Tails of Shepherds E-Book

Ken Robson

• Herausgeber: tredition
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 464

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

This is a story of a growing relationship between humans and dogs, that is, my wife Jo, and me, and our pack of rescue German Shepherds, which at the time of writing has numbered ten over six years. This is a story of discovery, commitment, joy and sadness all bound together with a very special kind of love. It has proved a steep learning curve, and there is still such a long way to go as I find myself becoming totally immersed in the amazing character of the majestic, noble, intelligent and often totally daft German Shepherd Dog (GSD).

Leseprobe

TAILS of SHEPHERDS

Ken Robson

Illustrations by Ben Robson

For Mum and Dad, both keen dog lovers,

I think of you often.

For my wife and children, I love you all dearly.

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 ROXY (The Diva Dog)

2 MAX (Maximus – Gladiator)

3 KIERA (Our Beautiful Lady)

4 LOUIE (Sweet and Gentle)

5 SAXON (The Big Guy)

6 MONTY (My Old Soldier)

7 ROMAN & TROY (The Brothers)

8 BIG MAX (The Big Softie)

9 BOLT (White Lightning)

10 COTTO (The Wrestler)

11 ALEX (My Best Friend)

ILLUSTRATIONS by Ben Robson

1The river crossing

2The camp fire

3The groomers

4Making a Bolt for it

5Releasing Axo

Copyright © 2016 Ken Robson

Publisher: Tredition, Hamburg, Germany

ISBN

Paperback:

978-3-7323-8563-8

Hardcover:

978-3-7323-9062-5

e-Book:

978-3-7323-8565-2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher.

Acknowledgements

Thank you…

Jo, my dear wife, for enduring all the insane ventures I have exposed you to, and for believing in me and for always being by my side. Also, for always smiling at that joke I have cracked countless times when people remark to me “I think you love those dogs more than your wife” and I reply “It’s not true, I love them all the same”.

Gill Collins for nagging me time and time again to write a book, you just don’t quit do you, I like that. It’s because of you that this whole thing found feet.

Chris Beeley for taking on the daunting task of first edit at a difficult time. For educating me and guiding me through this literary minefield.

Julia Hobson for subsequent edits and for adding a little colour to the whole project, and of course your efforts towards publishing, your assistance was timely indeed.

Richard Evans for your time and expertise in designing the book cover.

Inspector Annie Reavley of Nottinghamshire police for being so accommodating, allowing me access to trainings days for the purposes of book research.

Kay Greenwood for providing comfort at an emotional time.

Jon Coupe for looking after my dogs like your own, you are an amazing vet.

Tom and Elaine Edgar for being there, trusting me, and for being ready to drop everything if help was needed.

Contributions

Thanks to those who have contributed to this book, Julia Hobson, Mark Robson, Ricky Wright, Chris and Vicky Burch, and Emzy Bryan.

Sources

Mech, L David & Boitani, Luigi - “Wolves: Behaviour, Ecology, and Conservation”, February 2007, published by the University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226516974

Special Mention

I would like to make special mention of all the people I have met in rescue that have inspired and educated me. There are dozens of names here that I fear to document should I inadvertently leave one out.

TAILS of SHEPHERDS

INTRODUCTION

This is a story of a growing relationship between humans and dogs, that is, my wife Jo, and me, and our pack of rescue German Shepherds, which at the time of writing has numbered ten over six years. This is a story of discovery, commitment, joy and sadness all bound together with a very special kind of love. It has proved a steep learning curve, and there is still such a long way to go as I find myself becoming totally immersed in the amazing character of the majestic, noble, intelligent and often totally daft German Shepherd Dog (GSD).

I had not had a dog since I was a child, a black Labrador called Alex and he was my best friend by a long way. Alex was one of a kind, as indeed they all are, and we had a very special relationship. Alex left this world while I was in my mid-teens, and since then I have wandered in that dogless wilderness of life. I forgot many things. I forgot about that very special bond that can form between man and dog; this bond can often be found in young men when they go to war. You may fall out from time to time, you may get upset with each other now and again, but when the time comes you will stand shoulder to shoulder, prepared to die for each other. Now that may sound a little extreme to feel that way about a dog, but trust me, that is where I am with my dogs, and I have seen many others in the same place. Certainly I have met many dog owners that have not found this connection, they care little for their canine “companions”. If every dog owner found this special connection then there would be no dogs in rescue. If you are thinking “But it’s only a dog” then, please, read on with an open mind and an open heart. Come with me on this journey and be prepared to learn.

I want to state early on that I am no dog expert, I have no qualifications in dog training, dog behaviour, diet, etc. I have been asked for advice many times and I always make this clear. I tell people what I think, and often suggest professional advice. So the things you may read about here are a product of the aforementioned learning curve. There may be parts of this story that you don't agree with or that don't chime with your own experiences. If I could go back to the beginning I would change quite a few things, especially in the early days and definitely on the diet front. In some cases we may need to agree to disagree, so please don’t judge me, just read and enjoy. Along the way I hope to make you smile, perhaps shed the odd tear, maybe learn something, and possibly be inspired.

