The Little Bear Dog Blog

Annie with her award

Annie’s had a big week. After a year of lead walking, we finally plucked up the courage to let her off last weekend. We chose a huge, open and slightly boring field and, way past her dinner time, plied her with treats for the five-minute test.

The next day, out walking with friends in the woods we bit the bullet again and guess what? The little dog lost that 12 months ago bolted, terrified into the night has amazing recall.  In fact, she can turn on a sixpence before we can even get to the second syllable in her name!  She’s still a little anxious still but the delight on her face as she splashes Labrapotamus-like through big muddy puddles or romps off sniffing with her new doggie mates is unmistakable. I welled up and Other Half pretended not to have a lump in his throat.

What a difference a year makes 

To think that this was the dog who hid under our dining table for three days and then went ballistic at the sight of a dog a football pitch away!  Filthy, flea-ridden and nearly eight kgs heavier I didn’t dare dream we’d have the sweetie pie we have today.

She’s had one heck of an eventful year.  Three days lost and living rough, then a new home, new people, new rules, major surgery 12 weeks crate rest and then a crash course in how to be a well-behaved dog. She’s got a long way to go as the Hay-on-Wye story suggests, but if you’d met her today at the park, romping off lead and meeting new dogs without incident you’d never guess her chequered past.

Award 

It was a fitting tribute to her character and the work that OH has done with her that together they collected a special award from Labrador Rescue yesterday at their annual Dog Party.  Amazing too that to do this she had to spend hours surrounded by strange dogs, something that would have sent her into a tail-spin not too long ago.

Much has been written about the rewards of taking on a rescue dog. I can only agree – there’s nothing sweeter, nothing more rewarding than seeing a dog turn away from fear and embrace life with the joyful abandon that only our canine friends seem to possess.