Why I Became a Dog Walker

This story is a long one and at times it goes into some very difficult and painful details about my life. To understand the person I am today and why I set up Born 2 Run Pet Care I have to explain about all the difficult details of my past. Hope you're sitting comfortably!

When I was 16 years old I attended East Durham and Houghall Community College, which is an agricultural college. I was studying a diploma in small animal care and at the time I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, I just knew I wanted to work with animals. I wasn't what you would call academic and a lot of my time at college was spent messing around with the new friends I'd made. If a subject really interested me I would put everything into it, but if I wasn't that interested then I'd just do the minimum. I used to love biology and learning about genetics, so those subjects held my attention, where as microbiology and young farm livestock didn't float my boat. With young farm livestock, I used to love lambing and looking after the calves, but as a vegetarian I was reluctant to help produce meat for the masses!

The other subject I hated was business studies. We used to look at how to set up your own groomers/kennels/cattery businesses and how to work your accounts and the law surrounding it. Now all I remember about about those lessons is doodling on my writing pad and waiting for the lesson to finish! At 16 - 18 years old I had no interest in running my own business and I thought the lessons were pointless. The idea of having the responsibility of running a business with all the paper work involved just filled me with dread!

So I left college aimless with no real job prospects as I still had no idea in what direction to go. I had no interest in the veterinary side of things, where as a lot of my friends went into practices to train as veterinary nurses. University wasn't an option as there was nothing I wanted to study at the time. Plus coming from a working class background it was harder to me to be able to afford uni. There was no point in getting into debt for something I wasn't sure about!

For work experience at college I'd gone to a rescue kennels then to an inner city community farm in Newcastle. I loved the farm, especially educating the kids about where their burgers came from! It amazed me that so many city kids had no idea where meat came from and most looked a bit ill after I'd told them it was from the cow they had just been stroking! Unfortunately the farm was closed down at the height of the foot and mouth epidemic in 2002.

I'd had a part time job in a pub since I was 16 waitressing and then on the bar once I was 18, but that ended when the pub was taken over. I had several more bar jobs but that also dried up and I found myself unemployed. It was awful. I went and signed onto the dole which was just the most depressing time. I applied for lots of kennel jobs but since I didn't drive then it was difficult to find work. After being unemployed for about 9 months I finally got a job in a local vets in the December of 2002. It wasn't really what I wanted to do but I was getting desperate and at least it was a job with animals.

I lasted there 5 months. It was hell. The pay was dreadful (about £3.20/hour, this was back in 2002/2003), the vet who owned the practice was a dragon and the other management weren't any better. It was 10 hour shifts and after a few weeks they put me on nights and weekends. Now bare in mind that I wasn't experienced as a nursing auxiliary, yet I was working nights with patients on drips an needing medication. There was one night I had a large greyhound in with parvo virus and he was very ill. He kept producing awful hemorrhagic diarrhea and he was so large and off his feet that I could barely move him to clean him up. Weekend work started at 1pm on a Saturday and you were in the building until about 1pm Monday. You went home and had to start back at 8.30am the next day.

The work depressed me, the hours depressed me and the money didn't stretch very far! I found another job at an agricultural and horticultural place near by. It was only part time but I could do full time hours when it was busy, and the pay was slightly better at £3.90/hour! My job was working in the green houses planting and harvesting, working in the fields also planting and harvesting and occasionally working in the shop selling fruit, veg and plants. It was a very physical job and when I started it in the May of 2003 the weather was lovely. All summer I worked outdoors in the field and in the greenhouse. There was no weekend work and I was much happier. When the winter arrived we were still working in the fields harvesting broccoli, cauliflower, sprouts and turnips. It was bitterly cold and we worked in ice, snow and rain. It was the fittest I'd ever been and I started to have a very weathered look about me, and I was only 20!

After that I went to work at Beamish Museum. If you've never heard of Beamish Museum, it's a living, working museum depicting life in the North East in the years 1825 and 1913. (http://www.beamish.org.uk/) As you would imagine there were a lot of mining areas in the North East at that time and a lot of the museum revolved around that. I worked in the 'Pit Village' where there was a mine, a row of original mining cottages that had been moved from Hetton Le Hole (I think...!) and rebuilt at Beamish, a Methodist church and a school. All the buildings had existed elsewhere and were moved to the museum. I loved the job. I got to dress up in period costume, bake bread in the coal ovens and talk all day to visitors! I used to talk to the kids in the school house and tell them about 1913 school days and how if they misbehaved they would get the cane!

