Old George is getting a rescue dog!

Dear Thorn,

Sometimes Fate decrees something good should happen. Being given Lu was the best thing for thirty years in my life. Good for me, and good for the little dog. I am not at all sure that winning the Lottery would have brought more bliss!

Best wishes from George

 

Money can’t buy you love George. Show a dog love and attention and they give it back many times over. I love your updates and I’m so glad it’s worked out for both of you.

Cheers BB

 

IMG_1604 by George Johnson, on Flickr

The gentle old giant, and the gentle giant sized character.

Lu is the boss in this unequal relationship, simply by being at the old Lurcher's level of energy when with him. They adore each other. Buck is ten and now quite slow, and Lu is two in a fortnight. Yet having only met on Wednesday, they hit it off immediately. No yapping or growling. It is fair to say that Lu was not impressed to be on the lead when I had Buck on another lead. She simply pulled and was a right royal terrier pain in the arshbacken.. But that was a first for her and she got over it by day two. I have been walking Buck, because his owner had a hernia op.

Halcyon days!

Lu continues to surprise me with brilliant quick-silver responses to new situations, and she seems to handle everything with a sagacity that would be surprising even in a genial human.

Best wishes from George

PS: Picture taken at the north end of the Bromyard Downs [at Norton] on the old Race Course. Horse racing along a straight flat has been going on for centuries, but died out in the mid-nineteenth century in Bromyard.

 

Lu has done something I would never have thought possible. She has made me happy. Since Covid started [and I had close call with it in March 2020 and nearly was forced into hospital though I point blank refused, and had three vaccinations though declined the fourth one] and the bloody Ukraine invasion by Russia left me on the verge of serious depression. Not to mention the state of the UK and our government.

But somehow I cannot be serious for very long these days. If I am a bit down, Lu snuffles into my hand and insists that I attend to her pressing need for some TLC. Of course she has completely up-ended my life in a good way. I probably did the same for her, and now we are a true partnership. When necessary she does what I ask, and I always do what she asks, in her gentle attentive way. I am blessed to have such a companion.

I just hope that I outlive her. Nothing else matters more by now.

Best wishes from George

 

I have discovered Lu's achilles heal: Toddlers.

So confident with kids, adults, and other dogs and also cats, she showed real panic when faced with two toddlers this week. She was on the lead, but the toddlers were loose. She ran onto my boots and shook like Saint Vitus in overdrive. Sheer panic. Not aggressive, but dad please save me from these little people.

She was still shaking ten minutes later in my house.

I called the lady who gave me Lu, and she explained. Her former foster daughter [who was Lu's first owner] had a nephew, who would torment her by dragging her about by a back leg or tail. I doubt that will easily be cured, but her separation anxiety is actually being cured with increasing success.

It is not so difficult to make progress with such a bright dog.

The brilliant thing is that though she clearly was terrified of two toddlers, her reaction was not aggressive. Thanks be for that.

2023 should see us "playing with waves" at the beech before too long. That will be a real adventure!

Best wishes from George

 

Training goes both way there. I have taught my oldest to be calm around dogs and offer a finger to sniff before putting a hand over a dog's head for a stroke (if the dog is ok first), my youngest needs a bit more decorum before I can trust him to interact with dogs outside of the wider family.

 

Thanks. This is absolutely right. I always had a way with dogs even from being a toddler myself, but my younger brother never learned this, and to this days is too rough with dogs. Lu started off by enjoying a bit of rough play with him, but bailed out after only a couple of minutes. She got round it by coming over to me and turning over asking for tummy tickle. That was on New Years Day this year, and my brother never changes! He was bitten on the face by Oskar [a Jack Russell] aged only three. So Oskar was put down straight after. It was my brother's fault for cornering the dog, who really wanted fuss, not rough play.

Unfortunately, some toddlers have little to no idea how interact with dogs. The dog will either panic, or become aggressive. Neither is good but not getting aggressive is preferable.

Thanks for your reply.

Best wishes from George

IMG_8624 by George Johnson, on Flickr

Three year old me with Josephine [on the right] and one of her pups. Oskar was the sire of the pups. It struct me that that photo is more than half a century ago. The steps lead to one of the oldest houses in east Herefordshire, mentioned in the Doomsday book, but also with Roman Empire origins as a way station on the Roman Road from Ledbury to Bromyard. The walls have been much restored since, and now look very nice. Nowadays it is the property of the Duchy of Cornwall.

 

Sad first walk on Sundaqy morning. On Sunday at least I tend to get up a little after seven, and the whole routine is different to the other days of the week. Then I have a nine am second walk with my friend Karen and her two lovely dogs ...

I was out about twenty past seven, and saw a lady, who was somewhat distressed, saying that she had lost her old black Spaniel. The dog was apparently deaf and somewhat blind, so quite a scary prospect, but I can still see well at the long distance, and I immediately spotted her little dog on the main A44 as it joins the Malvern Road turn toward Acton Cross. She ran like a human possessed, but sadly the dog was knocked down and killed in front of our eyes by a speeding Transit style van. She got there first as I had by now picked Lu up and have a quite bad right knee in any case so running is horrible for me. The van driver denied speeding ...

The poor lady was hysterical, and the van driver remarkably calm considering what had just happened. The speed on this road has increased massively over the years. There used to be sheep on the Common till about twenty years ago, when it became impossible because of the numbers being knocked down by speeding vehicles. The lady phoned to her husband, and who turned up a few minutes later. He thanked me for trying to help, and I said that I would get out of their way.

