Bolly is looking for a quiet forever home with lots of time and patience !
Bolly came to Walkies as she was returned to her breeder a few times and was extremely nervous. We have been working with her and she is doing so well . She will be looking for a forever home once her training has finished. Bolly would suit a retired older couple or Poodle fanatic she is 2 years old and loves other dogs. She also loves walks , playing fetch and water !
Stage one
Bolly arrived and she was so timid and scared her body was all ridged you just felt like you wanted to cuddle her and pick her up it was very tempting. The first rule of a nervous dog is to not do this but give them space. So i introduced her to a few of our small dog pack and settled them down for the night. In the morning we went about our usual routine fed Bolly then took her for a run with the others. She started to come up to Me first she wasn’t keen on Paul. I told her to sit and put her lead on but didn’t give her any physical contact. This went on for a few days and she started trying to climb on my lap whenever i sat down. At first i gently pushed her down shes fed last to and is bottom of the small dog pack. Once she was used to our routine her personality started coming through. Then i started taking her out just the two of us . I really enjoyed this time Bolly is such a lovely dog very affectionate and loves to play. We have put her on a Bach flower remedy too. This has worked well. Her body posture is no longer ridged and she starting to relax more each day. I would love to know what happened to poor Bolly.
Stage 2
Bolly has completely excepted us now and has become so cuddley. She will run over in the mornings for cuddle. So the next Step is introducing Bolly to lot’s of new people. We made sure each meeting was a pleasurable experience at first we told everyone to totally ignore her , no eye contact and to keep their body posture as un threatening as possible.
Bolly did fab and she is now excepting cuddles of lots of different people. She is still weary of men but she will let them stroke her after a few mins. We have had no growlyness at all from Bolly she does have a nervous lip twitch but this is’nt aggression. She has also just come into season the first one in two years. This shows that we have had a brake through and she is now carrying her head higher !! Her bubbly side is starting to come out now and her confidence is growing daily, we are so pleased with her. She is such a cuddley dog once you get to know her. Have to admit we all love her to bits!!
Disaster struck its the Summer holidays and Bolly was out in the field with Milly and Sherry some older children marched past gate with sticks and scared the life out of poor Bolly. She ran through gate in blind panic and legged it up the path. We followed carefully straight away and followed her till we lost sight. We were all so worried she had got up the mountain so Paul carried on going while I rallied round troops top help. We put a post on Face book and so many kind people helped. It was our worst nightmare come true she had been spotted near the mountain ! We live in such a lovely village full of lovely doggy people and they all helped by searching.
For seven days we searched solidly we could’t sleep we had to find our poor Bolly. We had lots of sightings so we were dashing out at all hours hot on her trail one of the funniest was from a farmer who in this words said ” I thought it was a lamb but it was your poodle” so we rushed up there and she had already fled. Everyone that tried to catch her just made her panic ! Then the sightings started to become closer afield like Bolly was making her own way home.Our wonderful friends and customer all helped by calling us and tracking her with us. We were so lucky it was summer and the nights were dry for once we let the dogs bark in the hope she would follow the sound home.Then on the Friday evening Bolly was spotted on a road near so Paul drove up there in the car and called her and called her. He got back and we were both so sad it was hopeless we couldn’t think of anything else but getting Bolly home .
The next morning a friend spotted her on our premises ! I raced down and called her but couldn’t see her anywhere. A while later my Mum came round and we had coffee outside, in our back garden we have a field that is really steep and in the bushes at the top I could see Bolly !! I can’t tell you how relieved I felt I called her straight away and she hid. My immediate reaction was to race up and get her. But I worried this would scare her so I carried on talking to Mum and going through the motions. A while later I went the back way up to the field , I saw Bolly lead down and I crept closer it was like Bolly had gone feral she was like a feral cat . She spotted me so I walked fast in the opposite direction . I didn’t give any eye contact and carried on walking around I then pretended to hurt my foot and went to the floor in the hope it would trigger something in Bolly to remember the bond we had. Bolly then edged closer I led there still and waited until she came over she sniffed me and I lifted my hand and stroked her gently. I couldn’t believe she had found her way home or that she was finally home. I then got up and walked her a little while longer in the opposite direction and played stick for a while.