It was the most relaxed and fun job I've ever had. All the people were great, the visitors loved to smell real bread cooking and see all the real fires and I got to talk all day, which is a strong point of mine! Unfortunately Beamish was a seasonal job and come the October I was unemployed again. I survived over the winter having to sign on again (awful!) and when spring arrived I went back to Beamish. This time round I had more responsibility. I had the keys to open up the 'village' on a morning and was in charge of the other staff when the supervisor and deputy were off. I still loved it and almost made a career out of it. When October arrived that year (2005) I was offered a winter contract, where I would stay on and work as an education officer, taking groups of children and teaching them all about local history. The only problem was that the hours weren't guaranteed and the money wouldn't be regular. I had started driving lessons at this point to needed regular money to keep them up. I also had an interview at the PDSA veterinary hospital so declined the offer.

I got the job at PDSA as an auxiliary nurse and started in the January of 2006. Again veterinary work wasn't what I wanted to do but I was missing working with animals. If it didn't work out I knew Beamish would have me back, as I kept getting phone calls from them asking me to reconsider!
PDSA offered to train me up as a Veterinary Care Assistant (VCA) which was a position with more responsibility. I would be monitoring anaesthetics and helping with radiology. I actually enjoyed the job and made some great friends there. There was weekend work, it was 1 weekend in 8 plus one bank holiday working a year. The pay was great and I thought I was set for life.

A year and a half in and I was in the middle of my studies. Myself and the other student VCA, Becki, had to cover a lot of night shifts as the night staff were short of a staff member, and my mam was very ill in hospital. This was where it all started to unravel. My mam had been on kidney dialysis since 2001 and was often ill. She also had osteoporosis and would easily break a bone if she fell. The summer and into winter of 2007 was hell. My mam was in hospital after falling down the stairs and breaking her collar bone. She also had fluid on the lungs which needed a drain in her chest and she caught MRSA. I would visit her everyday after work, I was covering night shifts, day shifts, more weekends and I was trying to complete exams and course work. I was under a lot of stress and it began to take it's toll at work. I was more moody and easily upset and one day I snapped at the head nurse after she said something to upset me. I went off into the training room to work and she followed me in. She then said "I know your mam is ill and you have a lot on but don't bring it to work. You have to respect me as I'm the head nurse" There was a lot more to the conversation but she basically said get over it, respect me or else and make this job your life. I don't know about anyone else but I believe respect is earned, not expected.
I was so upset. I left work in tears and went to the hospital to visit my mam. I didn't want her to know I was upset so I sat in the car for ten minutes putting make-up on to cover the red, blotchy skin and teary eyes. I rang my sister and told her the story and she was furious! My mam knew there was something up but I said I was fine.

After that I had no respect at all for the head nurse. She was brilliant at paper work but absolutely terrible at people management. I did my work and offered nothing extra to the job. My mam came out of hospital but in the October fell over and broke her hip. This time was worse as she needed an op on her hip. For two months she was in a hospital bed unable to walk and getting weaker. My work suffered a bit and I did try to keep it together, but some days I would just sit in the toilets and cry at how ill my mam was. The head nurse wasn't really that sympathetic but I had some great friends who supported me.

On the 10th December 2007, I had the day off work as I was supposed to be going to a Kaiser Chiefs gig that night. I was Christmas shopping when I got a call from my sister to say the hospital had called, my mam was gravely ill and we should all attend the hospital. We got there around 11am. My mam was unconscious and was suffering from a terrible chest infection. We all sat around her bed all day. Sometimes she would open her eyes and look at  us, but would then close them again. The doctors told us it didn't look good and we should expect the worse. I rang work to say that I may have to take the next day off if she was still in this condition but was told I would either have to use a holiday or call in sick. I wasn't allowed a compassionate day.

We all left the hospital around 9pm. There was no change in my mams condition and we were all tired. I'd only been in the house 15 minutes and was about to call Graeme for a chat (we'd only just got together the previous Friday) when I saw my heavily pregnant sister Tania coming up the stairs with a look on her face that I shall never forget. In that instant I knew what had happened and I pleaded with her not to tell me, but she did. My mam had died 10 minutes after we left her. I was in bits. We all were. My dad was sat down stairs looking numb. He and my mam had been married 45 years.
The pain was unbelievable. The next morning I rang work and got my friend Vicky on the phone. I simply said, "my mam died last night, can you tell Marion (the head nurse) I won't be in". Vicky started crying and told my other friend Becki who was with her what had happened, and I heard Becki getting upset.

