Buzz is our lovely red and white Border Collie who is now an old chappie. The last year has been worrying, he looks OK but he has been slowly going off his back legs. There is nothing the vet can do, the signals from the nerves are not getting to his feet so he sometimes falls over. This all sounds horrid and sad but Buzz is such a contented happy boy, if he falls over he doesn't dwell on it like humans do. He gets up and carries on as though nothing happened.
We got Buzz 12 years ago from a family that we didn't know, a friends daughter knew them. She begged me to take him as he was going to be put down for biting the family's 2 year old on the face. We did not have any children in our lives so I agreed to take him as long as he was house trained and good with other dogs. Yes, the family said. That was the first fibs they told us. He was very aggressive with boy dogs and tried to have his wicked way with the girls including my white deaf Border Collie Ellie. He also peed in the house!
Ellie was not impressed with him, she also hated having her photo taken so her wary look below just might be the camera or it might be cos I made her sit next to Buzz.
The family told me that he was an working border collie but when I got him, he tried bite anything that moved quickly, including Ellie. He was terrified of cows and if the sheep came to the fence he tried to bite them as well. He did drop like a stone when you took him into a field of sheep (on a lead) so I did think that he was in training at some point. No farmer in their right minds would give a working collie away to a family, he would have been too valuable as a working dog so I had my suspicions that they were telling me porkies. Last year, his original owner came into our pub and recognised Buzz, he told me that Buzz was a failed working collie who had been tied up in a yard for 2 years before he got him. His daughter still had the "scars" on her face where he had got her, they had told me he had just nipped their daughter and not broken the skin. The chap then told me that he had picked Buzz up and "chucked" him out of the door after the attack. So no wonder Buzz was a very stressed little boy when I got him, if I had known the truth, it would have been easier for me to work him out. Needless to say that Buzz didn't greet his long lost owner, he just looked at him and kept his distance.
Buzz wanted to eat the rabbit when they first met but they soon became good friends. He would go in the cage when I opened the door and say hello to his bunny buddy.
After a lot of hard work and training, Buzz became a social dog who liked to hang out with his doggy friends. Rufus (sitting up) and Rosie came every year while their owners were on their jollie hols. These dogs helped Buzz to learn that other dogs are kind and fun. They are all around the same age, we lost Rufus last year and Rosie is an old girl now.
Like all collies, they can become very toy focused.
This is Buzz with the lovely old Jodie, she was my elderly customers old dog who had an accident and badly hurt her front leg so she came to live with us for the last 5 mths of her life as her garden was terraced and she couldn't get to the lawn. We had known Jodie for years so it was a pleasure to make sure her last months were happy ones.
Here she is joining in the fun with Rosie and Buzz.
This was Buzz last year on holiday, we weren't sure if he would manage while we were away but the change of scenery gave him a new lease of life.
He went really wobbly on us about a month ago, we thought it was time so I made an appoint with the vet, within half an hour of me ringing, he cantered in from the garden jumped over the step and cantered down to the kitchen. We did take him to the vet for her to check him over, she doesn't think he is in too much pain, he is on medication. She said we might be back in 2 days or 6 months.
So we are enjoying our time with our friend while we can, he is such a joy. He had another wobble on Monday after a fall in the night but again he has rallied. Eating well, still wanting to play with his toys, still goes on little walks in the village.
He likes to bark at the football while holding a toy in his mouth,
So a roller-coaster of a time.
Cheers
Sharon
Wow, Buzz had quite a back story.....I hate to think about the fate you saved him from xxx
ReplyDeleteThanks Josie, he had 12 happy years with us, it was sad when we lost him but knowing that he was well cared for, enjoyed his life after such a bad start helped. Burt our new collie is another challenge but in a different way.
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