If you are inspired to rescue dogs then don’t do anything rash. There are many ways you can help with a rescue organisation, but acquiring a pack is one of the hardest things you can do. It will bring many rewards but be under no illusion… it’s hard. If you want a pack of dogs make sure you will still be feeling that way in 12 years or so from now. Understand it will be a massive money sink, your house will be covered in dust and you will constantly be picking up fur balls, blowing slowly like tumble weed across your living room floor. You will have little time to yourself and sitting on the toilet on your own will become a thing of the past. My passport has expired and I don’t need another one; we take the dogs camping now. If, after all this, you decide to rescue dogs, then fantastic! Start with one and take it from there.

SO WHY EXACTLY AM I WRITING A BOOK?

Well, I was bullied into it! We got our third dog Kiera from a German Shepherd Rescue, which is where we acquired most of our dogs. Early on, Jo and I became involved with the rescue as volunteers. It’s been an interesting experience and we have met some amazing people along the way. I have often posted about my dogs on the rescue social page on Facebook and, it seemed people enjoyed what I wrote, so I have been nagged by a number of people, especially Gill Collins to get this book done.

Although my Facebook posts were very popular, this is my first time putting together a whole book. I'm writing this book in the hope that I can reach more people and provide a more satisfying narrative through all of the trials and tribulations Jo and I experienced putting together our pack. Writing this book has really helped me to think through some important issues relating to GSDs and, I hope, has made me a better dog owner (which means a better human being!). Sales of the book will raise money for dog rescues nationwide and enable them to help more dogs.

I DON’T HAVE ANY ALSATIANS

This is a commonly asked question I get, “what is the difference between an Alsatian and a German Shepherd” I have also heard many times “Sorry, but my dog is afraid of Alsatians because he was attacked by one”. I think to myself “Well… that’s OK, because I don’t have any”. So we can clear this up before we start.

The German Shepherd’s popularity was greatly due to the soldiers of WW1 recognising the dog's agility, power, intelligence and trainability as used by the military, (on the German side, where the dogs belonged), although the dogs were present and bred outside of Germany as well. However, towards the end of the war and for a few years after, especially leading up to WW2, there was a universal rise in anti-German sentiment. In the UK It was felt that the word 'German' in the dog's name could damage the breed's popularity. So, the breed was renamed Alsatian, after the French-German border city of Alsace-Lorraine. This was immediately towards the end of the First World War.

Around 1925 or so, the Alsace club, reinstated the old name, German Shepherd Dog. However, the Kennel Club of UK retained 'Alsatian' as the primary breed name, with 'German Shepherd' in brackets. This was reversed in 1977, when the breed became German Shepherd Dog(Alsatian). Finally, in 2010, the name 'Alsatian' was completely eliminated.

The breed is now simply "German Shepherd" throughout the world.

DISCLAMER

All the usual stuff- names and places have been changed to protect the innocent, and the not so innocent. If I do use a real name and you recognise yourself it’s because I have your permission… remember? Outside of that, don’t even think about suing me or I will come and visit you and bring Saxon with me and tell him to eat you. On a more serious note, sometimes relationships change. For most of the time of writing Jo and I were part of a rescue organisation that we have since chosen to detach ourselves from. I will refer to that rescue simply as “the rescue”. We now help with another rescue which although smaller, we find more suitable.

ROXY

(The Diva Dog)

SPRING/SUMMER 2010

My wife Jo and I had often talked of getting a dog. We had been married for one year, and living in a four bedroom Victorian semi, with a very large garden, we had plenty of room. Jo has two girls from a previous marriage with shared contact and I have four children from two previous marriages. I was hoping Jo was to be my third time lucky, and so far so good.

My children were all grown up, apart from Ben, who was fourteen. Ben spent three days a week with me, he is autistic and was absolutely TERRIFIED of dogs. This was problem number one. Our second problem was our working hours, which are quite long. Jo and I own and run a full time Martial Arts School; we have between 250 to 300 students at any time from age four up. The school is open six days a week, we start work at midday and get home about 9:30 pm. Not great for a dog. The final problem was I didn’t like walking. I keep fit, admittedly, but I was the kind of guy that would happily get in the car to visit our next door neighbour.

Having said all that, I've always believed that if you want something badly enough, you will find a way. The working hours were easily overcome- we would simply take the dog to work with us. Our school is only a ten minute walk from home so if we were worried about how the dog behaved around young children, I could easily pop the dog home for a bit. We had two full time staff and a few part timers so I didn't have to be there all the time. As for me walking, well I would just have to suck it up. If we had a dog, then I would be walking every day come-what-may. But… what to do about Ben? Well, we thought we would visit the local RSPCA shelter with Ben and see how things went. Ben did not react well to the visit, and we thought maybe this wasn’t going to work out so the idea was put on a back burner for a while.