Bolly was a bit weary but soon we played stick happily and headed for the house i then scooped her into my arms she liked my face and i have to admit cried bucket’s! We then reached the house and went about de smelling her !! Clever Bolly had found her way home I feel something that dreadful day triggered something in Bolly to make her flee. She has had a history in the past for this too . As soon as she was home she dived onto the office chair her fav place. We would like to thank all the wonderful people out there that helped us with Bolly. Face book and social net working can be a good thing for animal rescue. It helped us get the word round Bolly was missing fast and Dog lost was another good tool in helping Bolly return safely. The support we received from Brynamman was fantastic too !
The next couple of weeks we were so worried about letting Bolly out of our sight , although she was over clingy and wanted to be where ever we were . Of course we had lots of cuddles but we were really careful not to over do it and to give her space and feel under no pressure. This worked well and Bolly returned back too , even better than her old self! Taking the pressure off is one of the key words here lots of dogs we work with respond better to training once the pressure is off them.
The day that we were going to try Bolly of the lead came and we let her off but played with her and kept her attention. I called her back a few times clipped the lead on stroked her then let her back of and played. She was clingy once more and wanted to be near us and just trot along in perfect companionship. Bolly has a way of making your heart melt she is so special and the bond i have with her now is so strong. Now Bolly was sorted and her nervousness and nearly gone it was time to set about finding her a home once more. Although it was going to brake my heart she deserves a family off her own where she dosen’t have to share the cuddles and love somewhere will be someone’s everything. We had an open day at Walkies and she jumped and bounced and licked everyone we decided it was definitely the right decision!
A lady rang that had, had Poodles before and had a nervous boy herslf in she came too see Bolly and we went for a Coffee in the dog play barn. Bolly then decided to bonce on the poor lady and her poor nervous Poodle and hump him like the clappers ! So was not really the right home i think she frightend them to death! Bolly is not your typical Poodle she is Collie trapped in a Poodles Body ! Lots of people re marked Clip her like a Poodle but she didn’t suit a poodle clip her character is rough and ready Bolly is a lovely girl but she isn’t very lady like .
We had so many un suitable calls no gardens , city life Bolly needed a country home with space and who loved walking and the great out doors. Bollys great love is bouncing through muddy fields and rolling in smelly things. Then one morning a couple popped in and were looking for a smaller collie. We had none in so I asked them in for a chat and we got talking about what they wanted in a dog. We then got on too the subject about how choosing a dog was like chosing a partner you had to feel that “ting feeling where your heart larches and you no yep that’s the one for me! I then said I would call when if we had any dogs suitable come in. One the way out they saw Bolly , the gentle man Barry asked about her and I explianed her story. Bolly went towards him and he stroked her. They then arranged to take her for a walk. On there second visit they said they never considered having a poodle but she was more like Collie and they wanted to adopt her! They were perfect home all day retired and lots of nice long walks!
Over the next couple of weeks they came regularly to walk her and were home checked and the day finally came to take her home. They had struck up a lovely bond and it was hard to believe Bolly was once scared of men !! She was totally at ease with her new family! So off she went to start her new life. Bollys case was the hardest re homer case i have had to do she is so special and means so much to me! The nicest thing about her new home is she is very near by and will be coming back for lots of visits as we are on their dog walk route!
A few weeks on and Bolly has visited lots her and her owner Barry and his wife have all got on like a house on fire and she is settling in well. He has let her off the lead too and she is fine. Bolly has come so far her trust in humans is back we wish her all the best in her new home .
Bolly has now been re homed!! We are so pleased for her a lovely gentleman called Barry and his wife who live close by have given her a lovely new life. They have come up weekly to take her out on lots of walks and have struck up a lovely bond with her.We are so plesed with how far Bolly has come and are so happy she has found a home so near so we can still see her lots!