Category: Volunteering

Kind of a shock, because the place and the people seemed so ideal for Ebony. We thought she had finally found a home. The people are upset about it, but it’s a farm and Ebs has been causing too much disturbance with the other animals.

They said Ebony is food aggressive. Well, they leave food lying around all day for the dogs to snack on whenever they want it. Clearly this doesn’t work for Ebony, she was fine with our two when we fed them together. Once a day, own dinner bowls.

They said Ebony is attacking their other dogs. I’d had reservations about their old cattle dog, Teddy – he and Ebony had a fight the day we took her there. I felt a bit sorry for old Teddy losing his place, clearly he was no match for Ebony. The fights have continued, with blood drawn, and Teddy relegated under the house. Their new puppy dog has also been the occasional subject of attack (around the food I’d say) and the people were worried about little kids getting in the way.

So Ebony, who I can’t help but love for all her high-spirited faults, is coming back. And I think Ludelle would like her to stay with us for a while, so she can settle down a bit. H has some time off and is going to get stuck into building a secure compound for her to stay in when we’re at work.

Prior to putting my leg out of action on Friday morning, I’d set out to give Ludelle a hand with Ebony, a lovely little Lab girl I’ve mentioned before. Normally I would have gone on to help with the other dogs at the pound but had planned to leave early for work.

Ebony had been staying in the backyard at Shirley’s place, not far from the pound. Ludelle would stop by to feed and exercise Ebony every morning, since old Shirley is a bit too frail to look after an energetic young Lab on her own.

During recent storms, Ebony had to be moved into the pound as there’s not enough shelter in Shirley’s yard. More storms were predicted for the weekend and Ludelle was very worried because this time there was no room at the pound. So Ebony came home with me.

Ebony and Boss ended up getting along fine.. in fact I think she rather wore him out. H really liked her, she followed him around everywhere and responded well to him. She’d been with us just 24 hours when we got a call from Ludelle – there was a family that wanted to give Ebony a home!

We took Ebony out to the people today and liked them a lot, Ebony settled right in with them. She’s on a farm, with lots of room to run around, dams to swim in, kids and other animals to play with. The people, Guy and Sandy seem very sensible and caring people and we had a good feeling about leaving Ebony there.

Have almost managed to get past the shock of suddenly losing my mobility, after tearing a calf muscle on Friday. A friend asked what extreme sport I’d taken up, but I wasn’t even doing anything like that at the time it happened. Unless you count returning overdue library books as an extreme sport. I had jumped out of the car and was about to jog to the library entrance when I felt the snap.

It was the same leg that had the ankle injury last month. I’d turned my ankle while walking one of the rescue dogs, trying to get him away from some wandering cows. I think this was a major factor in the latest leg injury.

I got myself home and just cried. Not from the pain, I’d been feeling stressed all week at work and it seemed like the worst possible timing. Thank goodness H was home. He took me to the doctor, then to the hospital to pick up some crutches. He has been so good, making sure I rest properly, getting the meals, and looking after everything. I’d brought home Ebony (a rescue dog) to care for too, so he really had his hands full.

I phoned work and let my poor, overworked boss know. That was really hard, I’ve been doing my best to try and support her and this was such a let down. She was very good about it, and helped swing me an earlier ultrasound appointment – tomorrow, instead of next Friday.

Not in any real pain, only when I have to move. The crutches are really uncomfortable. Moving around puts a lot of strain on my good leg so I’m trying to avoid it as much as possible. Finding this very hard. I’ve been reading up on this type of injury, it takes a long time to heal. This means no more walking dogs for a while.

This is my favourite pound puppy at the moment – not staying at the pound but with a carer who is too old to look after Ebony by herself, so we stop by each morning to give her care.

She is a very energetic little Lab, has had some training and responds well to commands. She very nearly came to stay with H and myself, unfortunately it didn’t quite work out and she went to old Shirley’s place instead.

This is Sarra, she is a big yellow girl – cross-Lab with either a ridgeback or mastiff. I’ve grown to like her a lot, I guess because she’s been at the pound a while and acts happy to see me and is the cleanest, most well-behaved one there at the moment! Very strong, and tough – she sticks up for herself against other big dogs. Little dogs and cats are her prey.

She’s been with us about 6 weeks, she was found at the local tip with another dog – beautiful fellow we called Arnie, looked like a large brindle Sheltie (we couldn’t decide what he was). He went to a home within a few weeks, it’s a shame it wasn’t possible to keep them together, they got on well.

We might be getting our first dog from the re-housing program this weekend. H and I had discussed becoming carers at some stage, but it was going to be after we’d built a secure dog run, and were back to being a one dog household. Unfortunately things are a bit tough for the program at the moment, with more dogs than can be found homes for – it’s the same story everywhere. To make matters worse several of the dogs we’ve re-housed have lately been returning as the new homes haven’t worked out. This is the case for Ebony, a young black labrador bitch. Out of desperation Ludelle phoned me to see if we could mind her. Very smart dog but bit of a handful apparently – digs and pulls washing off the line.

That aspect doesn’t bother me so much as the fact that since my increased hours at work there are longer periods when neither H or I are at home, and if Ebony is a high maintenance dog there could be problems, such as her getting out and being hit by a car.

After some thought and discussion H and I decided to give it a go. H has a few days off coming up and will make a start on building a dog run. In the meantime we can secure Ebony on the front porch, which is fully enclosed. The other concern will be how Ebony gets along with Boss and Sasha – if there are any problems there it wont be possible for her to stay with us. Really hope it works out.