An Irish Lass In The Family.

In April 2011 we had to make the hardest decision any owner has to make, to say goodbye to their much beloved faithful friend. Girlie, our 17 1/2 year old rescued black and tan collie cross, had been with us for 15 years and was one of the last precious connections we had to Mum who passed away very suddenly in 2003. The wrench of losing Girlie was devastating, none of us knew how many people had such strong feelings for her. Us, the Godchildren who had grown up with her, the dog owners we walked with every day, our friends and their little ones, even neighbours who just knew her as "the dog with the balloons" because she always had a balloon in her mouth! When we were ready, we put away her things. Carefully folded her blankets and towels. Packed away the toys. Put them into her basket and put it in the loft because we could not bear to part with them. We sat that evening on the sofa and watched nothing in particular. We agreed that evening that we wouldn't be able to tolerate the heartbreak of losing a dog again and agreed that we wouldn't have another dog.

I went to work the next day and when I came home the house was silent. Mark was working and there was no waggy tail to greet me for the first time in years. I sat and looked around. Our home had lost it's soul and had become a bricks and mortar house. That was a very long, lonely evening. The days passed and it became easier. Not easy, but easier. I spent a lot of time with friends and their dogs and lavished them with cuddles and toys and treats and played with them and walked them but then went home to our empty house. It must have been 6 weeks since Girlie left us for Rainbow Bridge, and Mark was on another late shift. I switched on the computer and looked at a couple of websites of local rescue centres who were all looking for forever homes for the dogs in their care. I looked at the dogs, such sad, pleading faces, each with a tale of woe and often sorrow, cruelty and hardship. I ended up in tears again and switched the computer off. Although each of those dogs deserved a home, none were Girlie. Too young. Too small. A biter. Too big. And not Girlie.

I didn't tell Mark that I had looked at the websites for about 2 weeks and when I did, he confessed that he had done exactly the same and come to the same conclusions. We agreed that the house was unbearably quiet and we so missed the company, fun and love of a dog but could we face having another one? That weekend we went to our nearest centre and registered and looked around the kennels, the pitiful faces of the dogs was enough to bring on the tears again but none there felt like they could be a part of our family so we left. In the next 2 weeks, we registered at 3 rescues and looked around but only saw 2 dogs that got our attention - both hairy crossbreeds, one black and the other one brown. Unfortunately we were too late and they had both been reserved. I had no idea how many rescues there are locally to us until that night when I typed in the search "dog rescue, Sussex". There were more than I had ever imagined.

One of the ones that came up was "Allsorts Dog Rescue". Now that sounded more like it. They were certainly local, only about 4 miles away and not breed specific like so many and not so big they had lost perspective. We saw 3 dogs that caught our eye. 2 collie crosses, including 2 year old Jersey, and one crossbreed. All about the same size, all over a year. We emailed our interest and called 2 days later as we hadn't heard anything. I spoke to Gail who apologised profoundly and explained that she had been unable to look at her emails for a couple of days. We chatted about the dogs we were interested in and Gail suggested one of the collie crosses would be most suitable and explained the other had already been adopted. Gail invited us to go and meet her and the dogs the next day, but firstly could we possibly arrange a home visit, just to check everything was ok, fence height, big enough garden etc? That was arranged for that evening and a lovely volunteer came along and chatted with us, looked at where the dog would sleep and play and where would we walk a dog? She went away satisfied that we were potentially able to offer a dog home. I don't think either of us slept much that night! So excited at the prospect of meeting and walking a dog, maybe our new family member.

