Over the Christmas our almost-6-year-old border Rosie, was sick a couple of times, we phoned our vet for advice and they said to keep her quiet and feed her scrambled egg, which we did and in a day or so she picked up and was back to herself. 

However, a few days later she was sick again, was lethargic and wouldn't eat so I took her to the vet. On examination she seemed to have a slightly sore tummy so it was thought she had eaten something whilst we were out in the fields; she was given painkiller, antibiotic and anti‑sickness injections and also had an x-ray which didn't show anything untoward. 

I brought her home and within seconds of being indoors, her legs just seemed to turn to jelly and she keeled over on her side. My first reaction was panic, however, within seconds she was up on her feet and wanting to play ball so I just watched her closely for the rest of the day and she had no more 'fainting' episodes but she still wouldn't eat. Early the next morning my husband let her out in the garden and again, she had another 'fainting' episode; we made her comfortable . in her bed and at one stage she tried to sit up and stretch but just lolled over to the side. Because of the proximity of the nearest emergency facility and the time it would have taken for the duty vet to get there, we knew that we were going to have to wait for almost 2 hours at home before we could take her to our own vet - it was the longest 2 hours we have ever spent.

 After examination (and another x-ray which seemed fine) two possible causes were mentioned - Addisons disease or epilepsy - it was decided to admit her to hospital and she was taken by animal ambulance. At this stage although we were concerned we weren't too worried - still thinking it was a gastro-intestinal problem; we were advised by a veterinary nurse that owners are not encouraged to visit their pets whilst in the hospital as it can upset them, so we decided to take their advice - which turned out to be a big mistake.

 I was desperate to visit her but mindful of the advice I instead phoned Friday and Saturday evenings and was told that Rosie was doing OK, nothing to worry about, although they did say that she may have to go to either Edinburgh or Glasgow for a brain scan - Addisons had by now been ruled out but epilepsy hadn't. However when I phoned Sunday I was told that she was now on painkillers because she was distressed and crying. We were now distressed and crying too decided that the next day we were going to see her - nothing, or no one, was going to keep us away any longer and I was very annoyed that I had listened to the advice not to go, I should have gone with my instinct.

 Later that day we went to visit and when we saw our precious little girl, we both cried, I am not ashamed to say that at one point I had to leave the room, I was so distraught. Rosie was so very ill and was struggling for every breath - we couldn't believe this had happened so quickly. There was now talk of infection (not likely as she didn't have a temperature), inflammation (a possibility) or, the dreaded tumour (also a possibility). The new chest x-ray showed that there were now changes but there was no certain answer as to what we were looking at. A 'lung flush' had been done that day and we had to wait a few days for the results, which we dreaded. It was decided that in the meantime they would put Rosie on a high dose of steroids - as well as the antibiotics and we had to wait 24 hours to see if there was any improvement, if not, then it didn't look promising.

 After a sleepless and heartbreaking night I visited the following lunch-time and oh thank heaven there was an improvement, not vast but definitely some and she ate the chicken I had taken for her. I went back again at tea time with my husband and again, I could see improvement - she ate chicken and ham this time - we were so happy!

 The next day when we visited, she looked even better and we were daring to hope that we were going to bring our little girl home - which we did 3 days later; she had been in the hospital for exactly a week. Only 4 days previous we believed that we wouldn't see our darling Rosie home again - we were ecstatic and, we know she was too because after sniffing around her bed and wandering into the kitchen, she suddenly took off and did two laps round the living room, made a bid for the stairs but fell at the second one, still too weak to make it successfully. She then dashed across the living room floor again, lay on her back and wriggled whilst making sounds of happiness - you could almost hear her say 'yippee I'm home - they didn't abandon me!' Again, we both cried at the sheer joy of the situation, we were a family again.

 Fortunately I managed to video some of this and we have watched it many times in the couple of weeks since she came home. It is early days yet but with the ongoing steroids and antibiotics, prescription diet which she is now weened off, a little exercise and LOTS and LOTS of cuddles and love, we can see our Rosie almost back to normal again. At first she tired quickly but that was to be expected, her little body took a big battering, however, she wants to play ball again (lots) so we know she is getting better! 

There will be weekly visits to the vet for a little while and another chest x-ray in a month so we are hoping that it will be clear and that the crisis has passed. We also hope that the diagnosis of pneumonia is the correct one and there won't be any relapse.

 To anyone reading this, please don't heed advice not to visit your pet if in hospital - I truly believe that Rosie was depressed and upset because she hadn't seen us for 2 days and I berate myself daily for letting this happen, she had to be taken from her previous home and I couldn't bear for her to think it had happened again (OK I know, animals don't think the same way we do - but they know when their humans aren't there) All owners (I prefer us to be called guardians) will know the extreme lows and highs we have experienced over the past two weeks - you will also know what it's like to look at your Border(s) and your heart fills with love and you feel that your life just wouldn't be the same without them.

