When fostering a dog doesn't work out

Last week I blogged about the positives of fostering a dog and of some of the things our dog, Bob have learnt from having another dog around. And I'll be honest with you, over the weekend we had some serious problems, but it was no ones fault other than mine for taking my eye off the ball and thinking I'd cracked it.

Having collected Rory from her failed adoption trial, I returned to firmness and kindness with her from the minute I brought her home. She was reintroduced to Bob, my husband and the home on lead and under full supervision she was let off lead and went straight to one of the dog sofa's we'd previously allowed her to sleep on.

I sat in the conservatory with the dogs, drinking tea, before putting Rory in her crate so Peter and I could head off to the beach for a couple of hours. On our return Rory was and Bob were very happy to see us, letting Bob outside first, while I fiddled around trying to open Rory's crate.

I fed both Dogs. I learnt on day one that Rory is super protective over her food, so Bob is fed as usual indoors and I fed Rory outside and sat with her. The afternoon was spent with the dogs, running around the garden, curling up to sleep and generally just both following me around. Rory was returned to the crate for bedtime, both dogs given a dental stick, radio left on low and left for the night.

Saturday morning, I let Rory out the crate and she went out to pee and poop, she then returned to the dog sofa where she lay for half an hour after her breakfast. Rory went back in her crate while we went out for breakfast and on our return she followed the same routine, but then I foolishly went to the bathroom and made a cup of tea. On my return Rory had shredded every book and magazine she could get in my absence. I didn't scold Rory I merely put her back in the crate while I tidied up.

We then sat in the garden with both dogs for the afternoon, then things got out of control, they were playing with a rope, Rory wanted it, so Peter threw a ball for Bob to distract him, Rory wanted the ball, so Bob grabbed the rope, there was nothing we could do, they fought and it was aggressive. I've never seen Bob like that before and both Peter and I were both quite frightened. I threw a bucket of water over them, I turned the hose pipe on them, I screamed at Peter not to intervene worried he would get hurt, but we knew we had to do something and opening the garage door, walking towards the dogs, eventually Peter managed to grab both dogs by the scruff of the neck and quite literally drag them apart, throwing one dog into the garage while I shut the door.

We took a few minutes to calm down and think what to do. Both dogs were injured there was blood everywhere. Peter had bruised his hand. The crate was fetched outside and Rory was put in it, Bob retreated, limping badly to his bed. I cleaned Bob's wounds and shut him in the conservatory while I made quick calls to get Rory rehoused and then went to see Rory, her bites were surface wounds, the poor girl was shaking quite badly, I was anxious about how she would respond but she came out the crate and sat on my lap, shaking and quivering, while I cleaned her up. I fed her some treats and kept apologising to her, that sadly she was no longer able to stay with us.

With Rory sitting on my lap, Peter drove us to the kennels, I was so sad to say goodbye, knowing this is probably the last time I would see her and she had to be dragged away from me, she just didn't want to go back in kennels.

I returned home and realised Bob needed the vets, he had two large puncture wounds, one to his leg and the other behind his ear, he was struggling to walk. The vets washed out his wounds and gave him antibiotic and pain killer injections and said I had to bring him back the following day for X-rays to check for a fracture, he was too traumatised to be x-rayed and the vet didn't want to have to sedate him.

So Rory is back at the vets, they called Sunday morning to say she had a good night, was eating and sleeping well and had antibiotics and pain killers, there's no lasting damage and she'll be fine.

Bob will recover and there is no long lasting damage done other than to my wallet. We will however be keeping a close eye on Bob over the coming weeks and will slowly reintroduce him to other dogs in a controlled environment.

The reality is I'm afraid that some things just don't work out and I need to put the needs of my family first.

I'm convinced with some training and the right person and a lot of love that Rory will make a great pet for someone. She needs to be the only pet in the house and with someone who is at home for most of the day and is prepared to crate her to continue the training.

We'll never fully know Rory's complete story, but she was found wandering without a collar and no microchip and no idea how long she'd been on the streets for, she has several scars over her face and body and she's obviously had a tough life.

