2. Enter Nellie ! Week 3

Before we decided to foster Missy, we had offered to foster Nellie from Carmen at Angels for Animals, Birda Romania, a wonderful rescue. Nellie arrived like a whirlwind (like a bat out of hell,actually) at seven or eight months old, full of fun and boundless energy. She ate ravenously and chewed on anything unsecured. Nellie was afraid of hands, especially when they were raised or we were reaching for something us, with lots of treats, reassurance and love she was soon fine, but very wary of strangers.  She had been found on the streets of Birda, a hungry and lost little puppy.

Initially, Sadie was very frightened of Nellie and growled whenever she came near and hid in her cave. Even though Sadie was in her pen, she would growl through the gate every time she saw her and Sammy and Bizzy (who just ignored her). Nellie , however, behaved perfectly on her side of the gate-bowing, flirting, and generally trying to be friends. seeing as Sammy and Bizzy ignored her too.. After a few days of watching there interactions, I was convinced Sadie wouldn't attack her and it was all just her trying to protect herself. So with great caution and a large deep breath, I opened the gate. There were lots of hackles and growls from Sadie, but Nellie street-smart ways kept her on the right side of the gate and helped her handle the situation, Sadie crept out and she was won over. Within a few days, they were playing together and never stopped, literally. I actually often had to stop them as Nelly would push Sadie to play even when it was clear Sadie was very tired. They both learned that 'time out' meant to stop and lie down; if Nelly continued to push, she soon realised it meant 'in your pen you go' and off she would trot given me dirty looks (she had a separate pen in the lounge).

Nelly is very intelligent , training was fun, as was the car and she quickly started to come out with the other dogs Bizzy and Sammy, both Romanian rescues, both only have one eye. I call them my Rommy pirates. Bizzy is around 15 and has been with us for 8 years, she was from the caring ladies, Nicoleta and Florentina in Valcea. Sammy is four and came from the lovely Carmen, at Angels4 Animals in Birda (same place as Nelly) and has been with us nearly 3 years. My granddaughter's dog Bertie joins us some days.

Nelly took to the leads quickly and soon a harness ( initally for in the car) with a retractable at times in quiet areas, just to give her a bit of freedom, she adored her walks in lots of exciting places, like Castle Howard, the Yorkshire arboretum, Dolby Forest, the village and visits to friends’ houses she loved going in the car. I started doing recall work in the garden and she responded well, so at times we took her with the other three to a private field where she could run about free, she loved it and came back when called. It was wonderful to see the progress she made, Nellie slept all night and was clean at night She was also a very loving dog.

Besties

In the first few weeks of Nellie arriving, she was the best thing that could have happened to Sadie. Sadie bonded quickly with Nellie and as Nellie loved to be a part of anything happening about the house, Sadie started to follow her. We live in a small 2 bedroomed bungalow, but Sadie would not go up the passage to the bedrooms or bathroom, and never the kitchen, she was too scared, she kept her world as small and safe as possible. Her ‘safe place’ if scared during the day was under the plant stand in the lounge , ’l will never fathom out how she got under and stayed there for any length of time, it must have been very uncomfortable, she went in her pen at sleep/rest times.

They became partners in crime, and Sadie occasionally followed Nellie to the bedroom eventually, but didn’t go on her own. Nelly helped Sadie get used to household noises, how to pinch and hide toys and socks (when they weren’t chewing them) and they were even caught on the bed play tug of war with my knickers one day, (they were more holy than godly and ended up in the bin).  Sammy was not impressed with his toys disappearing and often found them and promptly hid them under my pillows, unfortunately Nellie found his hidey places which did not enamour her to Sammy even though she did her best flirty behaviour for him and also respected him as head of the household (yes he's the smallest and definity the boss) continued to ignore her.

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The beautiful Nellie Besties waiting for dinner All board ready to go