Sweet little Sadie came into the care of the Oldies Club because her family were emigrating and Sadie was too old to make the journey. They were heartbroken to have to part with her. This update from Sadie’s new mum is mainly addressed to them and hopefully, if they read it they can be reassured that she is settled, happy and very much loved. And Sadie sends a Valentine.
“Sadie came to us for foster at the end of August last year and I guess really from day 1 her lovely old eyes won us over. We have never had a ‘failed’ foster before, having always rehomed our temporary visitors but we are very happy Sadie is the first! She has obviously been very well looked after her whole life and not known a moments unkindness but that can make the heartbreak even greater for you & for her. She was confused & unsettled but seemed to take it in a stoic fashion, thinking well no one is going to hurt me and they will come back for me soon. Strangely she would not rest in any of the lovely beds or blankets she arrived with and has never shown an interest in her super little kennel even though we set it up straight away in our garden in a sunny spot. She did however relax in one of our plentiful dog beds eventually. I think as it began to dawn on her that she was staying here she did withdraw into herself for a while and grieve, she lost a little weight and went off her food a bit and was a little lost to be honest but I’m really happy to say that now almost six months later she is doing well and seems to have become fond of us, particularly attached to me. (As I type this she is snoozing on the dog bed in my small home office)
She is definitely deaf and we think her eyesight was maybe worse than you thought as getting used to a new home layout house has shown, there have been a few bumps into things. Her legs are quite stiff and her knee has given her a bit of trouble which she did have some pain relief for but she is still really enjoying a walk and often there is a short gallop from her, which is always a joy to see.
The vet has explained that the heart murmur is pretty severe but we’ve had her bloods done and they are happy that her kidneys are not too bad and her lungs are reasonably clear still. She does have the little collapses now & again still but we manage it ok and it’s not holding her back. The weather has been particularly bitter here over the winter so some days she doesn’t go far and she’s always wearing a warm coat at the moment outside and a jumper indoors on days like today (its snowing!)
She eats really well again now, we cook the dogs their food so she is enjoying cooked liver, beef, chicken, oily fish, veggies etc and she has the old ladies privilege of tit bits and treats too, much to the disgust of our younger dogs. The greatest discovery we made about her was her love of sausages! For the first month or so we were giving her her tablets straight down her throat which isn’t the nicest but we couldn’t get them in any other way, we’d tried every trick we knew but one morning while on holiday my husband tried a bit of sausage and we haven’t looked back since. She now takes her pills in small pieces of sausage every day and we now have sausages at home not just as a holiday treat!
It’s just myself & my husband, we don’t have any children but we have two other terriers, 4 & 6 who are very good with other dogs and very gentle and sweet with Sadie and 2 cats aged 5 who also just pad around her. She is polite with them all and visiting humans but isn’t overly interested, preferring her own space I think. Her temperament is beautifully calm but we love that each morning when she wakes she hops off the bed, shakes and trots outside tail wagging as if to say ‘hooray, another day!’ She is elderly and fragile but there’s alot of life in this lovely old lady still.
You completely did the right thing to not transport her back home, I can’t imagine her coping with that but I can imagine how much it must have broke your hearts but please do be sure that she has a lovely, quiet country retirement home now for however long or short her life is, though lets face it, JRT’s are a hardy breed, one in our extended family was with us until he was 21! I know we will never replace her first family but she is safe, loved and pampered and beginning now to love us too I think.
I work from home mostly (I am a photographer & writer) so the dogs are nearly always with me, she’s also happy to come for a car journey with me and maybe come to a meeting or quiet shoot, there’s always a cosy bed with me for her to nap in. She’s been away with us twice, to Cornwall in October and at Christmas, staying in our cottage and also to my parents with me for a couple of visits and has seemed to enjoy these little jaunts.
One thing that might make you smile…she’s shown us you certainly can ‘teach an old dog new tricks’, in her info it said that she doesn’t go on the sofas, upstairs or sleep on the humans bed, well after a few days she’d changed that. We do let our dogs on the sofas and they do sleep on the bed (I know it’s not for everyone) but so does she now – we were surprised the first time she nimbly hopped up into the armchair but don’t mind at all. I’m not sure if she has learnt this from ours or already secretly knew but her confirmed sleeping place overnight now is on a blanket at the bottom of our bed or curled up behind my legs, which is lovely.
The pictures attached are from the beach in Cornwall, our garden and home and from a shoot I did for an Oldies club Valentine fund raiser (actually shot on my own bed at home!) I hope you like them and feel happy that Sadie is in good hands with people that really do love her. I would like to think that should we ever be in the position that you found yourselves in after all these years with Sadie that one of our dogs would find a second home as she has. She sends you lots of love and I’m always happy to send pictures or updates to you if you would like but also understand if you don’t. Hope all is well for you in Aus, lots of love from us here in the UK! x
What a lovely Rehoming Story – which may have caused you to shed a tear or two. We do hope that Sadie’s other family read this and are reassured that she is happy and loved.