We arrived at Allsorts and were met by Gail and a collie cross called Jersey. Jersey was wagging herself senseless and desperate to say hello. We melted there and then. She was beautiful! Fluffy, white with brown patches on one eye, her bum and side. Such big, soulful, brown eyes that just lit up when she saw us. We had big cuddles and she rolled over for a tummy rub and we fussed her some more. Gail explained that Jersey had come from Ireland, not sure of her full story but she was well behaved in the kennel and clean. She was doing well for 7 months. SEVEN MONTHS??? That was a disaster! We were looking for an older dog, about 18 months, 1 year absolute minimum to avoid the puppy stage so this was an almighty blow. Still, we took her for a walk down the lane. Ok, to be honest, she took US for a walk down the lane! That needed to be worked on. Hang on, already thinking what needs to be worked on? Slow the wagon down, haven't discussed it with the other half yet! I look at him and see him grinning like a Cheshire cat, bit "pully" he said, "we will have to work on that" he said. My turn to grin like a Cheshire cat. Still got the age issue. 7 months, much younger than we anticipated. But so beautiful!! And a lot of Girlies traits showing just in that first hour or so meeting. It felt good, right somehow. Walking back up the lane now, so...... what do you think? A lot of collie in her, certainly an element of Girlie. But the age. We agreed, it felt right, she had given us a huge welcome even though she had never seen us before, so we knew she was a friendly girl, and she was our type of dog, a crossbreed who had imperfections but the kindest eyes.

By the time we got back to Gail we knew we had decided. We wouldn't have given her a second look if her age had been on the website correctly. It had, Gail told us, been a misprint on the website and she really was only 7 months. That was the best mistake ever made. We offered her a place in our family. The next day we went back to pick her up and bring her home. The basket was out the loft, the blankets and towels washed and dried, cupboard full of food, new toys and balls in a drawer. Anyone would think we were Jersey's long lost family the way she greeted us that day! She wagged even harder and let out little excited squeaks. Did she actually recognise us already? We took her home, showed her HER garden, bed, toys, bowls and let her find her way around. She went for a short walk, ate all her dinner and settled down to sleep, on our feet. Bedtime for us and I was exhausted. I laid a blanket on the floor next to the bed through habit having done it for Girlie but Jersey curled up in her bed out in the hall. 6 times in the night I thought I heard her moving or crying so each time I got up to comfort her to find her soundly asleep in her bed. She slept the whole night and got up when I did, going about her business in the garden ready for breakfast.

She quickly became a much loved member of our family and got better on the lead, recall took a long time and sometimes even now she forgets herself. There have been hiccups on the journey but nothing that couldn't be worked on. Well that was a year ago now and she is still finding new ways of causing mischief and making us laugh. It took a long time, months, a lot of patience and encouragement for her to realise that she was allowed on the sofa for a cuddle and that we wouldn't tell her off but now she loves a snuggle and often creeps up next to us and snuggles down with us. One of her favourite places is still sitting on our feet but she does prefer our bed, regardless of whether we are in it or not! She doesn't chase a ball when she's out walking but loves to play hide and seek with us and nearly always stays where she can see us. She is fantastic with our nieces and our friends' little ones, totally changes how she plays and they know that when she walks away, that she wants a rest too. She is a lazy dog though, given she is less than 2. If sleeping were an Olympic event, she would take gold! Some days you have to shove her off the bed to get her to go in the garden! But when shes out, she's a different dog! It hasn't always been easy, there have been down times too, but that is all part of taking on any pet, rescue or not. It has to be expected and worked through.

We would be lost without Jersey, she is a part of our family and enjoys coming on holiday with us. We have even changed our car so she can sit between the front seats because she got so stressed sitting in the back. For our last holiday we hired a caravan to see how we all got on - we loved it and Jersey was the star of the week, everyone came and made friends with her, she settled well, it was so good we are looking at buying a caravan for ourselves so we can go where ever and include Jersey in our plans. We had to have a date to celebrate her birthday so settled for September 2nd, to coincide with the Irish Matchmaking Festival. Couldn't think of a better date to choose for our very cheeky Irish girl. We have been lucky enough to be in touch with her original rescuers in Ireland, Geraldine at GSPCA Heathlawn, whom Allsorts Dog Rescue work with closely. It is only through the collaboration of these 2 rescues that we met Jersey and so many other dogs have been lucky enough to find forever homes. Our bricks and mortar house has a soul again and is a home once more, now that we have an Irish lass in the family.

Tara