A Change of Subject......Dogs, Death and Amazing Luck.

Regular readers of my blog will have noticed that I suddenly went quiet. I was going to write the Postscript to my Hawkwind tour stories and then silence. Those of you who follow me on FaceBook will know why: my faithful dog, Eddy, was suddenly no more.

Eddy, an Akita/German Shepherd cross had been my sole companion for the last 2 and a half years and a companion to both me and my mother for a couple of years before that. I got him from an animal sanctuary who took him when the RSPCA who had had him for a year was going to have to put him down due to their rules. He had been with Ferne Animal Sanctuary for 14 months, their longest guest, because they were having difficulty finding a suitable home for him.
He had been found wandering the streets of Swansea in Wales and the Police, after a lot of trouble, had captured him. He was a dominant alpha male, top dog in the sanctuary, and could be aggressive to male humans whom he didn't trust, having obviously been badly treated.

I passed the test and managed to show I was capable of controlling this large dog and so he became mine. And there followed a difficult month while I made it clear that I was the alpha male in  my house. He remained very aggressive towards other dogs and wary of certain people in the streets so I walked him out in the country as much as I could. But he did get into trouble with the police for biting a couple of people, one of whom admitted he was hitting him with a big stick at the time and one who was a member of a group who came suddenly through a gate and surrounded Eddy, frightening him.
We left for France before the court case came up and I gathered there was a warrant out for my arrest for not turning up.
We had a great 8 months living in my Winnebago camper van before moving into an apartment here in the South West of France in a small medieval town. We did have a bit more trouble but, as he got older, he got less aggressive and would accept most people willingly and even some dogs. However, this summer, what I took to be him getting old and not putting up with the heat well, turned out to be that he had inoperable prostrate cancer which was spreading through his urinary tract. When I discovered this, I had to have him put to sleep to stop him suffering any more.

That night was horrible and it was clear I was missing him terribly already. .Although he had some problems, with me he was adorable and a fantastic companion. Although I decided I would try living without a dog for a few months, the next day I checked out the local dog refuges and adverts on the internet for a suitable replacement but there was nothing really for me. Then, I called in at my butcher's to buy some meat for the next few days and told them about the death of Eddy and they asked me if I was looking for a dog. Next thing I knew, I was swapping phone numbers and email addresses with the cashier whose sister was looking for a home for her pure race German Shepherd.
And that evening I received a photo and fell in love.
My father had a series of pure German Shepherds and I had had a cross but I had always wanted a real German Shepherd, they were my dream dog. But they cost a lot!! My dad had paid 700 pounds for his last one! I couldn't afford that! So to be offered one and a young one, 13 months old, and trained and for free was a dream. The owner even drove down from where she lived, 4 and a half hours drive away, to see if we two could get on: I had him for a day's trial. Well, me and Leo, hit it off from the start both at home and out in the country where he needs to go to use up his energy. What a gift!! The lady was obviously sad to lose him but she couldn't keep him and I found out it was because she was going to have to go to court because Leo had been caught chasing sheep, some of them dying because he had chased them into a lake. And it was quite likely that, besides a large fine, she would be forbidden to have a dog for a few years, a typical punishment here.

So, now I have Leo. He is friendly to all, growls at other dogs who come too close but that's all, and needs a lot of exercise, probably 3 good walks a day. That's good for me and my health and I have a new companion. This afternoon, with my friend Alan who lives down the road, we're going to take Leo to a place he already loves here, a couple of miles south of the town and where a dam was built to divide the river in two and where Leo loves playing in the water, chasing sticks and soaking his owner when he comes out and has a good shake. and we'll be taking some photos and videos of the action for Facebook tomorrow.

 I have read that retired people who live alone tend to live longer if they have a dog, several years longer. Well I think in my case, every little bit helps. The companionship, the exercise..........
So, quite an emotional week for me, hence no writing. But, I'm back and in the next few days the POSTSCRIPT of the TOURING WITH HAWKWIND series will become available, with some puzzles solved and some results presented.
So watch out for that.

Man's Best Friend.

