Whisper
Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 7:09 am
Hi,
It looks as if there is going to be a new member of our household.
Since the premature departure of Holly, our much loved JRT, over a year ago we have been looking for the "right" dog to bring our pack up to 3 again but we have had certain criteria:
It must be a Staffie. I love Staffies. They are lovely dogs who have been given a foul reputation by the media and the lowlife who want one as a status dog.
It must not be a young dog. We are not exactly young ourselves and a high energy youngster could easily be too much for us.
It must be a rescue in need of help and a loving family home.
It seems ages ago now, but in reality it is only a few days. I was having a late night furtle around the dog pages on the internet (as one does) and found a thread somewhere mentioning a dog at Battersea called Whisper.
So off we go to the Battersea web site and there she is. Our hearts went out to her after reading her story, but there was a snag. She is currently being featured on Paul O'Gradys program on ITV. Oh well we thought, the last thing we want is to see ourselves on TV but with any luck it will only be a quick bit to camera and possibly a follow up in a few weeks time.
I have worked with film crews before on various projects and have seen them working on a couple of major drama productions. But neither of us have had the lens pointed in our direction and it is certainly not something that appeals to us.
Anyway, after exchanging emails with Battersea and some phone calls we fired up Bongy and headed off to Old Windsor to see Whisper, and what a heartbreaking little girl she is! Apparently it was almost a month before she could be tempted out of her kennel, even by Karen, who is one of the staff who have cared for her since she arrived and who fosters her. My immediate feeling after the initial shock was one of anger that some "pondlife" could do this to any dog. But she responded well and could be persuaded to take some bits of ham out of our hands though it obviously took some courage on her part.
Then onto the garden there. We stood well back and watched her with Karen as they played together. Yes, there it was but only fleetingly - that famous Staffie grin!
We collected our two mutts from Bongy - Kam the Kollie, who is terrified of other dogs and little Lady, who has seen many foster dogs come and go through our home and has helped us as we have rehabilitated them - and we gave the three dogs some off lead time together to see what would happen. The film crew were nowhere to be seen.
Kam gave his usual and predictable reaction. When Whisper approached him he went into a down and you could tell from his eyes that he wasn't at ease when Whisper sniffed him. Lady will sometimes intervene when she thinks Kam is being threatened but she didn't and when Whisper went to say hello to her she was her usual self and politely said hello (in dog language of course) then largely ignored her.
Karen seemed pleased with the reaction, and after a few minutes and some more ham Whisper had had enough and retreated to the safety of Karens car boot.
Then the TV people pounced on us! "what do you feel having met Whisper" and loads of stuff like that. What do I feel? If I told them truthfully what I thought it certainly would not be suitable for transmission, but the words lowlife and scumbag would be in there somewhere along with some extremely unsavoury language.
Altogether we were at Battersea for over 3 hours. A lot of our time was spent not with Whisper, but with Karen who is very keen to see that she goes to the right home, and the Battersea vet. I was very impressed with the attitude of the Battersea staff and their love of the animals in their care. A very well run, clean and professional organisation.
You can guess what the only topic of conversation on the way home was, to the accompaniment of the quiet hum of the diesel engine we decided that we could help this little girl come out of her shell, but it is going to be a very long project.
Karen rang us on Saturday to see if we had reached a decision and she sounded overjoyed when we said yes. We also discussed how to keep the media at bay - the tabloids have got hold of the story - but the last thing Whisper needs is the press around with their flashguns, loud voices and stupid questions.
We are off to see her again on Wednesday, but she won't be coming home with us. Karen will bring her down to us and see her safely installed. I feel very sorry for Karen because she has very deep feelings for Whisper and it will be a very sad and lonely trip back home for her.
So that is the story as it stands at the moment. We are taking a lot on here and we fully expect her to spend her first month hiding under the table. Though we have fostered "problem" dogs before and even Kam when he came to us was potentially dangerous and on the verge of shutdown we will be working beyond the limits of our experience though Karen seems to have faith in us.
If you have time to watch, she might be on TV this coming Wednesday evening. If so, ignore the "pratt in the hat", just look at the dog and seethe at what somebody has done to her.