After that it was an awful and painful run up to Christmas. The day before the funeral I went into work to take the secret santa gift in. Marion called me into the office and basically wanted a definite date when I was coming back to work. I was numb and a bit of a zombie so I was pushed into coming back on the 28th December. That was a mistake. For all of January I was a zombie, I didn't feel the emotions I should and people couldn't believe how well I was coping, only I wasn't coping at all. It all came to a head when my birthday arrived at the end of January. I received a card from my dad, and just seeing his print saying 'Love Dad' instead of my mam's beautiful handwriting saying 'love from mam and dad', broke me. For two weeks after that I barely held it together. On valentines day I was stood alone in the prep room cleaning instruments and crying my eyes out when a nurse called Kate walked in and found me in tears. She asked if I'd had an argument with Graeme or something but all I could say was "mam". I crumpled into her arms and sobbed my heart out. Kate had lost her mam some years earlier so knew how I felt. She said "I thought you were handling it too well, I did wonder if you were ok".

That night I drank a lot of brandy and cried all night. I was convinced to go to the doctors by my sister, Tania.
They signed me off on the sick and set up some sessions with a councilor. I had a two week sick note that I sent to the head nurse. When she received it she rang me and said "You'll be back after these two weeks won't you, you won't be off after that?" I was flabbergasted. Here I was in emotional turmoil having to see a bereavement councilor and all she cared about was when I was coming back to work. Marion was a woman for whom work was her life and she believed everyone should share that view. Whatever was going on in your life, she believed you left it behind when you came to work and work came first. I did not share that view and believed my family came first. I also wasn't that strong.

I was off for 6 weeks and had decided that I couldn't stand working there any longer. I was suffering from insomnia and depression and felt I was no longer in control. I was spending a lot of time in Barnard Castle with Graeme and he had asked me to move in. I tried looking for animal related work in Barnard Castle but there was nothing going. So I was stuck in a job I no longer liked with a manager I had no respect for and who had no sympathy for my situation. The insomnia had me doubting that I could monitor anaesthetics properly and I worried about the mistakes I could make. The job was changing so much and they now wanted the VCA's to work all the weekends and bank holiday as well as covering more nights. I basically became a cleaner and that's not what I signed up for.

I started speaking up in meetings when I thought things weren't being done fairly and I fell out with a night time member of staff when I saw her getting away with all sorts. Marion didn't know how to handle me, I was outspoken and spoke up when others wouldn't. I was becoming a more confident and capable person and Marion didn't like it. I was at PDSA another 2 years after that, making waves and challenging anything I thought was unfair.

The Christmas of 2009 was when Greame and I started talking about the prospect of setting up my own dog walking business. It would solve all my problems. I would get out of PDSA, I would move in with Graeme and have independence but I wasn't entirely sure I could do it. I had no idea where to start and there was already a well established Pet Care business in Barnard Castle. I was however, desperate to get out of PDSA before the new working hours came into force for the VCA's (working 12 hour shifts on weekends and bank holidays, including Christmas day. I didn't fancy working 8am to 8pm on a Christmas day in a building by myself!). So Graeme started the ball rolling in the January. He bought me some web space and built me a website (http://www.born2run-pet-care.com/). He got me on Google and on to free ads websites as well as Yell.com. All of these things I had no idea about! I started market research (well, sort of!) checking out other dog walking businesses all over the country to see what services and prices they had. I asked people I knew what they would be willing to pay for a dog walker and started putting a price list together. I felt I was qualified to be a dog walker as I had had dogs all my life, had 4 years experience as a Veterinary Care Assistant and was almost finished doing a distance learning diploma in Canine Science.

It was no secret at PDSA that I was unhappy and wanted to leave. I didn't hide it and was very open about my job hunting, but when I handed my notice in the head nurse Marion said she was surprised!! She said despite everything I was a great member of staff and excelled when given a challenge so she knew I would do well. She also said she wished we had gotten on better. At that point I could have rattled off a list of reasons why we didn't get on, but I was gracious and just agreed with her. I don't think Marion was a bad person, she just couldn't cope with the staff she had (I wasn't the only one who had run-ins with her!) and she definitely couldn't cope with me and the problems I went through. People management wasn't her strong point. She was in her 60's and I think the very young majority of nurses were a different breed to her.