 Rosie was our first dog and we just can't imagine our lives without her - she was too young (and previous) to be taken from us - she didn't have a brilliant start to her life so we believe that she was definitely given to us to make sure she has a better future and we will do everything to make sure she does. There will always be a place in our hearts and in our home for a Border terrier (or even better, more than one) they are magic.

 Thank you to everyone involved with Border Terrier Welfare for the great work you do - without you, there would be far fewer happy people in this world. I particularly want to thank Lesley and Harry Smith‑Fenton up here in Weardale - who handed Rosie to us to care for; they are passionate not only about their own dogs but also the ones they rescue. Thanks also to Jan Gale for her advice and support since Rosie came to live with us. Our little dark-eared warrior is home

THE STORY OF BISCUIT

This is the story of a border terrier who was discovered about one month ago roaming the streets and taken in by a girl who rang us up.  She was given the name Biscuit.

It was thought, as her state of health was very near death, that she had been living wild for some months.

She was nurtured by the girl and her family for a couple of days and an endeavour was made to clean her up a little but she was really too ill to endure much and totally unable to register any emotion towards her rescuers.

The story of Tegun

Hello

Just a little update on the deaf BT.  We collected the pup on Tuesday 29^th June.  We travelled 180 miles in total to collect her.  She had at this point not been given a name.  A lady brought her out to us at the car and placed her on the floor.  She ran straight under my car.  I managed after getting on my hands and knees to encourage her out and picked her up.  She had not had any injections and the floor was not the best place considering it was a livery so plenty of germs for her to pick up.  We began our journey home back to the Kent Coast with pup and scrap of paper with a date on it which we were told was her date of birth.  We arrived back home at about 10.30pm.  We placed her on the front room floor and allowed my boy Border who is 2 to see her.  They began to jump about and play within minutes. My border decided to show off and jumped on the sofa; so little one decided she would try but standing on her back legs her front ones barely reached the top of the sofa cushion.  She was then lifted up by my dad, where the 2 borders cuddled up and had little snooze.  We then went up to proper bed about 11.30.  The pup, which at this point still had no name was placed in the proper dog bag on the bottom of my bed so she could see me and my border.  She slept until 6.30am.  On the Wednesday she was given a thorough check over by the vet and had her 1^st injection and microchip.  The vet was very happy with her.  We named her that day: she is now known as Tegun.

Tegun and Logun my 2 borders go everywhere together now and I take them anywhere they can come with me.    

Tegun has had many adventures in these 2 weeks she has been with us: we have taken her with us to the training School where I help out.  My Border attends and she has touched noses and sniffed all breeds of dogs with no fear.  We have also been to a village hall training session as I shall be taking her to 2 sessions a week, 1 indoors and 2 outdoors to give her the experience of meeting dogs.  The methods used at each school are the same so no confusion there for her.  

She seems to love children and has become a huge fan of the paddling pool. Due to the hot weather I have a paddling pool that I place water in and some toys and the my border dips in and out when he gets warm.  Tegun has watched and learnt to do the same, although she hasn't quite worked out that just before bedtime is not a good idea bless her!  So quick dry off with the towel and quick go over with the hair dryer and she is ready for bed.

Tegun will be going on her first camping trip on Friday for a week or 2.  We have a run that we used when Logun was a pup so she can run about freely but safely.  

We are very impressed with the way she has taken to the hand signal training we have been doing and we look forward to further and more advanced training as she gets older.

Lorna K Berry

The story of Lilly

Lilly joined our family from BTW on 06 May 2010. When she arrived she was under weight and rather unkempt and in season. We were lead to believe that she had lost a mate and was pining which had caused the weight loss.   We have 3 children as well as another boarder and as such were concerned that Lilly may not fit in given her reported back ground.

After a few minutes of acclimatisation we were amazed to find Lilly fitting right in. She played in the garden with the children and was very keen to meet Billy, our boarder (who is complete). This was obviously a meeting that would have to be well supervised.

Lilly was allowed to settle in for a day and kept in a cage at night (as is Billy), the next day she fed well and appeared to be very happy. She had settled so well that I decided to try and groom her. Her fur was very long and un kempt and I thought I may have a struggle on my hands however I was astonished to find that she sat and let me strip her. There were of course a few tender moments but I was very pleased with her allowing me to handle her after such a short time in our care and what a pretty girl she turned out to be.

The next day we started with some basic handling training. We had been informed that Lilly had never been allowed off the lead and we needed to understand the extent of the training she had had if any. Lilly responded well to her name and to sit commands. With some treat encouragement her recall was good (within the confines of our garden.) This lead us to believe that while the training she had had was basic she would respond well to positive methods.

Over the next week we have walked her on the lead which she does very well and continued basic handling training to which she is responding well. She has been micro chipped and checked by the vet and is now a fully integrated member of the Wilson family and happiest with her best friend Billy. 