If you or anyone you know can help out with Rory in anyway what so ever, either leave a comment below or contact DAWS directly as they are responsible for her care and continuing rising costs at the kennels.

Reasons you should adopt a dog in Dubai with Animal Tales

2 weeks ago my husband came home from work and I informed him we were going out with our dog Bob, to collect another dog to foster for 2 weeks in our home.

I'd responded to a post on Dogs in Dubai on Facebook for urgent foster homes needed for the 100's of dogs being dumped/left behind as people leave Dubai for the summer/forever.

There are certain breeds, that under Dubai law can only live in Villa's so when we arrived to meet Sarah at DAWS and the door was opened to a room and we saw Bonnie, I had no idea we'd be bringing a Pit Bull Terrier home that night.

We took Bob with us, it was important they got on. I was apprehensive on entering the room and actually stepped back out the door, until I saw how Bob was playing with Bonnie and within an hour she was in the back of our car on her way to our home for the next two weeks.

The first few days were challenging, tag teaming the cat who had to be moved into another area of the house, cleaning up pee puddles and piles of poo, stopping Bob from eating Bonnie's food as he's a quick eater and Bonnie was chewing each biscuit, unfortunately Bonnie chewed everything and there were a couple of casualties in the form of a dog bowl, a few pens, a shoe, door stop, cats toys and the cable for my laptop.

We also had issues when going for a walk, well more the coming home which was the issue. I assumed I'd walked Bonnie to far and had to carry home the last 30 meters from the gate. So I altered the route to make it shorter and again she refused to walk the last part. I walked the dogs together which was similar to maypole dancing with the leads, I walked them separately but she still sat down and refused to walk the last part.

It took Bonnie 4-5 days to settle into a routine. She sat and waited patiently for her food, she sat on command to receive a treat and went to her bed when instructed. She stopped chewing after responding to verbal discipline, the removal of the chewed item and the instruction to go to her bed.
She toilet trained with a routine of going out around 5am for an hour, again at 3pm for a few minutes and around 9pm for half an hour.

Bonnie loved the cat, however the cat didn't love Bonnie and hissed and growled causing Bonnie to back off wagging her tail. There was an altercation in which Bonnie came off worse, but like with our own dog, they would have settled over time.

There was lots of socialising and playing with humans and other dogs and Bob and Bonnie formed a bond almost immediately.

Two weeks was not long enough to work with Bonnie with human food, we shut her out the kitchen when we were cooking as she jumped up on the counter and helped herself to a cake. Bob used to pester us for food but now sits quietly under the table while we eat, again, I'm sure if we had Bonnie longer we'd be able to work on that also.

Bonnie had to go to a temporary foster home as I'm now travelling and I really hope we can find her a forever home very soon. She is gentle, loving and desperate to be loved. Bob misses her and the cat has finally come down from the top of the kitchen cupboards.

Leaving South Africa Part 1

When we moved to South Africa in January 2011 we had no idea how long we'd be staying for, other than we had a 2 year visa and we were hoping for a minimum 3 year stay to ensure the eldest child with us, completed his education.

Within the 1st 6 weeks we nearly moved back on more than a few occasions, but this was due to lack of support and help.

We knew before we moved here, that it wouldn't be our 'forever' home, but I never realised how much it would become 'home' for me.

We don't own property here, all the children and families are back in the UK, I don't have a job, but I have my voluntary work, friends, community, a sense of belonging and there will come a time when we have to say goodbye to that and move somewhere new and start again.

We have no idea when we'll be leaving or even where we'll go. Will we remain expats? Will we return to the UK? Whatever happens, when we leave South Africa, we'll leave a little bit of us behind.

When we left the UK, we knew we'd return, for visits and one day to live back there again, but when we leave South Africa there will be no going back. Yes we'll visit and have holidays, but it won't be the same. For starters we won't have visas, so our maximum stay will be 90 days and with that no bank accounts and no proof of residency a lot of the things we've benefited from such as annual membership with SAN Parks at a very good rate will no longer apply, gym membership, medical aid, etc. We will never live there again, we will only ever visit.

That makes me very sad to know that a country we embraced, called home for nearly 4 years, will no longer be home to us.