Peter
It looks as if there is going to be a new member of our household.
Since the premature departure of Holly, our much loved JRT, over a year ago we have been looking for the "right" dog to bring our pack up to 3 again but we have had certain criteria:
It must be a Staffie. I love Staffies. They are lovely dogs who have been given a foul reputation by the media and the lowlife who want one as a status dog.
It must not be a young dog. We are not exactly young ourselves and a high energy youngster could easily be too much for us.
It must be a rescue in need of help and a loving family home.
It seems ages ago now, but in reality it is only a few days. I was having a late night furtle around the dog pages on the internet (as one does) and found a thread somewhere mentioning a dog at Battersea called Whisper.
So off we go to the Battersea web site and there she is. Our hearts went out to her after reading her story, but there was a snag. She is currently being featured on Paul O'Gradys program on ITV. Oh well we thought, the last thing we want is to see ourselves on TV but with any luck it will only be a quick bit to camera and possibly a follow up in a few weeks time.
I have worked with film crews before on various projects and have seen them working on a couple of major drama productions. But neither of us have had the lens pointed in our direction and it is certainly not something that appeals to us.
Anyway, after exchanging emails with Battersea and some phone calls we fired up Bongy and headed off to Old Windsor to see Whisper, and what a heartbreaking little girl she is! Apparently it was almost a month before she could be tempted out of her kennel, even by Karen, who is one of the staff who have cared for her since she arrived and who fosters her. My immediate feeling after the initial shock was one of anger that some "pondlife" could do this to any dog. But she responded well and could be persuaded to take some bits of ham out of our hands though it obviously took some courage on her part.
Then onto the garden there. We stood well back and watched her with Karen as they played together. Yes, there it was but only fleetingly - that famous Staffie grin!
We collected our two mutts from Bongy - Kam the Kollie, who is terrified of other dogs and little Lady, who has seen many foster dogs come and go through our home and has helped us as we have rehabilitated them - and we gave the three dogs some off lead time together to see what would happen. The film crew were nowhere to be seen.
Kam gave his usual and predictable reaction. When Whisper approached him he went into a down and you could tell from his eyes that he wasn't at ease when Whisper sniffed him. Lady will sometimes intervene when she thinks Kam is being threatened but she didn't and when Whisper went to say hello to her she was her usual self and politely said hello (in dog language of course) then largely ignored her.
Karen seemed pleased with the reaction, and after a few minutes and some more ham Whisper had had enough and retreated to the safety of Karens car boot.
Then the TV people pounced on us! "what do you feel having met Whisper" and loads of stuff like that. What do I feel? If I told them truthfully what I thought it certainly would not be suitable for transmission, but the words lowlife and scumbag would be in there somewhere along with some extremely unsavoury language.
Altogether we were at Battersea for over 3 hours. A lot of our time was spent not with Whisper, but with Karen who is very keen to see that she goes to the right home, and the Battersea vet. I was very impressed with the attitude of the Battersea staff and their love of the animals in their care. A very well run, clean and professional organisation.
You can guess what the only topic of conversation on the way home was, to the accompaniment of the quiet hum of the diesel engine we decided that we could help this little girl come out of her shell, but it is going to be a very long project.
Karen rang us on Saturday to see if we had reached a decision and she sounded overjoyed when we said yes. We also discussed how to keep the media at bay - the tabloids have got hold of the story - but the last thing Whisper needs is the press around with their flashguns, loud voices and stupid questions.
We are off to see her again on Wednesday, but she won't be coming home with us. Karen will bring her down to us and see her safely installed. I feel very sorry for Karen because she has very deep feelings for Whisper and it will be a very sad and lonely trip back home for her.
So that is the story as it stands at the moment. We are taking a lot on here and we fully expect her to spend her first month hiding under the table. Though we have fostered "problem" dogs before and even Kam when he came to us was potentially dangerous and on the verge of shutdown we will be working beyond the limits of our experience though Karen seems to have faith in us.
If you have time to watch, she might be on TV this coming Wednesday evening. If so, ignore the "pratt in the hat", just look at the dog and seethe at what somebody has done to her.
Peter