Forest |
Male |
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With the help of British Dalmatian Welfare last autumn we decided to give a home to a rescue Dalmatian. Here is Forest’s story. Forest is settling in beautifully. He is still quite anxious and does not like to be left, but fortunately as we are all at home at the moment that does not happen very often. He has gone from refusing to get in the car and having to be lifted in, then refusing to get out at the other end, to barging past us whenever we open the door and sitting outside the car until someone lets him in and takes him out. He also runs about a bit now whenever we take him out. He still prefers a large grassy place to the beach though, so we have to do half and half, as we prefer the beach. He is quite naughty when we are out. He likes to rush up to other dogs and bark scarily at them. He doesn’t harm them, so I am not sure if he is protecting our other Dalmatian, Gracie or just warning them generally, as I don’t know if he did this when he was on his own. In typical Dalmatia style, he was very naughty last week. We took him to Southampton Common and he was as good as gold until we were almost back at the car. He then ran off and tore up to a family who were having a picnic. They got up and ran away terrified. Forest rushed up and grabbed a piece of pizza and we got shouted at (justifiably!). We haven’t dared to go back to the Common again. After the initial operation to remove a skin tag, a broken tooth and some fatty lumps, Forest’s health seems fine. The vets have given us some anti inflammatories for a problem with his foot, but he rarely seems to need them. He hardly ever limps on that foot, although he doesn’t like us touching one particular toe. The only time he ever limps a bit is when the tide is in and we are on the shingly beach, so we nearly always check the tide times and go when the tide is out and we can walk on the wet sand. He has set up home on our daughter Emilia’s bed and sleeps there every night. In the daytime he sits under my desk as I am trying (struggling) to write my nursing dissertation. I hope that this information and the pictures are a comfort to his old owner? I know what a hugely brave thing he did to part with Forest and I hope you can reassure him that we love him very much. He will always be a work in progress I think, but we are doing our best. The Wyatt family.
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