Tess - Border Collie

Tess is a very pretty little Tri-colour girl of around 2 years old.

Tess has come to Wiccaweys from Ireland. Tess was taken into the vets to be PTS as she was no good as a working dog.

Tess is very timid, although she does adored the company of other dogs. Tess needs to be allowed 'to come to you', but once she does, she is a bad rash who loves a fuss.

Tess does find young children unnerving - they scare her and she will shake with fear, so we will not home her with very young children. It is not fair on Tess.

Tess would love a home with another dog for company.





If you feel you can offer Tess the home she deserves, please telephone us on: 07905 203254 (please note we only accept enquiries for dogs by telephone - we like to have a chat with you!)

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aww bless her shes a beauty i hope she finds the loving home that she deserves

Updates on Tess from her foster Mum

We are fostering little Tess. She came home with me from Wiccaweys on Saturday.

Tess is having a very quiet lifestyle for the moment as she is very afraid of people and easily spooked.

On Sunday she spent most of the morning hiding under conifers at the back of one of our flower beds - the invisible dog! I tethered her with a long line.
Later we used a shorter lead so she had to be a little braver and emerge.

I have yet to take her beyond the garden. Hopefully we might try at the weekend. She has spent time tethered in the garden - not our usual routine but I am afraid I may not be able to catch her otherwise. Her exercise has been circuits of the garden on a lead skirting the flower bed edges - the speed has decreased a little as she has felt a less scared and now sometimes she wags her tail.

Each day there are little signs of increased confidence. She is sleeping in a crate at night but coming out by herself when we open the door in the morning, she will eat nearer to us....

Oddly enough for a timid dog, she is quite happy to be picked up and sit on my lap. She likes her tummy tickled and last night got brave enough to give me a wash!

Today it's triumphant Tess!

She has been for her 1st walk beyond the garden. We could tell she wanted to come out by increasing amounts of barking when I've gone out with our 3. Anyway I thought it would be terrible with non-stop spooking and/or traffic lunging. It is pretty quiet where we live but yesterday she ran round the garden excitedly and barked when anything passed in the road.

Tess has amazed us both. She pulled a lot but no car lunging and no panic stricken flinging about so we were well pleased. Cars passed us and a push bike - no reaction In the field we met a friend with her 2 lively Jack Russells. Tess lay down when she saw other people but then she got up & greeted the dogs & allowed my friend to stroke her. . She also loves playing ball in the garden

This may seem very trivial to some people but I am absolutely thrilled with her progress. Gradually we are seeing less of the little girl we called "Terrified Tess" and more of a happier little lady and it is only 1 week today since she arrived. I'm so pleased I could

Another day, another walk.

This time Tess managed nearly an hour - just me and 4 dogs. I now know I can manage to take Tess & the others on my own so she will get at least 1 walk a day from now onwards.

We met another friend with her dog - Tess greeted the dog and allowed Becky to stroke her. Now what I need is to go out on a walk and meet a sympathetic man - for Tess's benefit of course!!!! She is much more wary of Patrick than me so I suspect she might be more frightened of men in general - either that or I have a scary husband

She is coming out of her scared little shell but was a right little minx yesterday - we tried her without a trailing lead in the garden, no problems 1st time, 10 mins catching her the 2nd time. From her point of view it was a great game I suspect!

Phase 2

I think we are just emerging from another phase in Tess's development - for the last few days she has been "Try it on Tess". She must have been feeling more confident and decided to test a few boundaries including traffic lunges. We seem to have got some of that out of her system with a couple of roadside observation sessions coupled with some clear messages about what is acceptable behaviour and what is not. Yesterday Misty did me a huge favour - when Tess lunged and crashed into her Misty decided to upturn her and then stand on her. I think Tess understood that one alright.

Tess is enjoying walks on a long line and I no longer have problems catching her in the garden. Most of the time she comes to me and sits when called, especially when she knows it is time for a walk. She will also come up to me and lift her head for a fuss. She is much more wary of Patrick and scuttles off when he enters the room but once he sits down she is fine.

She now insists on spending time in the same room as us all (she barks to complain if shut out) whereas early on she was quite happy to stay in the kitchen on her own. So I think overall it is progress

Tess meets Terry

Another day, another milestone. Yesterday on our walks, Tess was a lot more attentive, looking up at me more often & running back on the long line sitting in front of me and asking for treats. Time to start some recall training now she is relaxed on her walks perhaps.

Anyway today I decided to take chopped sausages as an added incentive for her to come when called. Needless to say those went down well & Tess realises that with all the competition about it doesn't do to delay with the recall!

On our way back from an hour and a half across the fields we met Terry & his dog Talisker. Tess barked at Terry and I requested he stood there and totally ignored her. She gave up being silly and focused on the other dogs instead. I was able to feed all 5 pieces of sausage and Tess was not bothered by Terry being there. Terry was really patient and we both sat down in the field (probably looked very odd!) until Tess came close enough and eventually took sausages from Terry. It only took a few minutes and I am ridiculously pleased. Maybe I should get a life!

