Just Fred

We returned Rosie on Saturday.

But it was not without its dramas.

We found out the week before that you can't surrender a dog to another council area. So this Saturday morning we got up extra early and drove down to the council pound (I had a lunch date with mum at Midday, and the pound closed at midday).

We turn up to discover they didn't have room for Rosie, and when we pointed out that we were told we couldn't surrender a dog to a different council, they suggested a few that would, and also suggested the RSPCA.

Since we had said that Rosie has a tendancy to run off and digs, chances are that she wouldn't be able to be rehomed, and that perhaps being put to sleep might be best. In which case, since they were full, we could go to the vet. That took the wind out of my sails. They acknowledged it was a hard decision to make, but while I am prepared to surrender Rosie with the off chance that she can be rehomed, I was not prepared to simply put her to sleep.

So we went home and looked up the closest RSPCA.

The place was HUGE. I'd never seen such a big dog pound before. Supposedly it's the biggest one in New South Wales.

The surrendering process went pretty smoothly. No judgement from the people behind the counter (as opposed to the local council - "have you tried rehoming? etc etc"

We filled out the forms, and before we knew it, we were handing over the lead.

When it was time to leave, and we started walking away Rosie made an attempt to follow us. That nearly broke my heart. Especially when you think about all the trouble she's been, and how she used to choose not to follow us and go her own way. I turned away. When I looked back for one last time, all I saw was her bottom entering the door as she was being led into a room to be examined. That's the last glimpse of Rosie I ever saw. And I still couldn't look her properly in the eye =(

I hope she makes it and goes to a good home. The RSPCA did say that a digger is harder to rehome, but that she'd stay with them for a few days before anything happened (i.e. being put down). =/ =\ =|

Would it be too morbid of me to go on the RSPCA website and see if she's there available for adoption? In fact, I've just gone to have a quick look. She's not on the website, but then again, it's a huge pound. Perhaps they only put up a select few online?

Husband reckons Rosie isn't a very good domestic pet - i.e. she doesn't go for super affection like Freddie does, and she constantly beats to the sound of her own drum. I still stand stubbornly on the side that she just needs the right owner with a big enough yard that no one will notice that she digs massive craters and gets into all sorts of trouble.

I must say though, going home, it felt like the garden breathed a huge sigh of relief. We can now scrape up all the dirt from her diggings off the pavement path and dump it back into the holes she dug, without having to worry that it will all be in vain when she digs them all out again. Would you believe the footpath was so thick with dirt that there were earthworms underneath when I scraped/dug it up?!

We also planted in a jasmine plant to grow along the back fence, without having to worry about its survival rate. Freddie won't dig it up. Although I do admit to wondering now that Rosie's gone whether or not Freddie will start destroying the garden, or that we'll discover that Rosie was just a front for Freddie when he in fact was the real destroyer. How ironic would that be?

Freddie's been holding up pretty well. I was worried that he would stop eating. Whenever Rosie came back after her jaunts she would growl at Fred and he would stop eating. When she used to jump onto the other side of the fence, she'd growl at him and Freddie would leave his bowl uneaten.

But so far, he's gobbled up everything. We were giving him kangaroo sausages the last few nights, and it's very amusing watching him eat them. Hubby argued that I should cut the sausages up. I pointed out that he was a wolfhound and if anyone doesn't need his food cut up for him, it's a wolfhound. I mean my entire FIST fits in that mouth. Why should he be concerned with a measly sausage?

But I watched him last night as he picked up his sausage and set it beside his bowl. LOL. I think he's a little flummoxed with what a sausage is. He always eats it, but there is always that slight look of confusion before he eats, or at the very least a hesitation. He never gobbles it straight up like Rosie used to. He'd pick it up, put it to the side, and sometimes even eat around it on his dry food first.

Freddie's also spent quite a lot of time with us over this weekend. We gave him a shower when we got home - he was getting a bit too doggy for us. From the moment the word 'shower' was uttered, we got the feeling that he was already onto us. But as per usual, once he got in and realised he couldn't get out, he suffered the shower. We didn't let him out for the rest of the evening, as I refused to let all our hard work (dragging him in, soaping him up, dragging him back under the shower spray, etc etc) go to waste, if he went outside and lay on the wet grass (it had rained all weekend).

