In the end I didn’t take Jez to Devizes last Tuesday. I looked at the weather forecast on Monday and phoned to postpone it. Which was a good job, as the road I have to take across Salisbury Plain was closed due to flooding on Tuesday morning. So we’re going tomorrow – the weather this week is much better. She will be in most of the day, but I’ve decided to take my Nintendo DS and a couple of books and sit and wait – although I might nip into Devizes for a coffee and a bite of lunch at some point. I’m hoping that if they know I’m waiting there they will deal with her fairly early on – but no doubt I’ll be there all day.
Jez herself has been up and down again this week. Some days she seems worse than others – quite stiff and skipping a lot of steps. Then the next day she’ll be fine. We’ve been slowly increasing her exercise as it’s now been 2 months since her operation so her leg should have healed, although it will still hurt at times. So she’s been enjoying herself over the heath and in the woods (although still on the lead all the time). She met one of her special friends, a spaniel cross, on Thursday and we let them have a play.
The big news, though, is that we’ve been thinking more and more seriously about another dog as company for her. So this week I phoned the RSPCA centre that she came from. At first they said they would not rehome with a staffy, but the next day they phoned me back and said that as they knew we’d socialised her well they would make an exception for the right dog (but not another staffy). So Friday we went up there. Originally I was going to go and if there were any dogs there of interest (they only have a few available for adoption and only 2 looked possibilities) I would take her back the next day with Chris. In the end we both went and took Jez, so that Chris could walk her up there while I looked at dogs, and she would be there if we wanted to introduce her to one and see how they got on.
And so I met Patch – or Mad Max as we like to call him. Patch hadn’t been on the website so I was surprised to see him in their adoption book. They said he’d only become available within the hour as they found out that the woman who was going to adopt him had changed her mind and not let them know! Anyway, Patch is a 6 month old Springer Spaniel who needs a home as his owner has had to move into a flat.
I fell in love with him straight away. So as soon as Chris came back we introduced him and Jez – and they get on really well. Of course, they have their moments. Patch (lets call him Max shall we – he’s definitely a Max) is a toy guarder, and snapped at Jez when she went to take the toy he had. But they very quickly sorted themselves out again. So we reserved him and are into the 3 visits over 4 days routine prior to adoption.
We went back yesterday and they had a good run round in the big pen – the first time Jez had been allowed to run off lead since October. I’m not sure we’re supposed to let her yet, but it was in a good cause. It’s stiffened her up this morning, but otherwise she seems ok. Anyway, they had a good run round and play, and got on fine. Then we were allowed to take him out for a walk. That hadn’t been possible the day before as he’s just been neutered and still had his stitches in. So off we went. He’s a nightmare on a lead – I can’t believe his previous owner ever tried to train him- and as a spaniel he should be relatively easy to train (more so than our very stubborn little staffy). He pulls worse than Jez! She meanwhile was trotting along on her lead as good as gold. After the walk we took them into another small enclosed area and they had another spat – Jez did not think much of him continually trying to mount her, so had a good snarl at him. It was over in a second though, he backed off, and they were back to normal. But as the RSPCA handler said, he has to be told! Anyway, here’s some photos from yesterday…
So today we went back for a third visit, and that went really well. I invited Dad up too as he’s really unsure about this idea of another dog – I thought it would put his mind at rest. Pat was invited too, but didn’t want to come. As soon as they saw each other the two dogs were straining on the leads to meet, which was good. We started with a good run round in the big run. I’ve taken a bit of video, but only on my small camera, so excuse the quality.
Then we went for another walk. Chris took Jez out the front while I just cleared it with reception, and while I had Max there he saw Jez outside and was whining to go out to join her. He was a nightmare to walk again, especially after he’d been allowed to splash around in water and mud, when he got a bit hyper (well, he is still a pup). Then it was back to the Centre for another run round, and finally, when Jez’s leg was clearly starting to play up, we took then into the smaller viewing area. Today we had no trouble at all – although there was a lot of play dominance going on. They seem to be getting the measure of each other more. And when Max tried to mount Jez she just moved off and he stopped. I had to laugh at one point though – she was on her back and he straddled her (see the photo below) and she just bought her back legs up underneath him and kicked him off! So, here are today’s photos…
The Centre is closed tomorrow, and anyway I’m taking Jez to the vet. But Max will have his final vet check (he’s had his op plus a bit of an ear mite problem). If all’s well we hope to bring him home on Tuesday, as we’ve been told we don’t need another home visit (since Jez’s follow up visit was less than 12 months ago). Then the fun begins! Especially as our friends Eric & Maria are supposed to be coming to stay Wednesday night.
I’ll let you know how it all goes.
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