One of my dad's favourite sayings, strangely not from the Bible, was,"The more I see of people, the more I likes me dog." He had dogs all the time I knew him, normally big dogs, and either Collies or German Shepherds. In fact, I heard my mother say,"He knew that Bobby (a pure-bred 'Lassie') was going to be his last dog and when he died suddenly at 7, dad never got over it." And dad died of pancreatic cancer a few months later.
And, I've carried on the family tradition when I could i.e. lived in the country. Eddy, my present companion, and he is that, is an Akita/German Shepherd cross (as far as the vets can tell) and I rescued him from the very lovely Ferne Animal Sanctuary, near Chard in Dorset, just over 5 years ago. I was told he was not an easy dog, being an aggressive dominant with other dogs and being very wary of adult humans, particularly men who moved their hand near his head, or young, noisy children. He had been found wandering the streets of Swansea by the police who had been called to get him. He had obviously been badly treated and probably abandoned. All this prior to his 14 months in captivity, well looked after but kept away from the pack.

In the Lake District a few weeks after I got Eddy: although not in the picture, there were a lot of people and dogs about, hence the muzzle.

And once he had been delivered to me, I was living in a small bungalow across the road from my mum's at this time, I had a difficult first couple of months. The older man next door was a dog portrait painter; he had painted a couple of my dad's. He loved dogs and hearing that I had got one he bought some dog biscuits to give him. First time he tried, Eddy nearly bit his finger off. A short relationship that was.
Seaton as a town, has a large dog population, all sorts of twee tiny dogs belonging to the older but mobile population of this retirement town and the bigger, mongrel population belonging to the workers (and unemployed). So walking Eddy in town, on the seafront or beach, along the clifftops, around the bungalow estates, was a series of skirmishes where Eddy would be straining on his leash to dominate the other dog, however big or small, with the other dog yapping and approaching Eddy, the smaller, the closer, and the other owner (generally) going into a dramatic state of panic. I could usually avoid contact by straining my muscles to prevent 45kgs of muscle from steaming ahead, jaws wide open. But, as sometimes happened, and the other dog was off the lead and came in foolhardily close, there would be a thunderous growling noise accompanied by high-pitched keening, whilst bodies rolled around on the floor, their precise positions being difficult to ascertain, as we, the owners/managers strove to excitrait them.

Out walking with my good friend, Jo Fox.

Generally the most damage done was to my ears and once or twice I later had visits from the Town Dog Police, in plain clothes but carrying identification anyone could have made at home these days. These ladies were officious, patronising and plain rude and, knowing exactly what had happened I was confident in telling them about their qualities. I later got my comeback when they gave me a fine for letting my Eddy defecate on, or on the side of, a public footpath: in fact, it was in tall stinging nettles a good yard away where no sensible human would have ventured. When I asked for their proof it was a photo taken from the other side of the harbour, of MY CAR, not a creature that craps!
Joking aside, it was clear that working on his behaviour was crucial: his level of sociabillity and his obeying of commands needed constant improvement. This sort of breed of dog, often used to working with one other human, of a large, physical make-up, are not naturally sociable, not like many breeds, and, particularly when removed from mother and siblings at an early age as is the trend, this job falls on the owners, and if they are poor and badly informed, the male, in particular, will become an aggressive dominant, with other dogs, but with humans too if we are not careful. My father had a big Welsh Border Collie when I was a teenager. He was fine with us all most of the time but the only person he would let in the front door was my dad. My dad was the pack leader, and Laddie was the number two: the rest of us had to use the back door.

Lying on top of Sez.

Eddy knew very few commands when I got him but I got him to learn loads more, and new places, things to do, ignoring people, ignoring other dogs (starting with a long way away, then the other side of the street...), learning when out in the fields, off the lead, not to clear off, to come when told (unless on the trail of a rabbit, etc., ) and other less important things, just to improve his idea that sounds meant things and were linked to specific acts. And he could be brilliant for ages and then suddenly do something which had become out of character, like turning round and nibbling on the ankle of some poor person who was walking to close behind us. A muzzle was suggested by the police and other people but my vet said muzzling him would be admitting defeat because being muzzled tends to make them worse, more aggressive. And, things were slowly improving. When we later lived with my mum, three carers per day came to the house to help me looking after mum, and there were loads of different women involved. Eddy was fine, sociable, loving a cuddle, with virtually all these women from day one, except for two who both stated before coming in that they were scared of dogs and could I lock him away. Strangely these women were both English and the ones who got on fine with him were all Eastern Europeans except for a couple of other local girls. What Eddy needed was more company so he could see how enjoyable it was.
Everything changed when, just before and just after my mother's passing, I had visitors, friends and also sons, staying in the bungalow. Eddy was so happy to have them around, even my two son's who were not that happy about him.

Eddy the other week, in front of Frank's house, where he stays when I have to go away without him.

More in the next post as Eddy and I hit the road for Europe.