Have you ever wanted to feel really needed? Loved? Cared for? Well -- my furry friend helps me feel all these things every day. From the first moment of the day he is there to welcome me with his expressive tail and bright eyes. He seems to tell me -- "Today is going to be fun!"
Beau came to our family a little over nine months ago. He spent the first year and a half of his life chained up outside in all kinds of weather -- winter snow, spring rains, and summer heat. From the first moment we saw each other, there was a bond which just seemed beyond belief. You see, we (my husband and I) were about to bring Beau into our family as a valued member of the family, and as a trusted friend and companion. Beau had never known that kind of treatment before.
On the drive home, he was very quiet and withdrawn. It took almost two hours to return to our home from his first home in Northern New Hampshire. Getting him into our car to make the trip was a major challenge, and when we got back to our house -- Beau was very scared. He was terrified of my husband, Bob; and not too confident that I was going to treat him well. However, he was willing to accept his changed life arrangement with some trepedation.
It took weeks for him to settle down to anything approaching normality. His fear was almost overwhelming at times. But never, during all the time he was so afraid did he ever grawl or make any attempt to vent his frustration on us.
Shortly after he came to us we needed to take him to a local Vet to have him checked out. That story will follow in a posting called -- Beau's first vet visit. Check it out soon!
We hired a trainer to come and evaluate him and we were told that he may never adjust because he was so very much afraid of everything. In fact, that first day of the visit from the trainer -- Bob wanted to show the trainer (Anne) how much he was helping Beau overcome his fear, to he put Beau's leash on him and started down a flight of stairs. Beau's first reaction to fear is to run, and run he did -- pulling Bob off balance and literally pulling him down two flights of stairs. Thank God -- Bob was not hurt. But, it showed us that we had to use a lot more care when working with Beau.
I won't bore you with all the details, except to say that today Beau came downstairs on his own. He approached Bob with some confidence, and accepted a treat from his hand without bolting. Beau and I are best friends -- he follows me everywhere! While I wish we were able to give Beau more exercise, I think he is reasonably happy and well adjusted to our quiet life. There is just one more problem we have to solve -- his frequent and unannounced barking.
Beau seems to take particular delight in coming behind me when I am sitting in our family room and involved in something else and without warning barking particularly sharply. I jump a foot and loose at least a month out of my life. Beau sometimes just walks away and goes back to sleep. I wish I could understand why he does this. What he must be thinking -- it would be such a help in understanding how to help him.
Well -- I just wanted to introduce you to our furry friend. I will probably be writing about him more in the future since he is such a large part of our family. In case you can't tell from his picture, Beau is a 78 pound blue merle collie. He just celebrated his second birthday (at least we think he did since we were never told exactly what the date should be).
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