On the appalling driving along this road, there have been three serious motor vehicle into cycle crashes since July - the last one being a hit and run. I have given up cycle along this road now. I am wondering if there might be a case for a reduced speed limit from 50 and 60, down to say 40, which would massively reduce the risks to more vulnerable road users, but it would require speed cameras and strict enforcement to work, sad to say.

No jolly sign off today. Just Bye for now from George

 

God speed The Spaniel.

 

That's terribly sad. Just awful for the owner.

 

Yes, a truly horrible experience for all concerned. I’m very sorry to read of that.

 

Lu almost certainly has not seen snow before. Born in March 2021, there was no snow in Herefordshire last winter, and this is the first that has stuck this winter - at least for a few hours, though it is a very lazy coldness today. Cannot be bothered to go round you; it goes straight through ...

Here she is at lunchtime today with three doggy friends, and my downstairs neighbour:



Delightful in that Terrier way! Definitely not being polite ...

I hope you who watch the short video smile at it!

Best wishes from George

 

I had almost as much fun watching them as I think they did! Thank you George.

 

She's got a remarkable turn off speed on her.

 

Dear Ian,

If she puts her mind too it she can outrun Labradors and Spaniels. Of course Patterdales are hunting dogs, from rats to foxes, though being much more slight than fox it takes two to be on the safe side for a kill.

That is old school, and farmers no longer use them for killing menace foxes, but the speed is bred in as is the extra-ordinary double jointedness so they don't get stuck in rat holes. Fortunately Lu only has the chase aspect in her nature. She simply has no aggression or bite in her, which is useful for safety in the current time.

What is comical is that Patterdales are rather rare in Herefordshire, where the ratting Terrier of choice is the Jack Russell [Patterdales come from Cumbria, where they are often called Fell Terriers], so our local Labs and Spans find her turn of speed somewhat bemusing compared to JRs, but she does slow down enough for them to catch up and then dives in another direction and the slow cornering bigger dog has to catch up again, and this means she gives a real work out to her playmates without breaking a sweat or more correctly start to pant.

Then she lets them chase her, gauging the speed enough to be a possible challenge rather than causing a resignation. To watch this happen is such a delight. She does a sort of tag. I chase you, and then I'll let you chase me!

Of the Terrier types, I reckon Patterdales have a lot going for them, even if their innate stubbornness would cause many to never gain control or much pleasure from caring for them. Once they come round [and it takes the patience of minor saint to get there], they never quite loose that defiant streak, but can be a very biddable, kindly and very cheap to feed and keep sort of a dog. So long as you give them all the exercise they need. The are not a sedentary sort of hound. Not a Frenchie, or a Yorky, of King Charles. In many ways they have a similar personally to the Welsh Collie. Indefatigable, and utterly loyal, which only some JRs are.

I am looking forward to the adventure of playing with waves at a none fashionable beech in a month or two. Lu actually has demonstrated that she panics rather than swims, so a big beech may be just the thing to build that ability - she aims for puddles, so she is not frightened of getting wet, but like me she has so shown no interest in getting in water out of her depth.

Best wishes from George

 

Lu getting cozy with my sheepskin!

IMG_1656 by George Johnson, on Flickr

Fortunately I have a free day given the state of the roads! So long a first walk, and witnessed a car that had come off the road from the A44 turning into the road to Malvern. No apparent damage done, and was pulled out with a large 4WD pick-up truck. Just taking the sharp turn a little too fast. I am not venturing out till the roads get clear, which they will before long.

The snow is now deep enough for Lu to have to jump along, as her legs sink in up to her body! If this melts fast I expect some flooding further down our little River Frome, which entually leads to the River Wye.

Best wishes from George

 

She's such a photogenic little tyke, isn't she?

 

She has an amazingly direct way of looking at me. This picture catches that! Dogs who are in anyway stressed tend to avert their gaze, and it is a way of telling if a dog is nervous of you. Their facial expressions are unlike any other animal. They express their mood so clearly through the face, ear posture and eyes that the fact that they cannot talk hardly matters! Lu actually is quite vocal with little squeaks and whimpers, and a very quiet little woof. The soto voce bark is a pack alert that someone or something is about, without letting the suspect know some dog has sensed their presence.

It is impossible to be very serious for long with Lu about!

Best wishes from George

 

Today I found out how come the late Spaniel came to be out off the lead ... I have never met the little dog before even though it lived less than half a mile from me, as the owners never walked the dog off the lead or went onto our meadows.

Some visitor opened the gate and did not close behind them. Some dogs will wander off if this happens, and the sad story now has an explanation that puts one of the causes at least as human carelessness rather than the owners being directly fault.

Round here any story gets rounded out in time. The grape vine is strong in rural areas.

Best wishes from George

 

Just wanted to share a nice dog story and hope you don't mind me posting here George? A young family posted on our local Facebook page that their Cavapoo had escaped from the garden. They posted each day asking for people to look out for her. At the weekend the children knocked on our door asking if we'd seen her and I promised I'd keep my eye out whilst walking my dog. After a week we'd all lost hope she'd be found but then they got a phone call from a vet in Surrey (we're in Medway, Kent), to say she'd been handed in after being found wandering in woodland. I'd have loved to see their reaction when they were reunited.

Cheers BB