Some months later, Ben's Mum bought a cat and it appeared Ben had grown to really like it. This was promising because he was also afraid of cats. I mentioned to Jo that maybe we should pop back to the shelter and have another look. I remember Jo looking at me and saying “If we are going, we are getting a dog today”. I guess she got her hopes built up last time and ended up being disappointed. A feeling of “Oh shit, today we will be making a commitment” washed over me as we walked to the car. We took Ben and Leigh (Jo’s eldest daughter) along with us.

When we arrived at the shelter, the noise of barking was overwhelming, dogs were bouncing around in cages, and it was all a bit frantic. A Labrador caught my eye, this could be a possible. My childhood dog had been a Labrador and I had very fond memories of him. Jo and Leigh however, were focused on a Rottweiler/GSD cross. She was the only dog not barking, she just leaned against her cage with a mournful look on her face. At first I was not keen, she looked a bit weird, her head seemed too large for her body, and I was still hankering after the Labrador. We talked to the shelter staff about the two dogs and it seemed the Labrador was a stray and it was not known how he was with children. This would be a problem if we were to take the dog to work. The Rottweiler/GSD cross called Roxy had some history and they suggested for our needs this would be a better choice. That was it then, it was done. Roxy was to be ours and life was going to take a significant change… forever. Arrangements were made, we were told we would have to have a home check but Roxy would be set aside for us on successful completion of the check.

Ben was much better this time, he was still a bit nervous and when I asked him about Roxy coming to live with us he said “Errm that’s OK, the lady will look after her”. So he was still not won over on the idea but we had made progress. I was sure this would work out. Later Ben and Roxy would become very good friends and she really helped him overcome his fear.

A few days later I went back to the shelter to visit Roxy on my own. I fell madly in love with her, and it seems the feeling was mutual. It turned out that the reason Roxy's head was apparently too big for her body was because she was considerably underweight. We were told she came into rescue because she was destructive in the house (which gave us pause for thought!) but aside from that, no known problems. One thing I did notice was her focus and attention, very much like my son Ben's. It almost seemed like she was autistic. This was due to the way she interacted and the way she would be drawn to one thing and be mesmerised by it to the exclusion of all else. She did seem very interested in the small animals around the shelter. The pictures don’t capture it but things were a bit odd here. No matter, she was going to be ours and we would work through whatever issues we found.

Prior to our home check, Jo and I could be found happily perusing the wares of various pet shops, buying all kinds of things- beds, dog food (I will come back to that shortly), toys and a massive three foot long rawhide bone. We were as excited as a young couple expecting their first child and shopping in Mothercare. We bought all kinds of crap that we didn’t need and Roxy wouldn’t want, but we had fun.

The home check went well. The garden was secure and they were happy with the condition of our two pet rabbits. The rabbits were the result of a request from our children- they desperately wanted a pet… and yes of course, they would care for it forever. I am sure you know where the story goes from there. The promises didn’t last long, leaving me to feed said rabbits and muck them out for the rest of their lives. They lived in a play shed with a secure balcony that was elevated off the floor on three foot stilts. It was quite the little bunny palace! The home check lady suggested that maybe we should give the rabbits free run of the garden more often than we did. I wasn’t keen as the foxes around here have balls the size of melons, they are not as afraid of humans as you imagine they should be, and they range through city gardens during the day. Already one of our rabbits had been rendered headless by one. The fox didn’t eat the rabbit, it just wanted to kill it. However, the foxes would soon be striking our garden off their list of territories. All said and done though, the home check was a pass. FANTASTIC!! We were on the phone straight away.

OHH YES... I SAID I WOULD GET BACK TO YOU ABOUT DOG FOOD

This is my view which is based on research I have done. Remember I am not a canine dietician. We started feeding Roxy on an expensive well known kibble, the stuff written on the packaging suggested that the contents were the elixir of the gods, which is why I bought it. It was all bullshit I am afraid. In fact, had it been bullshit it may have been more nutritious! I got my hands on an independent report written on this kibble and the report ended with the statement “unfit for canine consumption”. So, what should I feed my sweet princess on then? I did a lot of research to find that basically nearly all commercial food was roughly the same, including wet food. You can understand from a commercial point of view they are in this for the profit, of course. So cheap, and in many cases, unnecessary ingredients are used to bulk out the food and keep production costs down. Chemicals are added to increase shelf life, thereby increasing profits. It all makes sense. These companies have to make a profit, and then your dog dies in your arms of cancer. I am sure there is commercial food out there that is good, I just haven’t found it, and since the regulations surrounding package labelling for dog food leaves a lot of room for creativity, I decided to go raw, feeding them with human grade food. Wolves don’t eat kibble (or, as I like to call it, kill-ble), and I wanted to feed my dogs pretty much what wolves eat. I would know exactly what was in their food and there would be no chemicals. They would be on what is known as a prey model diet. There is loads of information on-line about this diet, it’s very worthwhile reading up on it. A good resource I have used is dogsdinner2.web.com. It will take up a lot more of your time, both sourcing and preparing the food but it’s no more expensive than kill-ble. “I don’t have time for that” I hear you cry. In which case I suggest you make time. Find a way. Having said all that, the police kennels I do volunteer work for, and many rescue organisations do use kibble. Often rescues get it donated so there is no choice really, kibble is better than starving to death. People gamble with their own health all the time by smoking etc. and that’s fine, it’s your gamble and it’s your health. However, as a dog owner I for one will not gamble with my dog’s health. I may get it wrong from time to time, I may make mistakes here and there but to the best of my knowledge, which I am constantly expanding, I am doing my very best.

