Gill Tuxworth Ltd Canine Consultant T/A Top Dog

5th January 2010

I awoke the next morning and Jed was still quiet, had something happened to him in the night, was the stress of carrying him into the house just too much for him?

Why do we worry?

I came downstairs, let our dogs outside, went into the kitchen without glancing in Jed’s direction opened his crate door and he shot out into the garden with the rest of the dogs. That was the easy part, how was I going to get him back inside? It was literally freezing out there and not even a new dog would keep our pack outside when they had done ‘their duty’.

Getting Jed in was so easy, Jake, our German shorthaired pointer, came back inside closely (and I mean very closely) followed by Jed. Jake came into the kitchen and Jed shot into his crate soon to be joined by Toby, then Megan ( brother and sister Jack Russell x Yorkshire terriers) who hadn’t had the luxury of a crate for quite some time and were determined to share it. Jed was happy to be safe in the back of the crate with his two new friends guarding the entrance.

I carried on my normal morning routine and although I was desperate to keep an eye on Jed I knew that I had to just ignore him……which as we all know is easier said than done but I just did it. I really had to practice what I preach and it would do me (and our dogs) good to apply 101% AB for Jed’s sake.

Feeding time for the dogs was interesting as we gesture ate for them all and as Toby and Megan came out of the crate for their food I popped Jed’s meal in the crate, fastened the door and stood back, playing at the kitchen sink whilst watching his reflection in the kitchen window. He ate every morsel and I removed his bowl and left the crate door open. Jake ‘asked ‘to go outside so, I opened the door and all the dogs went out with Jed following close on Jakes tail.

This was going to be the key to Jed’s rehabilitation.

A still very worried Jed pictured in his bed in the living room

I called the dogs back inside and, true to form, Jake came in and Jed followed.

The day went well and Jed just followed Jake until Jake came inside without Jed noticing resulting in Jed going frantic in the garden racing around and circling flower pots and beds. It was a sorry sight to see. I asked Jake to go outside and fetch Jed in……… and he did it……… really, I opened the door wide and indicated for Jake to go outside and when Jed saw him he attached himself to his shadow and happily came inside. Poor Jed, he lay in his crate and his head was moving to the rapid beat of his heart!

Night followed day, as it does, and Jed began to get used to the routine and was spending more time in ‘his’ bed, which Lily gave up a little reluctantly, in the sitting room only retiring to the kitchen at bed time to avoid any destruction and soiling in the sitting room. Jed played at night and as we lay in bed we could hear him throwing toys around the kitchen, maybe this was the only time he felt ‘safe ‘ enough to play. If we left toys with him he was less likely to destroy anything else in the kitchen although he still soiled every night.

After about two weeks Jed was showing signs of relaxing a little and would approach us, when we were sitting and quiet, to sniff and occasionally lick our limbs. We, of course, ignored this, but with great difficulty as we really wanted to stroke him and show our growing love for him.

It was about this time that we heard that his owner, the vet who rescued him had found him a new home!

We had to make a realistic judgement now and not let our hearts rule our heads. Would his new home give him that extra something that we could not? Would he have canine company and would he get more attention (although this would not be a good thing at this time but may be in the future) than he could get from us as we had to divide our attention between six dogs.

This was a real dilemma for us and it was so difficult to object because he wasn’t our dog and his rightful owner, as we were constantly reminded by a Dog Listener who would support his new owners, had the right to move him where she wanted.

It was at this point that we realised how much we did love him and that we would do whatever it took to keep him, believing that this was the correct decision for him.

I tried to get in contact with his owner but was unable to speak to her, as I found out later, she was so busy setting up and opening a new veterinary practice herself and barely had time to eat and sleep let alone speak to someone whose name she didn’t recognise.

Thankfully Jan Fennell , the original Dog Listener,managed to get to speak to her, explained Jed’s circumstances and assured her that he was receiving the rehabilitation he required and at last he was happy amongst a pack that understood and cared for him.

I have often heard it said that ‘it is not what you know but who you know that matters’ and we shall be forever grateful to Jan for enabling us to keep Jed.

It was agreed that Jed could stay with us but we’ll never know whether he was as happy and relieved as we felt! We hope so.

A great cloud had had been lifted and we settled into life with our pack of six dogs and one very special foster dog Luna. Jed pictured safely behind Luna