Bertie’s Story: Part 1
As a self-confessed cat person, Linda only took in her first dog after seeing a plea on Facebook to foster a 6-month old puppy called Charlie. On the day that Charlie moved to his forever home with the daughter of Linda's dog walker, she had just told her family she would be taking a break from fostering when she heard that Bertie needed an urgent foster home. By that evening, she had agreed to foster Bertie and her life had changed completely.
Bertie moved into his 4th home after arriving in the UK after a stressful 12 hour journey, arriving smelly, stressed, and with no interest in any food or love. He had a stuffed bone with him which was the only thing he would eat, and scared Linda badly with a very aggressive reaction when she tried to move it out of the way. It was then that she knew she had taken on a challenge.
Walks were tricky as Bertie was scared of the car, and was also reactive to other cars, vans, cyclists and even joggers. He became more and more reactive during the first few weeks, and after a scary situation with the window cleaner, Linda had to call for help from the OUR dog behaviourist, who gave invaluable advice and support. Linda's friends, Bernie and Jackie, have rescue dogs of their own and agreed to become support carers for Bertie. Not only does this mean that Bertie can stay with them if Linda is away overnight, but after the dogs were introduced slowly, Bertie now has 4 dog friends that he trusts.
When he arrived, Bertie didn’t know how to play, but it was clear that he wanted to. He had no interest in toys and even now only plays with Mr Squeak who has three legs and stuffing falling out. When Bertie got excited, he didn't know how to react and control himself, and Linda was soon covered in bruises, so much so that people she knew were concerned about how she was getting them. When Bertie got excited, he would "mouth" Linda's wrists and wrap his teeth around her feet, forcing her to wear shoes around the house at all times.
Bertie would long to jump on the sofa with Linda, but was only brave enough to do this about once a week during the first 4 months. As much as Linda wanted him to sit next to her for a cuddle, she knew she had to take everything at Bertie's pace.
He loved belly rubs, and this was normally fine to do on the floor, but one day Linda went to pet him, thinking he was awake, but he turned and snapped at her, giving her two puncture wounds just under her eye. Although she had to go to the GP for a tetanus shot and antibiotics, she felt worse that she had let Bertie down by not respecting his personal space and not realising he sleeps with his eyes open.
Bertie's journey has been a hard one and this proves that it is not always easy to rehome dogs that have been rescued from the street or from bad situations. If you adopt one of our dogs, we will always be there to offer support and advice - we want our dogs to be as happy as possible in their forever homes.
Read about Bertie's progress in part 2 of this blog - coming soon!