I worked my months notice and left PDSA on Friday 5th March 2010. I was sad to be leaving all the great friends I'd made, and I was quite scared of going from a decent salary to a very unpredictable way of making money but I knew it was the right decision and luckily Graeme's wage would support us both. I started trading on Monday 8th March 2010 and since then the business has grown at a nice pace. I'm still not making any real money as most of it gets ploughed straight back into the business in the form of advertising and petrol costs, but I'm only 15 months in so there's still time for growth.
Hopefully I will start training with the dog training club soon to become a trainer myself, so I will be able to apply that to the business.

So if it hadn't been for everything I'd been through in the last 4 years I wouldn't be the person I am now. I would not have been confident or strong enough to set up on my own and go down the path I am now on. They say what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, and I am definitely stronger now than I've ever been! I still occasionally have very bad days where I think I've gone very wrong on my path, and wish I was still earning a decent salary every month, but then I look at what I've got now, what I'm achieving and the possibilities of what I can achieve in the future and I know I'm on the right path after all. Losing my mam at the age of 24 was heart breaking and the aftermath almost broke me. Moving out was a difficult decision but I knew it would make me happy. My dad is left living on his own but most of the family lives in the same village and I visit as often as I can. It used to be once a week but now I'm quite busy it's not so often. Being an hours drive away means I can't just pop in for a coffee!

Hopefully the business will continue to grow and one day I'll be the dog trainer and canine behaviourist that I know I can be! I just wish my mam was here to see me now.

R.I.P Margaret Wilson,

20th July 1942 - 10th December 2007

Wife to William, loving mother to Verity, Jeffery, Gordon, Andrea, Tania, Kimberley and Tamara

Missed by all xxx

The Pit Falls of Buying a Puppy

Last week was the first anniversary of the day I brought Brae home from the breeder in Doncaster (15th June). She was the first dog I've owned that I've intentionally gone out and bought. Before that I always swore that I would never own a dog that I hadn't rescued and that I would never give money to a breeder for a dog.

When I worked at PDSA you only really saw the bad examples of breeds, the back yard breeding and the problems that came with such things. Shar Pei's were prolific and many people bought them with the intention of using them as puppy machines. Many shar pei's were so badly bred that they needed eye tacking surgery (tacking up the loose skin from around the eye so that the poor puppies could actually see!) from as young as 8 weeks old and ear surgery to open up the ear canals. In extreme cases the entire ear canal would be removed as they were so prone to infection. Most shar pei's were never properly socialised and would be dog and people aggressive. 

It was a sad sight to see and there was nothing to we could do to stop it. One client even said that the breeder has specifically said that the shar pei puppy they were buying would need eye and ear surgery! When the client said they were PDSA clients the breeder said "Oh well, it'll be free then".

For those of you who don't know what the PDSA do exactly, it's a charity vets who cater for those on means tested benefits. They try and promote good pet ownership by having a '3 pet rule'. This means you can only register 3 pets and then have to wait 6 months after removing a pet before you can add another one. This is a great idea in principle but is widely misused. They also have a rule that if you have intentionally bred your dog that they will not offer any services to do with the care of that pregnancy. This again was widely misused as most people knew that if they turned up on the doorstep with a dog that was struggling in labour, we were obliged to help. This usually would result in a c-section which can be a long and complicated operation. The "breeder" could then say that they did not want the bitch spayed after the section so that she was fit to carry more pups in the future. Breeder got a free c-section that would have cost them hundreds of pounds at a private vets, they got to take home an entire bitch and 5, 6 or more pups that they planned on selling for 'X' amount of money. PDSA would receive a donation of perhaps £20 (if that) and the system was absolutely abused. After working there for 4 years I was completely jaded and cynical, but those stories are for another day!!

Back to the subject. After leaving PDSA to move down to Barnard Castle I had set ideas about breed specific genetic issues, bad breeding, aggressive dogs due to lack of socialisation and greedy breeders who didn't care about the welfare of dogs. I even had a dislike for a lot of collies, as most of the ones I'd seen were aggressive and unpredictable due to bad breeding, lack of training, exercise and socialisation.
I moved to Barnard Castle in March 2010 and started agility lessons in April 2010 with Brenna. This was where my eyes were opened to the possibility that not all collies were aggressive and unpredictable!! Watching a well trained border collie negotiate an agility course is an amazing thing and I was quickly addicted! My trainer has a blond Merle coloured collie called Moxie, and he is the nicest dog I've ever met. In the agility training area he mostly ignores other dogs and people as he is so focused on working, but out of the agility area he come and sees you, gives kisses, sticks his nose in your pocket after treats and is generally just gorgeous! He's an absolute star when it comes to agility and makes me feel that I'm in good hands at that club as he is so well trained.