Now THAT’S a dog’s dinner.

Right… I am done with the soapbox, I will put that away for now.

22nd OCTOBER 2010

With our home check successfully out of the way, Jo and I jumped in the car to get our Roxy. We arrived at the shelter to be told that she had just come into season and if we wanted we could leave her at the shelter and collect her when her season had finished. Err… NO…- have you seen all that crap we have just bought for her, we will take her now thanks if that’s OK? We borrowed a blanket to keep the back seat of the car clean and we were off home, to introduce our beautiful Roxy to her new life. Jo and I were grinning like Cheshire cats feeling very happy about our new arrival.

We got Roxy home, took her inside and unclipped the lead. BOOM! She was everywhere at once, she ran upstairs and I yelled “Roxy, NO, we are not allowed up there, we need to talk about some rules.” Roxy wasn’t listening, we would discuss rules with her later after she calmed down a bit. She was like a whirling dervish. I opened the back door and she raced into the garden. She was sniffing everything then she found the bunny stilt palace, and… stillness. She spent the next three months staring at the rabbits. Every time we let her out into the garden she would make a beeline for the stilt house and just sit, and stare, and wait, and not move. Her dog version of autism just kept her transfixed.

In the first picture are the two rabbits that held Roxy’s attention. In the second picture is the pose Roxy struck and held for three months whenever she was out in the garden.

Roxy’s first night was spent on her bed placed in the living room, which is where she spent most of the evening with us. When we went to bed we made sure she had been to the toilet and we shut the living room door to restrict her access to the rest of the house during the night. In the morning there was dog poop everywhere. Not a problem, we were kind of expecting this. Bless her, she must have been very stressed in a strange place with strange people where she couldn’t get away. It quickly became apparent that Roxy did not trust or really even like humans. This would manifest itself by her running away every chance she got. On day two she cleared our "secure" fence and got into a neighbour's garden. What a panic we had when we discovered she was not on guard duty outside bunny stilt house. Soon it was time for me to have a discussion with her about house rules, I was determined to be a strict but fair pack leader to her. What I say goes and all that.

RULE 1 Thou shall not lie on a human bed.

RULE 2 Thou shall not even venture upstairs.

RULE 3 Thou shall not settle upon human chairs or sofas

...and so the rules went on and on. Roxy looked really interested. You can see from the pictures what an impact this discussion had on her. But how could you deny her these things, just look at that face? Before long Roxy had me really well trained, she had me right in the pads of her paw. Nothing much has changed to be honest, I would do anything for my girl. I love her to bits.

It soon became apparent from Roxy’s walks and just generally observing her, what had gone on in the 20 months of her life before we got her. It was very clear she had not been walked, hence her destructive nature. Everything she saw outside was a wonder to her, she just had no experience of anything. If I raised my hand too quickly to open a kitchen cupboard or something, or if there was a sudden loud noise she would cower away. She remains this way today. So I think someone bought her as a puppy, thinking “Oh, what a little cutie” because, looking at her now, she must have been. Then she got big, she wasn’t walked, and with nowhere to channel her energy she became destructive. She is a powerful girl and capable of real damage for sure, then she was beaten for chewing the house up. I have no proof of this but that’s my theory. Well, that was all to change.

Ben and Roxy became very close. They played a game that Ben dubbed “fighting and biting” a scary name for a scary game. Well… it looked scary. Ben would put his arm in Roxy’s mouth and Roxy would soft mouth him while they rolled around wrestling. I had to discourage this eventually as I didn’t want Roxy soft mouthing people, but I would never have imagined Ben playing with such a large dog in this way months ago. Roxy proved to be really good for him in many ways and it was truly heartwarming to see this relationship develop. It was almost as if she knew that Ben was a little different.