Wooohooo that is fab news about Tess!!!!

Sounds like your making great progress! Welldone you and Tess hope she continues to improve and finds her perfect home!

aww thats brill news tess is coming on so well keep up the good work

More news of Tess

Onwards and Upwards

Tess's progress continues. She is totally happy and relaxed out on our walks, busy running and sniffing about with her little tail in the air instead of tucked under like in the early days. Her desire to try & get to hedges to hide in seems to have totally vanished. Instead she is most put out when she can't tear off with the others when they see a rabbit or something else of interest - she is up on two legs, yipping and squeaking.

Traffic is rarely an issue except when she is in the garden when she does tend to run to the gate and bark when something goes past.

In the house she still has a tendency to tuck herself into little corners in various rooms. She is still wary of Patrick but very gradually coming round and he is decreasing the distance between him and her supper bowl. It was just me at home over the weekend and Tess's behaviour was pretty much normal - quite laid back really. She was less trouble than a friend's dog that came to stay.

For some reason we have a silly scaredy moment each day when I get home and Tess won't come up to me straight away as she does usually. Yesterday when she sat down I gave her a gravy bone but she was not relaxed enough to eat it and just kept it poking sideways out of her mouth. Misty grabbed the opportunity and the biscuit pulling it out of Tess's mouth and into her own

In the evening Tess falls asleep squashed up next to me on the sofa, often upside down having her tummy tickled.

Introductions to a couple of new people have gone quite well. The key is definitely for new people to ignore Tess - if they try too hard it just makes things much much slower.

Tess is a pretty little thing almost quad colour with black, white, brown & quite a bit of beige in parts. She is small, sleek and spedy. I'm hoping for some interest soon as she is nearly ready to go to the right home. I'm sure she will regress a bit in a new place with new people but I think she will come round a lot more quickly if they take it slowly.

Tess the Troublemaker!

Tess has an inclination to wake up (and bark) around 5am. Although we are early risers, this is a little too early so we have changed the routine to give ourselves an hour or so extra sleep. Tess's crate has now been moved upstairs and it seems to have stopped the 5am wake up call.

Anyway, it's a big crate and it's too much like hard work to keep lugging it up and down stairs so she has been closed in our utllity room with our other 3 dogs while we are out minus the crate for the last couple of days. Yesterday was fine, today well........

All 4 dogs were settled, I was pushed for time & there were only 3 beds in the room. Realising Jester would probably evict Tess from his bed in not too long I got an old sheepskin rug down & left that on the floor for her to lie on.

Back home at lunchtime & what greets me?

4 dogs in a room full of sheepskin fragments! Half the rug is bald and in bits everywhere.

Sarah did tell me she is a failed farm dog. I can now see why Roll Eyes She's a lean, mean, shearing machine

Update from Tess' Foster Mum
14/8/06

Tess arrived 4 weeks ago – we called her “Terrified Tess” as she seemed to be petrified of everything except our dogs. We decided to give her time and let her chill out as much as possible. The weather was good so she spent quite a bit of time out in the garden. We tethered her securely and she spent her time hiding behind the bushes in the flowerbed. Exercise was minimal and comprised panic-stricken high-speed circuits around the garden, trying to hide amongst the plants. When indoors Tess stayed away from us if she possibly could and would only eat some distance away. We had to keep a lead on Tess at all times, even indoors, or we’d never have been able to catch her in those early days.

1 week later Tess began to join us for walks – I could tell she wanted to come out by increasing amounts of barking as I went out with our 3. She did incredibly well, met other people and dogs and coped with it all. We called her “Triumphant Tess”. We also found the trick to getting her out of her hidey holes – throwing a ball.

After 2 weeks Tess is really enjoying her walks on a long line and I no longer have problems catching her in the garden. Usually she comes to me and sits when called, especially when she knows it is time for a walk. She also lifts her head for a fuss. She is much more wary of my husband and scuttles off when he enters the room but once he sits down she is fine. Tess is now keen to speni time in the same room as us all (she barks to complain if shut out) but she is fine being left with the other dogs when we go out.

3 weeks on Tess is a lot more attentive. Recall training begins aided by chopped sausages. Tess conquers other fears and with just a little patience accepts sausage from a man!

4 weeks on, today she was described as “a completely different dog”. She has been allowed off lead (something I thought may never happen just 2 weeks ago) playing ball with other dogs in a well fenced field and didn’t seem to have a care in the world. Indoors she still has a tendency to tuck herself into little corners in various rooms and remains a little wary of my husband. In the evenings Tess falls asleep squashed up next to me on the sofa, often upside down having her tummy tickled.

“Transformed Tess” is now ready for her special people to find her.

wow what a turn around this is briliant news i hope someones sees her and snaffles her up quickly

Still no one snaffling up the gorgeous little Tess.

She sends wags and kisses