Adopted by Jackie - Janet's story.

This is Janet, adopted by Jackie in the UK

Jackie says:

We got Janet from Karen coming up to two years ago. Karen had discovered Janet in the "official" dog pound*  and felt heartbroken by her. Janet was in a bad state, matted fur, covered on blood and in season etc. Janet spent several months in Bulgaria (PAWS) waiting out the rabies quarantine period as was then necessary.

Janet is totally adored by everyone who meets her. Neil (hubby) is totally besotted with her and my mother in law has Janet's photograph up with the grandchildren's pics

We hadn't had Janet very long when we noticed blood in her wee. She was diagnosed with a very large stone in her bladder which required urgent surgery. The vet who did the operation said that had we not discovered the stone, she would have had only a few months to live as her organs would have started shutting down. We have her wee tested regularly to ensure no sludge or crystals are starting to form again, and it is recommended that we have ultrasounds performed on her every 6 months to be on the safe side - she WILL NOT eat the special food she is meant to have!

Janet has the loveliest nature imaginable. She loves to sit on your knee and have her tummy tickled and will let you tickle her for HOURS!! She loves her (my) bed and, if one of the others is being noisy or Neil is hoovering, she will escape upstairs for 40 winks! She doesn't like chocolate or other naughty things (good girl) but she is addicted to chopped pork and is very partial to steamed salmon! She is wonderful on a leash but is excellent off leash too. She gets on well with our other dogs and was very good with our (now deceased) elderly cat - letting him climb on her and often curl up on her side/back and go to sleep!

We don't know how old she is and don't know what she suffered before coming to us. If I have to leave her at home for any reason, she will steal my shoe or slipper and keep it beside her for "company" - never chews them! She flinches at fast hand movements which makes us believe she has been beaten, and she also shows fear if you point something at her (ie if you offer her something on a spoon), backing away and flinching.

I had had westies for 30 years and preferred them over all other breeds of dogs because of their independent and feisty character. Adopting Janet has to be one of the best things we ever did and caused me to re-think my "breed" preference. For us now, it is definitely ADOPT DON'T SHOP from now on.

 

 

*These are dog pounds run by local councils in many areas of Turkey.  They are generally appalling places to house strays rounded up from the streets by council workers.  They tend to be enclosed in huge fenced in areas,many of them sick, all of them hungry, with little or no veterinary care, or adequate food (usually stale bread thrown into the pounds so that only the strongest get fed).   It's a dreadful life, little better than being left on the streets.