I took Roxy to have her spayed which was part of the agreement with the rescue. We had to use a specific vet for this operation as the rescue were paying for it. As Jo and I left her to be sedated you should have seen her reaction and the look in her eyes, it was a mix of sheer panic and utter helplessness, and she could not believe we were leaving her. Driving home I had a lump in my throat. However, with that episode out of the way, in the months to come, Roxy flourished. She learned to trust and so stopped trying to run away, she learned basic commands and became very obedient with an excellent recall. We could take her anywhere and do anything. Roxy came to work with us every day, the kids loved her and she enjoyed the attention, she was never alone. She started to put on weight and her exercise routine made her very strong. The walk plan was, and remains to this day, for me to walk a minimum of 100 miles every month, Roxy was off lead almost all of the time so God only knows what mileage she was doing. It would be at least three times the distance I covered. Come rain, snow, shine, or storm we would walk, every single day. Roxy has never been destructive in the house- she will skin the odd tennis ball now and again but that’s it. Life was good, life was easy. Roxy was the perfect dog.

Christmas came and went. Our princess enjoyed a massive steak for her first Christmas dinner and got loads of presents. Roxy has more dog collars than Jo has shoes. Mind you, all those high heels have been swapped for walking shoes and wellies now. Jo and I were also experiencing a massive and very positive life change. Roxy became a very happy and contented dog, her life had made a U-turn for sure. Yet that fear and her timid nature was always there, just under the surface. The experiences she endured from a puppy would live with her forever, there was nothing we could do for her to change that. When she knew she was safe and secure, either in the car or on lead, she could project a real image of power and confidence, but off-lead and with nothing between her and another dog she was like a mouse. I recall on one occasion when out for a walk two miniature Jack Russell’s approached her barking, and she was terrified- bless her. Her ears came back and that look in her eyes, her demeanour just didn’t match her size and obvious power. Roxy has improved so much since then, being in a pack has been a huge help, but the fear, I think, will never leave her.

11 JANUARY 2011

Happy birthday sweetheart, our foxy Roxy is two today. We planned to do the thing Roxy loves more than anything else, we headed out to the Peaks for a whole day of walking. The weather was kind to us and we all had a great day, marred only slightly by the snotty attitude of the jobsworth waitress at the pub we stopped off at on the way home. Jo and I ordered food and I asked if I could have just a plate of sausages on their own for Roxy. The said waitress considered my request, while staring at the ceiling, and then simply replied with a blunt “Erm…no” without even looking at me and then walked off. No sorry, no explanation, nothing. It was one of those occasions when afterwards you think to yourself “I wish I had said that” as a clever and cutting reply comes to you five minutes too late. Never mind, I ate some of my food and Roxy had the rest. We had many lovely walks in the Peaks in the months to come. We used a long retractable lead quite a lot, as the risk of coming across sheep is always there. I really don’t like retractable leads they are dangerous and if you have more than one dog, they can be a risk to the dogs as well. For that reason, and because I like my dogs to be off lead, as our pack expanded over the years, we would not return to the Peaks.

MAY 2011

SO… WHAT'S THIS CAMPING THING ALL ABOUT THEN?

Resigning myself to the fact I will probably never set foot in an airport again, we bought ourselves a tent. Jo was still able to jet off now and again with her daughters but I wasn’t going to put my princess behind bars ever again. That haunted look on her face while locked in that cage when we first met will never leave me. The tent we bought was a five man Vango, it was adequate for our needs and budget wise it was a good starting point for virgin campers. In my military career I have spent plenty of time under the stars on survival exercises all over the world, from Arctic to jungle, sometimes with a hunter force hot on my heels with the intention of capturing me and interrogating me for hours on end. What fun! But camping with a tent, a dog and a wife was new to me.

We found this lovely farm in the middle of Wales with a field for campers and a very clean toilet block. Our hosts were lovely, they did explain to us that a couple they had staying with them the week before had a dog that killed one of their lambs, so could we be careful with Roxy? After an incident like that, it was good of them to allow Roxy at all, but yes, we would be very careful. Roxy had shown an interest in sheep before, when we had her on a long lead she would attempt to chase but if the sheep stood its ground, Roxy’s timid nature would kick in and she would shy away. That said, just chasing a sheep is enough to cause it injury and therefore gives a farmer licence to shoot your dog, so we would take no risks at all on this holiday.

Roxy really took well to camping, we had a fantastic time and went on some stunning walks. In the second picture I left Roxy with Jo while I walked on a little to get a very close look at a waterfall. Roxy was very concerned she could not come with me, you can see that on her face. On another occasion we reached the summit of a high peak, and as we were coming down we crossed a ridge line and this amazing panoramic view just presented itself to us. Roxy stopped dead in her tracks and just stared in wonder, as if to say “Wow, this world is much bigger than I thought when I was with the other people I loved”. I am sure she did love her first owners, despite the neglect, because that’s what our beautiful dogs do.

On one of our walks things got a bit wet. Well, it was Wales! We stopped under a low tree to take shelter from the rain and we had a little snack. I pulled out a squashed sandwich wrapped in silver paper, it was a cold bacon sandwich I'd made that morning. I took a bite just as a huge drop of water rolled off a leaf and down my neck. I looked up, and in the sky flying overhead I saw an airliner, no doubt jetting off to somewhere hot. I turned to Roxy and said “See that thing up there, it's full of people that don’t have dogs, going somewhere hot to sit by the pool and drink ice cold cocktails. That’s what we used to do, but now we have a dog, YOU, and I am sat on the side of a fucking mountain in the middle of Wales getting piss-wet through eating a cold squashed sandwich”. She didn’t even bat an eyelid, she really didn’t care… Shocking!

