Dear George, a word picture

I wrote this for a friend---but more for me probably. It is Georges story in brief.

She came to us very badly injured .I had actually known her for exactly 12 years---she and her new owner came for a private lesson two days before the Royal Cornwall show---which is this w/e. I looked after her while he promoted aids awareness at the show that year. She was totally her own person and would bite if you tried to touch her collar or her or if you wanted to do anything with or to her. In the house she was manic, attention seeking and stealing food----she spent 10 years on and off my work surface----all four legs!

Her owner borrowed a nylon cord from me to use as a trail lead get her when she wouldn't come to him. He tied her up on it and she ran and split under her back leg badly. He rang me after she was stiched and I went over, he had spent the night in the front porch with her as she wouldn't move.I made her move and we went for a short walk----with the elizabethan collar on.When I left he took it off as he couldn't bear her in it----she licked the wound all night and was in a terrible state the next day.He managed eventually to get her to the vets and they said she should be pts (becasue no one could get near her). He rang me from the vets and asked if I would look after her, I spoke to the vets and they said they'd leave a drain in if I could cope.

I picked her up from the vets and she was out cold for 24 hours----goodness knows how much anesthetic they'd given her. I thought she was dead at one point and rang them for help. When she came round she moved herself onto the sofa and she and an increasingly larger bucket stayed there for about 6 weeks! Every time she moved she shook and pus and gunge came out of the wound-----they hadn't drained it but left big holes between the stitches. We agreed that the owner would come every day and be the nice guy and Hannah would do the same and I would do the difficult painful things as it wouldn't matter if she learnt not to trust me!

She learnt to make a good attempt at biting inside the collar by snaking up inside it, she also learnt to play with things inside it.

Meanwhile her owner had moved to his other house in London (just by Hyde Park) and was planning on having her back and hopefully teaching her not to chase the ducks every morning when he walked her----those ducks will never know how lucky they were that she didn't move in with him! He then had a mental breakdown (another story!) and he said he would rather she stayed here with me.So she did.

She was the most difficult and the most intelligent dog I have ever known, in the beginning I needed to be two steps ahead of her and often I was several behind. She learnt agility in a week including the weave, she worked most evenings with me in the summer and jumped little fences and did the equipment in the garden just so she was stimulated a bit. She wanted attention all the time and if she was ignored she tried something else, Pulling the wires from the back of the computer was a huge success for her! Getting cross with her was easy but non productive, as any attention was better than none. She refused to go through doorways if anyone was anywhere near them, if she was going to be aggressive she leapt up at your face to do it. You couldn't get anywhere near her collar and she screamed and barked in the car. If she stole anything it was impossible to get near her, she would curl round it and all you could see were teeth and hackles, she looked like a wild animal.

Then we discovered the clicker, suddenly there was a huge breakthrough, she had a way of getting what she wanted and I had a modicum of control over the situation and we were communicating. In a morning she learnt to retrieve, to shut a door, to touch an object at a distance and more importantly she learnt that we could deal together.

That deal lasted all her life, she knew that she could trust me to give her food if she did what I wanted her to do. After a while she would even give up stolen food and let me tend runny eyes etc.

She competed in agility----albeit on a bit of a wing and a prayer and if she left the ring to go to a burger bar I had to scream at people to not be helpful and touch her. She ran flyball, she had no interest in the ball but she was naturally fast and she learnt that getting the ball got her a titbit---so she did it. She learnt HTM and managed to beat Rune once, other times we would get in the ring and she would just stand and look at me and pretend she I'd got the wrong dog out and she had no idea what I wanted

She helped our team win the clicker challenge in 2003, she was wonderful, she learnt to take pegs off a line and get the washing to me in the morning and did it in the afternoon.

More special was her talent to give nervous aggressive dogs confidence that she was not going to be aggressive and that they didn't have to be either. .She worked with me at the rescue kennels and helped several dogs on their way to a better life.

My memories of her are so many, she used to come into bed with me when I was ill and slept every afternoon, she'd curl round my legs and give me warmth and love, she adored running and swimming and would follow seabirds out to sea and frighten me, She loved men, our handyman called her George the Mechanic and she could often be found under the cars with him or stealing his lunch from the back of his van, Recently she'd taken to climbing on my lap for a cuddle---it didn't work well for either of us but we managed with a bit of wriggling.

We used to say she was the schoolgirl who wore short skirts and smoked behind the bike shed and Rune was the head girl who could do no wrong. I hope George finds she can wait for me wherever she is now but if she wants to go ahead then I understand, she was more than a dog when she was here and she will always want new challenges.

rune

That's just beautiful!!


You must be devastated

run free George

Elaine xxx

Another thing about George.....She was the MOST terrible flirt....She is one of the few rescue dogs I have met who perfered men to women....

Walking her through town she would single out men....without fail they would come over to her - (never paid any interest in the one holding the lead except to maybe ask her name!)

she was such a lucky girl ,you came into her life (you can feel proud of your self ) she dos sound in parts like my willow . deff the school girl bit . its amazing how the most ,difficult dog ,come with , the most loveing nature .(to people who have gained there trust ) run free george . sorry for your sad loss .

A lovely tribute to a beautiful, much loved, and very sadly missed girl.

Thank you for sharing her story

x0x

Thank you for sharing that.

Run Free George xxxxxx

A wonderful story. I`m so glad she found you.
x

Beautiful,
What an owner you are!