There are of course a few issues: Lilly appears to be very dog aggressive which is something that concerns us given that she is 3, this not unusual in the breed and we believe that with sufficient socialising we will overcome this minor character flaw.

As part of our socialising program we took Lilly and Billy to a local dog show on Sunday and to surprise Lilly walked away with 2 rosettes: 3^rd in the best rescue dog category and a fantastic 2^nd in the prettiest bitch category. Not bad given that we had only had her 10 days

The story Of Betty

We have always liked Border terriers but my main breed is Labradors I have shown them since 1982 and Rescued them since 1990.

Five years ago in November we went to look at a litter of Borders at a farm nearby.  All the pups were outgoing and coming to meet us  but I saw a small face right at the back  of the kennel just peeping.  I asked about her totally ignoring all advice about choosing an outgoing puppy.  I asked about the pup and the farmer said she was shy and that he wasn't sure if she was ok or not.  She curled into a ball like a hedgehog.  In fact apart from the colour she didn't look a typical border. I asked what would happen to her and he said as most people wanted them for working she would most likely not attract anyone and would be put down.

We bought her home with us after paying £250.  She was very shy but we had other dogs so she took to our  German wirehaired Pointer Ned but we noticed she had little dizzy like fits and held her head to one side. Sometimes she would fall over so we took her to the Vet and had tests done.  She wasn't epileptic  and the Vets felt her brain could have been starved of oxygen at birth.

She settled in our family very well.  She is the most gentle girl.  We cannot put a lead on a collar on her neck as she just falls over so she has a harness and happily walks on that.  Occasionally she  has her wobbly moments if she gets too excited  and we just stop and after a few minutes she is fine.  She is a funny girl.  We are lucky enough to have an acre of garden with access to acres of walking.  Sometimes she will come with the gang for a walk and sometimes is a bit of a recluse and stays by the fire. We also have a static caravan in the lakes she likes to come there too.

I often wonder if fate took us there that night because we only saw the litter on the notice board at the local corn mill when we went to stock up on food and went to see.  We certainly didn't need another dog...

We wouldn't have changed her at all.  She was meant to be with us and happily lives with a Labrador Nell, a Giant Schnauzer Golly, and a bossy little Pug called Pat.  Sadly her buddy the GWP Ned, my lovely boy, passed away with Cancer aged four years when Betty was two.

Glenys Fryer

Labrador rescue and Fullwell Labradors.

 

 

The Story of Thomas

I just wanted to tell the story of Thomas, who has a very sad tale to tell.  My precious little old boy Toby died on the 23rd January 2009 after a long period of illness, he was 16 and I rescued him as a 12-year-old when his family had gone off to France and decided to leave him behind!!  He had a nice last few years of life with me and was treated with dignity and respect but lost his battle against liver disease and following a period in 'dogs hospital' he had a fit early one morning in my arms.  I was devastated as he was my best friend.  I still have his ashes under my bed as cannot bear to bury him outside on his own.

I called the Rescue Centre to tell them of the terrible loss, in tears and through my tears said that I would love to give a home to another little dog if one came along, not for one second thinking it would be the very same day.  I spoke to a friend who said a Puppy Farm had been closed down and they had rescued several caged Border Terriers.  They had one 5-year-old male who had been caged all his life and was the stud dog.  He was 'rather overweight' and in desparate need of a home and some serious TLC.

So needless to say, I said 'I'm on my way to get him'... We travelled over 200 miles in deep snow and there he was, my little Thomas drying off from his bath in front of the fire living with his BTW reps.  The most lovely little boy with the biggest roundest brown eyes you have ever seen but he was scared of his own shadow.  I loved him immediately and took him home.

He now shares my life, follows me everywhere and he sleeps at the side of my bed on a bean bag as is afraid to be on his own.  He has two beds -one for the day and one for the night!! -very spoilt.  He has been with me now for nearly a year and is getting a bit more confident now but a long road.  I am up before work walking him at 6:30am and my mom looks after him all day (and spoils him!!) and then he waits for me to come home at the end of the day to go on an adventure to see his big brother (Reiver my horse!!).

This year he was crowned Reserve Champion Lorry Dog of Great Britain at the Royal London Show (where I was competing with my horse -how funny!  (Thomas was not impressed that Reiver was Champion in his class though!!).  We had to run around a huge indoor arena in front of a big crowd to 'Who let the dogs out'.  Thomas was wearing a bow tie and was covered in glitter -bless him.  He had such a fun time.  He loves coming to the shows and loves to sleep in the lorry!  And steal food from the BBQ -all vegetarian of course!

I am honoured to have found such a remarkable little dog, who against all the odds has turned out to be the most gentle, faithful and loyal little boy and I thought I would share our story.

Donna-Marie