Eric is Bananaman!

*Extremely long post, get a drink.*

After last week with Scottish runs in the car, I then had to go to the other end of the country to Devon.  This time for 2 funerals.  This has made me extremely sad.  One 53 and one 64 and 4 months off of retirement.  My heart is really heavy at present.  Cancer has really strangled the life out of 2016.

I am therefore going to blog about something happy.

Way back in May, we went to the Blue Cross to ask them to pencil us in for a home visit, for us to adopt a pet(s).  We knew that we would need the work on the house to be finished before we could have them around, but we had no idea how far in advance we would have to have the home visit before we could take the new family member home with us.

After looking on line for a long time, I had noticed that older male cats seem to stay a long time at the shelter.  Many the faithful companion of an older person that has died.  I had therefore set my heart on having such a pet.

Amazingly, all of the cats that could be adopted, were reserved, or in the case of the kittens and Mamas were not ready to be homed.  The lady was ever so nice and told us to try another shelter in Gloucestershire.  I had a cracking headache, as I had got myself in a tizzy, because I get a bit tearful about shelter animals.  I was ready to go home then, as I had built myself up to having someone come and tell us if we and our house, were fit to have a pet.  I know it sounds crazy, but their approval was very high on my stress level at the time.

We sat in the car, I had a sigh of relief, when Posh Boy turns to me and says, "I want to go to the other shelter and register.  I want to do it today and get it over with".  With another sigh, I agreed.

When we got to this shelter, the noise was incredible, barking, barking, barking.  My heart dropped, whilst my head pounded.

At the reception desk, we asked about adoption and home visits.  The lady said there was paperwork to complete.  I started to fill the paperwork in, when we overheard someone in the back office discussing animals that were hard to rehome.  Of course, this made my hearing extra keen.  I know rude, of me.  The lady asked us, the normal questions. do you have children? do you have other pets? do you have a garden?.  No, no, yes.  A lady with a clip board came out and marked the wipe board with a blue and green marker.  I asked the Receptionist. what are the markers.  "They are the animals we are finding it hard to rehome.  They cant live with children or other animals".

Now as a normal person, my heart lept into my throat, one of those animals had to be for us.  

The receptionist, took us through the door and pointed out the cat area, the dog area and the small pets.  Posh Boy, asked her "where are the ones on the board?".  She gave a Mona Lisa smile and took us to the dog area.  I looked at Posh Boy, eyes wide, I hadnt thought about a dog.  We walked past a lot of dogs, VERY BIG dogs.  Huskies, some ones I dont know what they were, which you could have put a saddle on.  And then stopped in front of 4 kennels.  All small dogs, as we had ticked small animal on the form, me thinking cat.

Two lovely Patterdale Terriers rushed the fencing, barking and throwing themselves at the door.  One was baring its teeth.  The lady said they used to live together we would like them to go as a pair.  As we hadnt discussed a dog, I looked at Posh Boy for his lead.  "We would only take one dog", he said. 

We moved to the next door.  A Border Collie mixed with a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, pure muscle.  All I could think was, 'thats a dog that will never tire or be happy with the amount of walks it got'.  I shook my head.  

Next door, where was the dog?  I got down real low and in the far back corner was a flash of tanned coloured fur.  We called and tried to cox the dog to the door.  It came half way and dropped to the floor and was shaking.

A volunteer came over and opened the door and went straight in and then put the lead on the dog, who immediately perked up and trotted out.  And then we saw him.  Cute as a button.  Border Terrier, crossed with a Jack Russell.

Meet Eric.

We went to an enclosed paddock, the volunteer, was saying that he had 'Other Dog' aggression, meaning, he barked, threw himself around and generally did not like other dogs.  In the paddock, he stood there just shaking.  I ran about calling him to try and get him to follow, nothing.  I threw the ball, nothing.  He cowered in the corner.  My heart sank.  As soon as I had seen his little face, I knew he had to come home with us.  But could we have a dog that shook and then was aggressive with other dogs.  We said we had to think about it and that we would be back the next day.

We went back the next day, armed with treats, strong hearts, after much talking into the night.  Was a dog right for us?

When we got there, the Volunteer took us straight to his kennel.  He ran at the fence and whined to come out.  In the paddock he trotted after me and chased the ball when I ran with him.  

"We'll take him".

And the rest as they say is history.  The first few weeks were awful.  He barked crazily at the door bell, (still does, we are working on it).  He barked and pulled and whined to get to other dogs on walks.  He freaked out and cried if you left the room.  When out, he barked he would lunge at cyclists, or runners.  Anyone in lycra or high viz jackets.  Much of what I had read about on one of my favourite gardening blogs {HERE}.  Pretty much everything Judy from this blog barked at, so does Eric.

I am pleased to say that, Eric, is now able to be near other dogs.  Whilst on the lead he will still pull towards them and bark.  But his tail is wagging and he wants to play.  He every so often barks at cyclists, especially if he hasnt heard them approaching.  He growls at the TV if a dog comes on, be it the cartoon dogs on the Sky TV advert, Nigel the dog on Gardeners World, or the dreaded wild life programmes that may show a SQUIRREL.  Oh My Goodness, squirrels on the TV send him crazy, he cries and if they go off the screen either side he runs into the garden and bounces around like Pepe Le Pew looking for them.

He has also gained a kilo in weight and the Vet says he is spot on now.

What I will say, is Eric is a completely different dog, when not on the lead.  We went to Cornwall for some respite from the building works.  Oh yeah I forgot to say, 2 weeks after he arrived they took the roof off the house.  Remember I said he didnt like high viz, he also was scared of the builders and would hid and try and dig the floor out in the corner of the lounge.  After lots of treats, he was ok with the builders. In Cornwall we saw family, who are super confident and their dog very calm.  We went to a dog friendly beach and met up with them.  There was quite a bit of barking, the other dog just sat there and ignored him.  He finally calmed and my MIL leant over and unhooked his lead, he took off like a bat out of hell towards the sea, the other dog in hot pursuit.  I was SCARED TO DEATH.

Then they turned and ran back to us and sat down.  Nothing.  No aggression, no barking.  Nothing.  The angels sang, the sun came out, all was well in the world.

Here they are at MIL farm.

Who would have thought it?  I never thought that he would ever be able to do this.  (after a haircut...  Tidier)

Like Judy, Eric has had 3 other owners.  I now think that they all lived in a town, and his barking and lunging at other dogs, bikes, anything really that scared him, is the reason he was given to the shelter.  We are lucky to live surrounded by fields that we are allowed to walk in.  He loves it.

He is also the reason I didnt put up to many pictures of the renovation.  As he loved to photo bomb.

There you have it.  Something with a happy ending.

Welcome Eric, we love you!  Welcome Home!