As I met other collies who were well trained, well socialised and well bred, it didn't take long before I was well and truly bitten by the agility bug and had a seed planted in my mind that I wanted a collie pup. This was a difficult idea to come to terms with as I was so against breeders and paying money for a puppy. I felt guilty as there are so many dogs in rescue centers that are in need of loving homes, and there I was thinking about adding to the whole problem of breeders.
Graeme was not at all keen at first on the idea of a puppy. He's always had collies but they've always been rescue dogs whom he'd acquired as quite well trained adults. I explained that I wanted a puppy to train from scratch without the problems of a rescue dog. Brenna was doing well at agility but she came with her own set of issues and problems which can be hard work.

Eventually Graeme said that he would actually quite like a puppy, which was all I needed to hear and I started searching for a suitable puppy! I was adamant I wanted a well bred, well brought up dog whose parents had been eye tested, had good hip scores and were well looked after, so I started my research. I got in touch with local collie breeders, most of which were agility people, but there were no litters available, or if there were they only had dogs left and I wanted a bitch. I also had an image in my head of what I wanted the puppy to look like. I wanted a classically marked black and white bitch, with more white on her around the shoulders and face with a good stripe on her forehead. I never thought that I'd actually find one that perfect, but I could hope!

I started looking on the Internet for litters that were almost ready in the north area. I picked a few out, called to inquire and organised a visit. This was the point I realised how many unscrupulous breeders there are out there. I had my questions ready about the parents, tests done, worming history, environment the puppies were brought up in, etc. I was armed with information about collie eye anomaly (CEA) and hip dysplasia among other known border collie problems. If I was paying money for a dog I wanted a genetically healthy one!

The first litter I went to see were in Mexbourgh in Doncaster, and were about 2 weeks old. We arrived in a rather rough looking council estate to a house adorned with England flags and football paraphernalia. Now I have no problems with council estates for I myself was brought up in a council house and in fact my dad still lives there now as a council tenant, but this did not fill me with confidence.
We were greeted at the gate where a blue Merle border collie was barking furiously at us. This was the father of the puppies. He was nervous of us, growled and backed away. Not really a good role model for developing pups. His nervousness and furious barking at strangers would imprint itself to some extent upon the pups and there was your first problem to deal with in your new puppy.

Mummy dog was much calmer and greeted us well, which was a good sign, however if she was a full breed border collie, I would eat my hat, as they say! She was very short legged and had an odd shaped head. No doubt one of her parents was a collie, but I wouldn't like to guess at what the other one was! I know there is a big variation in the looks of collies, but this to me was a cross breed and Graeme had the same thought. The lady of the house assured us she was a full collie but had no proof. The dogs were not KC (kennel club) or ISDS (international sheep dog society) registered, there was no tests done, they were a bit vague about the worm and flea treatment, but wanted £250 for the puppy! We were told they would be ready at 6 weeks old, but any decent person know that puppies shouldn't leave mum until 8 weeks old. Puppies and mum were in a crate in the hallway by the door, the house was filled with the smell of smoke and the sound of football anthems and alarm bells were ringing in our heads!

We politely said we'd think about it and let them know and left in a hurry! On the way back from Doncaster we stopped off at Leyburn, North Yorkshire, where we had an appointment to see anther litter. So we arrived at a farm and were met by the owner. All seemed well until she took us out the back to see her dogs. She had several collies, miniature pincher's and Pomeranians. The collies were working dogs, others were for breeding and showing apparently. Most were barking and some were growling.

