzi are best buddies, and there had been no need to worry about the unknown factor of how they would get along ! A peaceful, harmonious home.
All you need is love ...... and a dog (or 2!)
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