I’ve been musing a post or two for a while but decided to wait for today – today marks 8 months since the below picture was taken and Sam and Bea came home (apologies for the bad screen shot – being in it, I didn’t take it!)
A lot of things have changed over the last 8 months. That lawn is a thing of the past (greyhound mud track with no remaining grass is apparently the way to go), my hair is now black rather than purple, we haven’t seen sunshine in some time and Sam and Bea have settled in to life as part of a family.
The dogs you see there still have their kennel coat and the immediate physical marks of racing kennel life – patchy, slightly underweight and shedding. This was the easiest thing to fix – a good diet with added treats like salmon and sardine means today I have two dogs with soft, shiny, thick coats, at a healthy weight and looking pretty good (even if I do say so myself!).
It’s the things that you can’t see that have been the most challenging and most rewarding things to try and “fix”. I use that in inverted commas because sometimes they aren’t broken – they may not align to how you want your dog to behave but that doesn’t mean there is something wrong with them. Sam will still 99 times out of a hundred ignore the sofa and go for a floor bed – he’s happy there, so me trying to force him onto a sofa because I want a cuddle isn’t fair on either of us.
Sam has probably undergone the biggest change in the last 8 months. He struggled with scary house things and he’s never going to not think the mop is out to get him but he has transformed into a cheeky chunky boy who is starting to take real obvious joy in things. A run upstairs in the morning to jump onto the bed with me for a cuddle, zoomies in the garden with himself and Bea before a walk, standing alongside Bea waiting for a meal (just about 6 inches behind whoever is serving that day!), playing doggy food games and starting to throw and chew the minion toy that used to sit on his Sambed. His favourite time of the week is Monday barn play time where he just runs and runs with his tail wagging and barks at Bea and other playmates to join in.
My heart is full of joy when I watch him – so different from the scared boy who dropped weight and panicked at every tiny noise or approach from a person when he moved in – he now pushes his head into you for attention and follows you around the house just to be with you.
What can I say about Bea? She moved in like she was born to be here and continues to live in this way. She has definitely found her voice and we get barked at several times a day. Still will not do the stairs by herself but the BEA plane (Bea Express Airways) also known as Joe will bring her upstairs if she wants to join us and she has her own spot for cuddling in on the bed.
Bea continues to be inquisitive and interested in life – we have developed the most ridiculous walk routine in the mornings (it takes us 600m to go 200m) as we have to explore her favourite side streets and she will not be moved from this. Streets are her favourite place to walk in winter – she isn’t a fan of boggy wet grass but will wander up and down streets in all weathers peering over walls and through gates just to see what’s there!
Bea will always be a people dog (there are little black paws in my lap when I write this) but she seems to quite confident and content in the house now. She will sometimes choose to go and lie in a different room from people – to cuddle her Nancy toy or because she fancies a sofa. I think she may be understanding we are always here and so she can find us when she wants us for a cuddle or a fuss but that she can go and have a quiet Bea snooze elsewhere if she wants.
We think they are understanding that they are home, that they are safe here and the people and the beds and the food aren’t going away. They can relax and be themselves – we love them all the more for it. And for all the things they do for us – the walks that get us all out, the cuddles that make everything better, the laughter over the morning routine where Bea has to kill Nancy before we can go for a walk or the absolutely joy in just watching them simply be happy and enjoy their lives.
I loved reading this ❤️