We were shown a mother dog and her pups who were 8 weeks old and ready to go. The mother dog was agitated, panting and walking around in a circle. She'd been pacing so much that she had a path worn out in the grass. This of course did not look good to me and I was instantly on edge. In the next part of the paddock there was older collie pups running around and more miniature pincher's. I asked why the mother of the 8 week old puppies was pacing in a circle and was told that she'd always done that after starting off her life in a small flat where she never got any exercise. The bitch was then re-homed to the lady with the farm and was used for breeding. This was enough to make me think that any puppy I got from here would be riddled with behavioural problems already. Can you imagine what those puppies had learned from their stressed and agitated mother? There I was holding an absolutely gorgeous 8 week old puppy and a part of me wanted to take it, just to get it away from this environment, but the other, more sensible part was saying no.
I asked about worm and flea treatment, yes that was done, no, the parents weren't tested for hip dysplasia or CEA, yes they were KC registered but weren't willing to show us papers. More alarm bells. When I asked to be reminded of the price of the puppies I was told £400, however they had been advertised at £250. More alarm bells. The lady then said that she would let me have the bitch I was holding for £250 but I'd get no KC papers. That was enough to make me put the poor little puppy down and leave.

Graeme couldn't believe that I'd had the will to say no to a tiny puppy and walk away, but the feeling in my guts told me not to get a puppy from here unless I wanted a long list of problems to sort out. In short I believe it was more a puppy farm where they were just churning out puppies and selling them to anyone willing to buy. So far no one had asked if I'd had a collie before, what exercise I would be able to give it, whether or not I'd be leaving it for hours a day or if I intended working it or not. These are all questions I would certainly be asking any prospective owner of any puppy I bred.

So we returned home and felt a bit disheartened. My worst fears about breeders had been realised and I wasn't sure I'd ever find a decent one.

The following weekend we went to see some more puppies at a place near Consett. We arrived to a farm house and yard to find 20+ kennels in this large yard, every kennel having 2 or 3 collies in it. I couldn't believe my eyes. The lady who owned them ran a B&B from the farm house, worked part time as a cleaner and apparently still had time to walk and see to 40 plus collies. The noise was unbelievable and most looked frantic in their kennels. I asked the lady how long she'd been a breeder and she said "oh, I'm not a breeder, these are all pets". I was not convinced. She had a black and white bitch for sale, about 12 weeks old. She said she'd had this litter as she was desperately trying to breed a red Merle collie. Perhaps that's why she had so many! No vaccinations, no KC or ISDS reg, no worm and flea treatment, no way was I taking this puppy. She wanted £250 for this cute little black and white spotted girl but said if she didn't sell her she'd use her for breeding, again trying to get that elusive red Merle collie.
I left there pretty angry that all those dogs were destined for a life of being in a kennel breeding. Again no questions were asked about my intentions and capability of owning such a demanding breed. I reported them to the website I found them on for being a puppy farm.

(I realise that this post is quite a big read and I apologise if I have bored you! I just feel this story should be told!).

So again we returned puppy-less. I was fed up by this point. We looked on the net again for any suitable puppies. There was one advert I'd by-passed several times as I thought the price was too high at £350. I didn't want to spent that much (again the feeling that I shouldn't be giving money to breeders!) but Graeme reminded me that you get what you pay for and perhaps this one was worth the money. The picture on the advert certainly had caught my eye and the puppy looked stunning and just how I had imagined my dog would look. There was two pictures, one was a bitch, one was a dog and I hoped the perfect looking puppy eating a chew was the bitch. The description was encouraging, the parents were KC and ISDS registered, they had been hip scored, eye tested and mum had been kept up to date on worm and flea treatment during pregnancy.

Graeme encouraged me to call the lady up and inquire so I did just that. The lady sounded lovely and was called Linda. Yes the female puppy was still there as she had been promised to a lady in America but Linda was having second thoughts about shipping the puppy off. The gorgeous picture of the puppy eating a chew was indeed the bitch! Linda said she would give me a ring when it was decided what was happening. The next day I sent her a text saying that I was very interested and would love to come and visit the puppy. Not long after that I got an email saying the puppy was mine if I wanted her after a visit, as the journey to America would be too stressful and too hot for the puppy. I was so excited! The next day Graeme finished work early, I prepared the house for the arrival of a puppy and felt absolutely positive that this one was the one for me.

We traveled down to Sykehouse in Doncaster to visit the puppy. The house was beautiful and a working farm. The parents of the puppy were in the yard and the two remaining puppies were playing in the garden. They were stunning looking puppies, with the male puppy being a lovely chunky boy! The bitch was smaller but beautiful. We took the female pup into the house and I started with my questions. Everything I asked there was a good answer too. Linda got out all of her paperwork to do with the parents. I saw pedigree papers, hip scoring results, eye test results, ISDS papers and a family tree of each dog. A lot of the puppies she had in the past went on to be working dogs, flyball dogs or agility champions. I was asked questions about my house, the garden, my job, my intentions for doing agility etc etc. I was there over 2 hours and I think we both ticked each others boxes when it came to questions and answers! The puppy did sleep in a kennel but was in the house during the day and house training had started. She was up to date with worm and flea treatment and had met lots of people and different animals. I was satisfied that she was the one for me and said yes, we'll take her! We filled in the paperwork and Linda took a picture of us with the puppy. She said she liked to have a reminder of the people who had taken her pups. We now have  copy of one of those pictures in a frame in the living room. Linda sent us it when she sent Brae's ISDS registration.