Sunday, I gave him a good run around the oval and when we got home let him inside. Which is a treat in itself. I was busy doing some other things, but the minute I sat on the ground he crawled up to me for a cuddle. Later when I went to get up from the couch, I must've gotten up too quickly. There was a big thwump noise as Freddie hit his head on the bottom of the coffee table in his need to look up and see where I was going. Any human who made such a noise would've had a concussion! Not Freddie. He spent most of the evening following me around the house.

He's also outgrown his collar. The last few walks on lead, I've noticed how responsive he is, and I thought perhaps our training had finally gotten through. But when I looked at him last night with his neck bulging out around his collar, I realised perhaps it was simply that he finally felt my pulls because the collar was too tight =/

We took it off, and my next errand is to get him a bigger collar. This will be his third collar. So atm he is going around the yard collar-less.

Overall hubby reckons Freddie seems happier that Rosie's gone. I definately don't notice him moping. If anything he seemed more relaxed as he wandered the yard, picking up his bones to chew on. I always knew that Rosie was dominant and a bit of a bully, but perhaps there was more to it than I realised.

There is definately less stress around the dogs. I don't have to constantly keep an eye on Fred as he does his walk. I used to have to watch Rosie like an eagle, in case she rolled in a smelly patch of dirt. I'd also have to be careful about other dogs, in case she spotted them and bounded up to growl at them and scare the crap out of their owners.

Freddie bounded up to a stranger on his walk last night, but all it got him was a friendly pat. No 'keep your dog on its leash' kind've comment. And once he got his pat, he bounded off again.

While I have to be honest and admit that life is less stressful without Rosie around, I must also admit to feeling a bit sentimental about her departure. I also feel guilty that we couldn't be her Forever Home. My friends tell me that if she's not for you, she's not for you, and pointed out that she might not feel as comfortable/happy with us either. They also point out that we did try - and for two years no less. I'm sorry that we weren't the best owners for her, and I really do hope that she can find better owners. I kept on wondering what it might be like, if she did get adopted and I happened to meet her on the street one day. How bizarre would that be? But then again, I'm just fantasizing. It's a lot harder to voluntarily give a dog up, than to have her taken away from me, be it with her running off and being picked up by the RSPCA, or her being rehomed with my knowledge and consent.

Rosie.

This is one of the hardest posts to write. 

Rosie is going back to the pound tomorrow, and I have no words to express how conflicted I am about it.

Hubby has been lobbying for Rosie's departure for close to a year now. And I have been lobbying for him to be patient, but after the last weekend or so, Rosie's a lost cause.

Rosie's destructive around the yard - digs holes, jumps fences, ruins veggie gardens. She only comes when called when she chooses to (many a time she's run off during an off leash walk and only come back the next morning).

Two weekends ago, I had planted in a new veggie patch replete with dozens of beetroot, kale, kohl rabi and other yummy seedlings. Over the week I didn't get a chance to inspect said seedlings, so Two Fridays ago, I asked the husband (who was working at home that day) to check on them for me.

He came back with "The dogs got in. It's all gone."

I originally thought the email was a joke to rile me up. I had been SO proud and SO excited about that veggie patch. But as the minutes progressed and a phone call was made, it turned out it was true.

Here is the yard the morning after. Hubby had already gone in and raked over most of the damage. Apparently before that it looked like a moon crater.

the aftermath of my veggie patch

Other victims included my Stevia Plant. I had heard much about the magic of Stevia. Its leaves taste super sweet and can be substituted for sugar. I finally got my mitts on one, and planted it in a pot alongside a hardy coriander (Hubby loves coriander, but normal coriander doesn't survive frost) and a mushroom plant (supposedly the leaves taste like mushrooms).

Pot

This is all that remained:



i.e. NOTHING. There is a gaping HOLE where the stevia plant used to be. Guess Rosie has a sweet tooth. *pouts*

However, when I went to replant my veggie garden this past weekend, I did find a few survivors:

Parsnip

That little leaf that's leaning across the entire pic is a Parnsip. My only parsnip left of the four little ones that I had.

I also managed to find another beetroot and two kale. Covered in dirt, but somehow not dead yet.

So that's reassuring.

Anyway, back to Rosie.

It seems that this is the final straw.

What else has she done in the last two years since we got her, other than dig huge pot holes that me and Freddie have managed to fall into?