One day we took a drive to a beach. This was Roxy’s first view of the sea. She darted straight into the water swimming like a fish, and took a massive drink. What she got was not what she expected, she had a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp. Had I not really felt for her it would have been hilarious, the look on her face. Our evenings were spent eating good takeaways and drinking supermarket brand wine while Roxy just relaxed with a bone, recharging her batteries for the next day’s adventures. Perfect.

We stayed at the site for a wonderful week then it was time to pack up and go home. Roxy was incredibly well behaved and we had no incidents. Sadly we would not return, our future canine acquisitions would render this beautiful location inaccessible to us. It would be at best bedlam, and at worst dangerous, to dogs and livestock alike.

JUNE 2011

Jo enjoyed her time so much camping in the mountains of Wales soaking up the inclement weather (literally!), that only one month later she decided to sod off to Mexico with her daughter Leigh, and leave Roxy and me to our own devices. Well, I wasn’t going to leave Roxy! As it happens we had a great time. “Right Roxy, we are going to do the Peak district, all of it!” This from the guy who only eight months ago hated walking. The things dogs do to you!

We had some amazing walks and it felt like a real bonding thing, just the two of us together. Until Roxy punched me in the face, that is. Giving a paw for a treat is always done with great enthusiasm and gusto. I offered Roxy a treat one evening and WHAM, as fast as lightning I got right hook square in the face! In fact, she really rang my bell. My nose was bleeding, my lip popped and did the same and then swelled up like a balloon. It felt like I had had a swipe from a bear. I did wonder at this point how Jo was getting on in Mexico.

When Jo got home, she had a lovely pink leather collar for Roxy, OK, Roxy is not a pink kind of girl, but it was a quality collar. I got a crap bottle of tequila with a dead worm in it.

AUGUST 2011

One very hot day in August we decided to go to a place called Illum for a day out. We had walked there before during the week, it was very picturesque and quiet. You could plan your walk to venture into the hills or to hug the river. As it was so hot, we planned to stick to the river. Roxy would have plenty of water to drink and she could take a dip if she got hot running around. The day we went was a Sunday and it was roasting hot, so as you may have guessed, the place was heaving with fair weather city types who venture into the wilds but rarely. Many of these people were just not equipped or dressed properly for this location.

We arrived at the car park and headed off along the path alongside the river. Roxy was very excited and was darting around in and out of the water. At one point, as she leapt into the river after some ducks which flew off, I saw looks of horror on some people’s faces. I remember thinking then that this is going to be testing. We got to a crossing point in the river, it was quite wide but reasonably shallow with huge stepping stones. There was a one way system going on, a bunch of people from one bank would cross in one direction, then people from the other bank would wait, then cross the other way. You did not see people crossing in both directions at the same time. No problems, we got it.

As I started to cross, Roxy was behind me, she then pushed past me to get ahead. “Oops careful Roxy”, It’s a good job the stones are wide, then she bounded ahead past other people and I got a feeling of panic building amongst my fellow crossers. I didn’t want to call to Roxy because then she would come back and push against the flow of people. I was now thinking "Maybe this is a bad idea". Roxy made dry land on the far bank and realised Dad was not with her. “Ohh no... where’s my Dad? Ah there he is, in the middle of the river, I have to be with my Dad”- I saw this thought process going off in her head, I saw what was coming and thought to myself "Oh shit.”

Roxy came bounding back to me, leaping from one stone to another like an antelope on speed. I could just see her bowling people over like skittles, people were shouting and screaming and waving arms around trying to maintain balance but thankfully nobody got wet. I grabbed Roxy and eventually we got across with no one falling in.

Once we were a quarter of a mile or so from the car park, there were no people so we could relax a bit. On our return to the car we found an ice cream van parked just off the path, surrounded by people, of course. Roxy took one last dip to cool down, and as she exited the water she shook off, right next to this substantial stern looking lady wearing her Sunday best and white trousers. OMG no! She held up her arms, her eyes went wide as she looked down at her not-so- white trousers and yelled “Oh, what a disgusting creature.” I really had to bite my tongue. Perhaps I should have prevented Roxy from doing that but it happened so quickly, and we were in the outdoors after all. I remember thinking "Roxy is fit, she is strong, she is in great shape, and you call her disgusting!" On this day we also discovered Roxy really likes ice cream.

Roxy was very well behaved, bless her, she didn’t put a paw wrong and she was just having fun in the water but Illum was another place that we struck off our list of walks, at least on weekends.