Brae looking adorable!

 

So that was that. We took Brae home the same day. We were given a bag of food that she'd been on mixed with natural yogurt and egg. The pups had had a very varied diet! I was reminded that not all breeders were just in it for money and that some care deeply about the puppies and the homes they go to. I still send Linda updates every now and then to let her know how Brae is getting on.

I was inspired to think about this again after keeping up to date with A Sheep Dogs Diary's blog (http://asheepdogdiary.blogspot.com/) and updates on Twitter (https://twitter.com/#!/asheepdogdiary). One of their collies gave birth to 8 puppies on 5th May 2011 (the octopups!) and since then the blog and Twitter updates have been inspiring. The lady behind it all is so utterly dedicated to those puppies and when mummy dog struggled to feed pups after she was ill, she spent long hours hand feeding the puppies day in day out. The puppies have listened to a CD of traffic noises, been out in the car over cattle grids, met other dogs, met lots of people, met other animals and have been well handled. They were introduced to a collar and lead recently and already have started house training. Those puppies had homes set up and they will be leaving with the best possible start, all wormed and ready to go!! Anyone getting one of the octopups will be very lucky. How many breeders would do half of those things with their puppies? Not many I bet. It's been a lovely reminder about the good people in world who love their dogs and will make an extra effort to make sure that those puppies go out into the world with a good level of socialisation and training.

My faith has been restored and if I ever did decide to have puppies from Brae I will try and be as dedicated and knowledgeable as A Sheepdog Diary has been.

Millie's Story Part 2, Introducing Brenna!

(Please see previous blog for the beginning of this story!)

After a few months I decided to get another dog. I started looking in Dogs Trust in Darlington, but I didn't see any that would suit our household. My dad was in his late 60's and would be walking my dogs for me during the day when I was at work so I couldn't get too young a dog or one that would be too boisterous or demanding. I almost took on an 8 year old golden retriever, but my dad wasn't keen on having such a large, hairy dog in the house! I looked at a working cocker spaniel and a red setter cross but both were already spoken for.

After many visits to Dogs Trust, finally I spotted a small collie cross. She was in a kennel with a border collie puppy so she wasn't getting a lot of attention! Graeme and I both liked the look of her, she was friendly and sat when we asked her to sit! We took her details and went to the office to find out about her.
She hadn't been assessed yet as she'd only just come in, but her card said she was roughly 6 months old. I was a bit unsure about taking on a one so young, but I thought we'd give her a try. She didn't have any history as she was picked up as a stray in Ireland, moved to Glasgow and then to Darlington Dogs Trust so her age was just an estimate from the staff. We were told she would have to be assessed before we could walk her, so they took our details and we ventured home.

A few hours later I got a call from a member of staff at Dogs Trust saying they'd assessed her. Their view of her was that she was young, had no training but got along with other dogs. I was reluctant but Graeme liked the look of her, so we went to walk her. We took Millie along so that she could meet her if we were wanting to keep the little black dog.
So we arrived and took 'Jody', as the staff had named her, for a walk. She was a bit nervous and spooked at a noise, but other than that she was so well behaved! There was no pulling on the lead, she sat when we asked her and seemed quite calm. I wasn't convinced that this was a 6 month old puppy with no training so I checked her teeth. What I found told me that she was at least 2 years old! The plaque was thick and all of her teeth were discoloured, which I had never seen on a 6 month old dog!

We walked back to the centre and told them she was as good as gold and that we'd like to introduce her to Millie. I casually said that I thought she was older but they still wanted to class her as a puppy. I went to get Millie and myself and a staff member introduced them on the lead. They sniffed each other and wagged tails. There was no growling so bared teeth, so we were allowed to walk them together.

We walked them both around the field and they got on really well! We decided she was the one for us.

