When Susie met Darcie
Sunday saw us taking Renae and Susie-Belle over to Norbury Park to meet up with Janet, SusieB’s brilliant ex foster mum and some new friends, Mel and Kathleen who have given a forever home to the beautiful, but very scared Darcie.
Darcie has a similar background to Susie-Belle by all accounts and first went to a foster home in the north of England where she was cared for over several months. Then towards the end of last year, she was moved south to Surrey to a new foster home as she didn’t seem to be making much progress and that’s when Kathleen and Mel, who live on the south coast spotted her and decided to offer her a home with their lovely mini, the rather elegant Schnapps.
Darcie joined them around Christmas time and is making slow but steady progress in terms of settling into living in a home. One of her major worries is being touched, which is so sad, as my belief is that by being tactile with our pets we can really help to heal and comfort them. But this I’m sure will come with time, Kathleen and Mel are perfect owners for her, very patient, loving and sensible about the challenges Darcie faces.
I have followed Darcie’s story from the first time I saw her on the Many Tears rehoming site, she’s one of those special girls that just melted my heart, it’s funny how some seem to do that over and above others. I was keen to meet Darcie as soon as Kathleen felt she was ready and as I’m such a strong believer that these damaged dogs benefit from being in the company of other mini schnauzers who haven’t had to go through the traumas they have, a group walk was planned. I’m hoping it’s a prelude to many more group walks with other minis.
I consider Janet very much my guide and mentor in all matters to do with ex-breeding minis, she has so much experience to share and Kathleen has been in regular touch with her too. I was delighted we could all meet up and share our thoughts, experiences, laughs and difficulties we face.
The walk was brilliant, all dogs enjoyed themselves, Susie-Belle made sure to grab Janet’s attention and treats whenever she could, she even managed at times to sit (almost) patiently, at the front of the queue of course……..
……..but more often than not, rather than pretend to sit, she just elbowed her way to the front to get her share….
It was lovely seeing Susie-Belle joining in, even when she was barking at anything the others decided needed a noisy sending off and to see her jogging along, ears flying was a really special moment for us…..
Darcie got herself amongst the pack several times which was great to see and I know with time she’ll soon be letting go of some of her worries about living with humans and learning to love life.
We’ll be meeting up again very soon and look forward to helping her in any way we can. Susie-Belle whispered on our way home that she had a quiet word with Darcie and told her that the sooner she gives up resisting any cuddles, the happier she’ll be as we humans do like to cuddle and schnuggle our schnauzers and we’re unlikely to give up trying. Hopefully Darcie listened to Susie-Belle the Wise.
Darcie was a very happy girl the next day and I think she was thinking about what Susie Belle had whispered. She has decided to think about it!
Darcie was a very happy girl the next day and I think she was thinking about what Susie Belle had whispered. She has decided to think about it!
i totally agree with you on the damaged dogs being around dogs with a normal upbringing. my mom’s rescue schnauzer spartacus has been through abuse, obvious from his scars when bathing, we will never know what happened. but it has helped him so much to be around my two. he’s overcome a lot of fear by their side and i’m hoping one day he’ll warm up to real dog play.
Who could resist trying to do everything to help these beautiful dogs…… these group events will be very valuable I’m sure!
Rubie’s mum xxx
So lovely to see the rescue schnauzers enjoying life – maybe for the first time. Great work by you and all the foster carers and adopters :-)- Leigh x