Later that month we saw the RSPCA were having a dog show at a local park. We thought to take our beauty along and enter lots of competitions, I was certain she would be festooned with rosettes and prizes. It was a lovely hot day, we had a look at the competition schedule and entered Roxy into best rescue, best cross breed and two other categories that I can’t quite recall now. Competition one- we were not even in the top three. “NO WAY” I complained to Jo, feeling a little aggrieved. Competition number two… nope- again nothing. “NO IT CAN'T BE, there is something wrong here” I was actually getting a bit cross now. I am quite competitive but I can take it on the chin, however this was my beautiful girl. Competition three… strike three. “RIGHT WE ARE LEAVING, IT'S BLOODY FIXED” I ranted at Jo. I was hopping mad. We stormed off before competition four even started with me in a mood and Jo having a giggle at my expense. Roxy was none the wiser.

DECEMBER 2011

The months slipped by incident free and before we knew where we were, Christmas was rapidly approaching. My mum was getting on a bit and no longer travelled so we took Roxy up to County Durham to pay our Christmas visit. All my family are dog lovers and both my sisters have dogs so Roxy always got a warm welcome. Being in that part of the world meant that we could take some lovely walks in Hamsterly Forest. The place is huge and is teeming with wildlife; we saw red kites and caught a glimpse of a large red deer as it melted away into the woodlands before Roxy could detect it. As always, Roxy was as good as gold.

We returned home after a few days to prepare for Christmas. My son Stuart and his partner Heather were coming to stay with us for a while, Heather is a fish eating vegetarian so we added a whole salmon to the traditional Christmas menu. In those days I did all the cooking in the house, Jo was not allowed since the time she set the kitchen on fire and the fire service had to attend to stop the house from burning down. She was allowed to use the kettle but that was it. So, dinner prepared, I had the salmon on the kitchen work-top with the foil off and I just popped into the living room, I don’t remember why now, but whatever the reason I took too long and the price I paid was the whole salmon. Well, who could have done that, I wonder? I wasn’t gone that long but the salmon was all gone. I yelled at Roxy to come, which she did. Then she did that thing she does to get out of trouble. She sat down, popped in her doleful eyes and put both of her paws in the air above her head, as if she is doing hands up. Then she slowly reared up on her hind legs and hooked her front paws over my arm, nuzzling her snout under my neck and snuggling into me, as if to say “Dad I am so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to do it and I promise I will never do it again ever. Please forgive me, can’t you see how much I love you”. It works every time, Roxy is no longer in trouble and as soon as she realises that she wanders of as if nothing has happened, probably thinking “Ha, ha, what a sucker, I got him again.”

11 JANUARY 2012

For Roxy’s third birthday we booked into a dog friendly hotel-cum-pub for a long weekend. There was a nice big four poster bed which Roxy was not supposed to lie on, oops, and in the bar area there was a nice big open fire, which was perfect to sit by after a long snowy walk in the hills. The resident pub pooch barked at lot at Roxy but my princess just ignored the thing, good girl.

MARCH 2012

My birthday is in March, so as a treat, it was time to holiday again. Off we went to another location renowned for its characteristic weather, the Lake District. This time we stayed in a log cabin. The place was lovely and very cosy, certainly more so than our tent would have been at that time of year.

On day one we took a hike along a ridge line, just west of Lake Windermere. In the distance we could see a very large cairn. As we got closer Roxy, not having seen anything like this before, was unsure and so she started to stalk it. Much as she stalks the squirrels in the park. I think she'd been watching too much Nat Geo Wild on TV. It was fun watching Roxy discover new things. On day two we took a walk around Coniston Water and day three we planned Langdale Pikes. This walk was a quick six hours and it was truly stunning.

Since our hiking experiences in Wales, I was now the proud owner of a “Satmap” GPS mapping system. It’s about the best you can get on the market and it is an amazing bit of kit for navigation. Accurate to within ten feet, it has excellent satellite acquisition and a four day battery life with the option of switching to AAA batteries if you are out in the wilds for weeks. I planned our route carefully using an Ordnance Survey map and dropped the waypoints into the GPS. The weather was stunning with clear blue skies. We parked the car in a pub car park so we could easily refresh at the end of the walk. The ascent went according to plan, it took some time and it was hard going but the views made it more than worthwhile. We eventually got to the top and stopped for a snack, Roxy had sausages.

We had planned a different route for the descent, and bellies full, off we went. Going down was not exactly easy-going either and about halfway down we were bang on course on the GPS, but the track just faded away into what looked like a bog. We had a choice, we could turn around and go back the way we came, adding three hours to the walk or we could press on and hope the track appeared again. I discussed the options with Jo and WE decided to press on. The path never re-appeared and the rest of the walk was heavy bog and very hard going. Roxy was fine, in fact she could probably have done the whole thing again but Jo wasn’t fine, no, not at all, and it was all MY fault. The air was blue, and each half mile we slogged through brought Jo closer and closer to blind rage and meltdown. I had to choose my words carefully and tried to keep the conversation around how welcoming that pub would be when this was over. With the car park in sight we came across a ravine with deep fastrunning water which we had to cross, although there was no obvious crossing point. After a search we did find a place but it looked challenging, certainly Roxy would need help as the rocks were very slippery, the ravine was steep, and the water was fast. Slowly and carefully as a team we made it across, albeit a team with one very angry member. We got to the pub, the thing that had been keeping us going for so long, and it was shut! We had a very quiet drive back to the cabin.