Millie on the left, Brenna on the right the day we walked her at Dogs Trust

We told the staff we loved her and we sorted out details. As I worked in a vets I didn't need a home visit, just a recommendation from the head vet. It would be a week before we could take her home as we had to attend a meeting with a member of staff and have a "puppy talk". It was a long week waiting to have her home with me, knowing that she was in a kennel when she didn't have to be! We hadn't decided on a name, but Graeme had done some research and came up with a list of names, including Pookie, Ebony and Brenna. The last one struck me and it instantly fit! Brenna is an Irish Gaelic word meaning 'little Irish raven' or 'raven haired', and since she was from Ireland and was all black it fitted well!

The following Sunday finally arrived and we went to collect her. I had bought everything ready, including new collar and lead, new indoor kennel (I wasn't sure what her house training was like, but as it turned out she was well trained), food bowls and bed. We attended the 'puppy meeting' (which none of it applied as I knew she wasn't a puppy!) then waited for her to be brought out. Unfortunately she had caught kennel cough while waiting for us and couldn't be vaccinated or neutered, but because of where I worked and the experience I had I could take her home and sort out vaccinations and neutering later. She was on antibiotics for the kennel cough, which didn't seem too bad.

So we put her in the boot of the car and Greame sat in the back to make sure she'd didn't panic or jump onto the back seat. As it turned out she was good as gold in the car! Not a bark or a whimper!!

We brought her into the house to see Millie and the two of them hit it off from the start!

Brenna on her first day in her new home. She was loving from the beginning!

We took them both on a good walk that afternoon and walked to the next village, Cotherstone. She was so well behaved and you could see that she really enjoyed being out of the kennel! We popped into the Red Lion pub in Cotherstone for a drink and the bar man couldn't believe we'd only just brought her home that day. He said she looked like she'd been with us for years. We couldn't believe we'd found such a super little dog.

However her kennel cough got worse as the first week went on and she became quite ill with it. Luckily Millie had already been vaccinated against kennel cough otherwise I'd have had two poorly dogs! Brenna was almost choking with the cough and was producing very think mucus which sprayed everywhere when she sneezed! It took 3 different courses of antibiotics to clear it up, which can be common as kennel cough is caused by several different bacteria.
Finally she was back to full health and she got her vaccinations. A few weeks after that we could spay her. I took her into work and we put her under anaesthetic. She was in a cradle on her back, intubated with my friend Jennie Doig clipping her stomach up ready, when Brenna woke up and tried to jump off the table!
We're not sure what happened but she had to have gas until she was asleep again! My friend Tanya was doing the surgery and she was already nervous about operating on my dog!!

Finally Brenna was ready for the surgery to begin. After  30 minutes Tanya called me into the theatre. She said she'd looked and looked but could not find a uterus. Brenna did have a small scar on her stomach so it was apparent that she had already been spayed and that it was some time ago. Another reason to believe that Brenna was an adult of at least 2 years old.
She came round after her surgery and recovered well. However a few days later there was some swelling on her wound. The wound itself was healing well but there was a lump at each end. She was allergic to the knots in the suture material! Her body was attacking the suture material as it was foreign and causing swelling and infection. She had to be put under anaesthetic again and the offending material removed. She was stitched with different material and put on more antibiotics!

Brenna posing

So that's how Brenna came into my life. She just slotted in like she'd been here forever. She is a loving little dog but is not without her problems. She's nervous of other dogs, she has a penchant for running off when she feels threatened and if cornered will show nervous aggression. She was attacked by two GSD in the first 6 months with me which only reinforced her nervousness around bigger, more boisterous dogs. She has a strong chase instinct and if not controlled will go after rabbits, deer and squirrels and not come back until she's ready.

Brenna and Millie are very close

In March 2010 I moved to Barnard Castle and started up Born 2 Run Pet Care. The move wasn't too traumatic for the dogs as I'd been living between my dad's and Graeme's for over 2 years. I started agility with her in April 2010 to try and build her confidence and help her with socialisation. She is doing really well, but is so sensitive that even if I say 'no' too sharply or show any sign of frustration, she refuses to do anything, just stands there licking her lips. On some occasions she will jump over the wall at the training ground and run off if she feels it's all too much for her.  I have to adjust my training methods and try to be happy and light at all times. The trainers all understand Brenna's needs and tailor the training for her.

Brenna and I at our first agility competion

She's brilliant but hard work sometimes, but that's all part of who she is. She tests my knowledge and skill a lot of the time and I have to constantly find new ways to train her so that it's always light, fun and well rewarding. She's a star and my little Irish Raven :-)