We had to fence off half the yard because Rosie was doing so much damage to the garden. When we came back from our honeymoon, Rosie would make a point of jumping over that fence. She never figured out how to jump back though. So she'd stand there and howl and whine until we eventually let her back in. It didn't matter how long we left her on the other side of the fence, she'd constantly go back over. Husband argued that she was doing it for attention. I'm not so sure myself, but I had no suggestions as to why she was acting the way she did.

She's always run off during walks. Happened probably the second week in after we got her. Hubby went with the dogs for a walk, and she ran off. Never to return. We got a call from the pound a few days later. She'd been picked up wandering the local school grounds, and managed to hurt her paw. So pound release fees and a vet visit later, she was back at home. But her running off was consistent throughout the two years she's been with us.

The scariest was a few months ago, when she ran off, and disappeared into another village. She'd been found wandering the local rifle range. The guy who picked her up gave us directions to pick her up. We had to drive down a road until it hit dirt road, and then go for another 7km. We did it at night, with a smattering of rain. There were many moments when I was terrified that we'd never get back out alive (the road wound through state forest). I kept on imagining people jumping out of the forest and forcing us out of the car. I was so glad Hubby was with me, and I wasn't on my own.

Rosie has never been much of an affectionate dog - least not like Freddie is. If you give her a pat or a scratch, once you're done she goes away and spends the rest of the evening under the coffee table. If you stop scratching or patting Freddie he'll put his nose up under your arm or put his head in your lap, insisting the tickling/scratching continue.

I think that Rosie's lack of affection has also affected the way Hubby sees Rosie. He finds her too much work perhaps, for what she is. Personally I think that Rosie just needs a different owner. We used to take her to dog training, but life kind've took over, and we never went back after the first few weeks. Every weekend I tell myself I will give Rosie training so that she will come when called (so many times on an off leash walk she will run off, and want to be chased rather than come back on lead. It can be very frustrating). But every weekend I have so much on, that training her falls down the priority list and most times she just gets a hurried walk around the block.

I feel guilty that I haven't given her proper training. I could've got an expert trainer, but 1. they cost a lot of money, and 2. you still need to train the dog after the trainer leaves - and the fact that I didn't have time to train her anyway, makes the spending of money a moot point.

Her last home was with a foster family, and she spent it with a dozen other dogs, and spent the time egging the other dogs to chase her. She's a runner/chasee. Our yard isn't really big enough for her, and Freddie's not that much of a chaser.

So I think she needs a family that has a few dogs. That, and a family/owner who has plenty of time to train her, and perhaps doesn't mind that this dog is more like a cat in some ways than a super affectionate dog.

I always thought that I was a Forever Home Dog Owner. A Responsible Dog Owner who, once you take responsibility for a dog, never gives up on her. But Hubby is adamant that Rosie has to go. And despite me trying to put it off, and suggesting ways that we could rehabilitate her, after this last debacle, it's pretty obvious that I've lost this one.

The hubby talked about giving her up to the pound last weekend, and I mentioned that I'd probably need to fill in some forms (I'm the official owner). He found the form for one pound, and the first line is:

"I give permission for my dog to be euthanised"

YIKES. Talk about confronting. I don't want Rosie to be euthanised. I want her to go to a decent family. I want her to be loved, because obviously we aren't the right owners, with the right amount of time for a dog of her temperment.

I came home on Sunday evening in time to catch Hubby take Rosie to the pound. I reluctantly agreed to go with him. It turns out he had left it too late in the evening, and the pound was shut. It also turned out that we were at the wrong pound. This particular pound had a no kill policy, which was part of the reason why we were going to it. But since it's in the wrong council area, we couldn't drop her off anyway, even if they weren't closed.

So Rosie got another week with us.

Last night as I was scratching Freddie, Rosie looked up at me from under the coffee table and thumped her tail.

My heart kind've broke. I couldn't even look her in the eye.

The Hubby hadn't mentioned anything about giving her up again this week and I thought perhaps he'd let it go.

But today I got an email to remind me we'd need to leave the house early to give Rosie up, because we're meeting my family for lunch later on and needed to have enough time to do both.

So you can imagine how conflicted and depressed I am. I'm truly hoping that at the pound Rosie can find a better owner than us. It kills me that we have to give her up this way and that there's a chance she won't make it. We don't know anyone who is in fact after a high maintenance dog, or who has a yard big enough and sturdy enough to withstand dog digging, and has enough patience to train Rosie right and give her the life that every dog deserves.

Tomorrow's going to be a hard day.