On day four and five we did short easy walks and avoided conversations about mountains, then it was time for home. The cabin was fantastic and we would return but we wouldn’t be doing Langdale Pikes again.

While in the lakes, we toyed with the idea of getting Roxy a playmate. Roxy was so easy, the perfect dog, how hard would it be to have just one more? We had no idea what we were about to put ourselves through.

So… should we have a puppy or another rescue GSD? We postulated that given Roxy’s timid nature and the fact she was only three, a puppy may be the best option. We were lucky with Roxy but another rescue dog may be a bit of an unknown quantity, and we didn’t want to put Roxy into a stressful situation. One of the parents at our Martial Arts school, Amanda, was a GSD breeder, and her bitch was pregnant and due a litter soon, Amanda went to great lengths to ensure her puppies went to the right home, and she had no qualms about reclaiming them if things did not go to plan. Amanda always made a fuss of Roxy when we took her to work and she knew we loved her to bits. She often gave us advice with Roxy as she had considerable experience with the breed and she was the one that pointed us at the raw food diet. We asked if we could have one of her puppies and she agreed. FANTASTIC!!

When the litter of nine were produced, tragically seven of them died. Amanda and her family were devastated. She decided to keep one of the puppies and the other would go to her mother. Sadly, we had to think again about where to find a friend for Roxy.

For some time I had been looking at wolf hybrids and I found a kennel club approved breeder in North Devon that produced hybrids that were five generations removed from pure wolf. (This was a requirement to make it legal in this country.) They looked stunning and they were huge! We did some research on these animals and ended up shelving the idea as basically being too risky. Certainly our gentle Roxy may have struggled with a wolf.

In the meantime, Jo had spotted this wolf-looking Shepherd in another RSPCA shelter and drew my attention to him. This could be just the wolf I was looking for so a visit was arranged.

MAX

(Maximus – Gladiator)

APRIL 2012

On the day of the visit, my season ticket holding, football hooligan of a wife was at the match, so I went off to meet Max on my own.

I arrived at the shelter and one of the girls went to get him. I was quite surprised when she brought out this scrawny emaciated Shepherd. This didn’t look anything like my wolf. I went up to Max and knelt down to stroke him and he gave me a big kiss. The young girl holding him looked very surprised, “Oh!” she exclaimed, “He doesn’t normally do that”. We were told Max had Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency or EPI, which is a condition that occurs when the pancreas fails to provide the necessary amount of digestive enzymes. Due to a lack of these enzymes, dogs with EPI cannot properly digest the nutrients in food. This means they can eat plenty of food but they will slowly die if not treated. The condition is not curable but if treated properly the dog can live a normal life with a normal life expectancy. It just meant Max would be on expensive medication every day for the rest of his life. At 24 kilos his ribs stuck out like piano keys and his hip bones protruded like bony lumps. We were told that when he came into rescue he was 22 kilos. His belly didn’t have much fur, the insides of his ears were bald and he just generally looked a mess. Bless him, it looked like his body was giving up on him.

There were plenty of reasons for me to walk away from Max. He didn’t look anything like what I was expecting, he was in poor shape and he had a permanent medical condition that would mean expensive medication for the rest of his life. People say that dogs choose you, and, in spite of these issues, I just knew Max would be ours. I asked all the important questions, is he good with children? “Yes” came the reply. Is he good with other dogs? “Yes” I was told, all the replies came back positive. Now I am not saying this young lady wasn't telling the truth, but when I think back now her body language and facial expression didn’t match the words coming out of her mouth. Max was only one week younger than Roxy so that worked. I was sold anyway, I explained I would go home to chat with my wife then I would give them a call.

When I saw Jo that evening I explained I thought Max would fit in well with Roxy and the family. I explained the state he was but that didn’t matter, we would soon sort him out. I paid one more visit to see Max and took Roxy, Jo’s daughter Charlotte, and Ben with me, just to make sure everyone got on OK. We took the dogs for a short walk together in a small field, they had a little play fight together albeit Roxy seemed very unsure, but overall everything appeared OK. Later that day I called the rescue to say we would have Max, and as we already had a home check done by the RSPCA, we could just go and get him. Job done, we were all very excited. Well… maybe Roxy wasn’t.

28 APRIL 2012

Jo, Leigh and her partner Emzy, and I took off to get Max. I was driving a Lexus RX400 at the time. It was a lovely vehicle, and we could easily fit 2 dogs in the boot compartment, but as a precaution we brought extra manpower in case the dogs fell out in the car on the way home.