Gemma – Born Sept 2018
Volunteer Nancy has taken kennel hound Gemma out on foster and provided this report of her stay.
She jumped into the car at the kennels, and settled quickly for the 20 minute drive home. Jumped out at home and straight through to the back garden for a quick wee.She wanted to be in the same room as me for the first few hours but there was no excessive panting. She settled on her bed in whichever room I was in, lounge or kitchen. There was no stair gate or barrier but she didn’t attempt the stairs the whole 4 day visit.
She was restricted to the lounge-diner overnight (easiest floors to clean!) but there was only a little wee accident the first morning; that was with me waking up at 8am. The following days I woke up at 7am and 8am and there were no further puddles, and she was always quiet, and lying on her bed when I came into the lounge first thing.
She was a good eater: very tidy, and loved her water. She never tried to get into the sofas; this is a first for us! All our other foster hounds have done! So she has impeccable manners. She was interested if I had my toast on the sofa, (at nose level) but when I asked her to go and lie down, she did. Such a good girl! She got a bit excitable when the television was showing anything with a green background… football, golf and gardening programmes! She was transfixed; no other hound has been so interested in the TV, and the fake flowers behind ours. We moved the flowers out overnight, as she looked like she might want to try jumping over the TV at them.
To distract her, we got a rope toy, which she loved immediately, and understood how to play with by herself! Such a clever girl. So she had fun with that for 5 minutes of madness then settled down. She had a little play with it in the garden on day 3; she really will be a fun pet. Out and about we met various dogs, including a tiny puppy whose owner was happy for a close up chat, Gemma was perfectly behaved. She met a friendly off-lead Cockapoo; an 8 month old puppy, whose owner also had a chat when I explained she was new to other dogs! She did really well, got slightly skittish after about 5 minutes, but given the puppy was off-lead but well-behaved I was very impressed with Gemma. We probably saw about 5 other types of dogs over the 4 days; the rest were all on lead, or much further away, but she didn’t lunge or bark or spin on her lead at all. She was interested but I feel has great potential for more socialising.
I hadn’t walked her at the kennels so didn’t want to rush her into a busy place, so walks along the river were about the right number of dog meeting opportunities for a first time.
All in all she was a great girl, and we enjoyed spending the 4 days with her. If she wants to come and visit again we can try a busier park for a few more dogs next time.
Thanks to Nancy for such a wonderful detailed report!
