Laydeez an Chennelmen
May I introduce for your perusal and delictation the latest inhabitant of The Cave and I hadn’t even had too many beers this time as was the case with Mrs Machiavelli and Das Fürballen.
Silvie
She’s a rescue dog, mostly black Labrador with a faint sprinkling of Portuguese street mutt. She was found caught in an illegal wire snare which had all but amputated her rear left leg just above the hock joint and was taken to the local Rescue Centre. Worse still, earlier in life she seems to have been hit on the head with a spade or shovel which left her with an asymmetric skull, different coloured eyes and partial blindness in the left one. She was also suffering from tic fever. Anyway, the animal rescue people here (all voluntary) do a splendid job and the hound was brought back to health, had her, ahem. plumbing rearranged, vaccinated and medicated for the tic fever.
At this point things began to look up and she was adopted by the NSW’s nursing home as a ‘house dog’ and communal pet for the residents. Unfortunately, despite being spoiled rotten, this didn’t work out as Silvie became increasingly stressed by the hustle and bustle and constant flow of strangers, so the nurses embarked on a campaign to find her a quieter home. They targeted me.
Now you all know me, the flinty, amber-eyed, lethal ghost of the forest, yada, yada, but even the afore mentioned had no chance against a sustained psychological campaign mounted by a posse of determined nurses on a mission and so Silvie appeared at the entrance of The Cave with a triumphant NSW in tow. I have to say that Silvie also came laden with a bed, blankets, towels, treats, biccies and packs of turkey steaks and frozen chickens from the nursing home. More importantly, the nurses had had her chipped and provided five pages of blood analysis reports done by a vet.
Fumada has been sanguine and taken things in her stride as Silvie has proved to be an absolute sweetie. They eat together in the kitchen at the same time and sleep in the same room. So far, so good. I will keep cherished colleagues advised.
OZ
Boadicea's Chariot 
Ah, you are such a softy, OZ. She looks lovely and I hope she will benefit from the peace and quiet. Good for you, she sounds as though she has had a pretty dreadful time and she deserves a good home.
She did lose the leg and had the nurses not already given her a name to which she responds I would have called her Tripod. I am also teaching her commands in German as per my tradition, but she seems only to understand Portuguese. This is a work in progress.
OZ
My last rescue dog didn’t understand English, and since she was picked up in Wales, I had a friend who translated all the usual commands into Welsh for me.
Made not the slightest difference. We just had to start again.
Poor little girl.
A moving post, OZ. What horrors we inflict on gentle creatures.
You are a good and kind wolf, as is the NSW. How lovely that Fumada has welcomed her. I think she will have a good life at the Cave.
Silvie is a very pretty name. Tripod is not. 🙂
PS She’s a gorgeous girl. It would be nice to see more pics in future.
Well she landed right side up in the end didn’t she?
Bad out the starting gate and romping home in the finish!
Bilby – It is incredibly difficult to take decent piccies of a jet black dog – definition and resolution and all that, but I shall try..
Christina – Thank you. We have just returned from her late night
hoppieswalkies and she and Fumada are bedded down comfortably for the night, as I shall be in a few minutes.Nighty night all.
OZ
I’m very happy that Silvie found a quiet corner in the cave and that Fumada seems to have found a new friend. Labs are really good dogs, I’ve always liked them. Keep us posted.
Has she been in the pool yet?
We grew up with a black lab, named Cassius. my dad was a boxing fan 😉
If memory serves me correctly ours was a bit trimmer than Sylvie and had a shorter coat, couldn’t keep, him out of the water, pools, rivers or the sea, he just wanted to swim with us. We had lilos as children, Cassius would grab the handle in his mouth and tow us out to sea (past the breakers) or up and down the river!
Always bringing animals home and dropping them at our feet, tortoises, rabbits (even a snake once!) all completely unharmed. And don’t think by the above description he was a softy, my, did he hate strangers, quite vicious when he wanted to be, a great family pet and guard dog!
Mrs Janus’ dad kept dogs during the German occupation and delighted in using German commands within earshot of patrolling occupiers. He would shout , “Hinter!” – which the dogs obeyed but which left the soldiers confused, to say the least.
Mornin’ all
Thank you Christopher – will do.
Soutie – Well, if Cassius had been pampered by nurses and residents alike then he would have been a bit, erm, chunky too. I’m working on this and Silvie is on a strict diet comprised mainly of chicken and a few biscuits or a scoop of rice twice a day. Give it a month or two and she should have got her figure back.
Janus – I used to breed GSDs back in Blighty and always gave commands in German, which is an old family custom. At obedience training class one evening somebody asked why I did this. “Because they’re German Shepherds”, I replied in jest. “Oh, of course”, came the bewildered reply. I also bought something called a ‘dog loo’, a mini septic tank the size of a small dustbin which you sank into the ground up to its lid and into which you scooped the poop. I was telling somebody about this. “Gosh”, she said, wide eyed, “How are you going to train them to use it?”
OZ
OZ, was it nervous tic fever?
Very droll, Sipu. 🙂
OZ
Nice one OZ,
She looks a little bit like my dog Izzy. Part Labrador, part Pyrenean Mountain Dog, part trash compactor, part industrial sprinkler. I shall have to take a piccie or two to compare notes. Izzy was a rescue dog too, her full title is Izzy Wizzy because if she gets excited she wee’s a bit. I think she was beaten by her previous owners because she was very timid when we took her on. She’s a very happy furbag now though. 🙂
Yo, Ferret! Perhaps we ought to start a dog owners’ thread where cherished colleagues can post piccies of their hounds, failing which they can upload them to this one. I believe Soutie has a whole pack of them, for example.
OZ
Just back from walkies this morning.
OZ
She looks content in this picture. Lucky dog!
Thank you Christopher. Being so dark it is difficult to get a decent, defined piccie of her, but she is indeed content and eating a whole, slow-cooked chicken every two days plus anything else I don’t nail down – you can take the dog out of the street, etc., etc……….. She has taken a fancy to having a raw egg on her breakfast too, which, together with regular grooming, accounts for the shiny coat.
OZ
Lovely. Nice shiny coat, and not a sign of frizz!
I’d like to to see her standing some time. No hurry. 😉
Oops, crossed comments.