UNPLANNED "ACCIDENTS" OR ABOUT DOGS THAT FULLFILL OUR LIFE...

                                   writen by Gill,adoptive mom of 2 Romanian strays.

It had never been my plan to have 4 rescue dogs. In fact I wasn't even sure that I wanted one so rather than take on a young dog that I couldn't cope with, four years ago I adopted Cassie, a 10 year old dog who had ended up at the local shelter after her owner had died. She fitted in with my cats very well and I immediately got into the habit of taking her for two long walks each day, no matter what the weather.

photo:Darcey(alias Ginger)and Archie playing in UK.

I was already supporting ROLDA and another shelter in Thailand where dogs were available to sponsor. I had been sponsoring Glory, a dog who was living outside a poor Buddhist temple and about a year after I adopted Cassie, John Dalley, who ran the dog rescue organisation there and used to take food to the temple, wrote that Glory would make someone a wonderful pet and it was a shame that she would never have an owner. I e-mailed back that I would be her owner. It took almost a year for her to arrive in the UK. My only concern was how would Cassie react to having another dog in my house but she accepted Glory straight away.

In the meantime I had suggested to Dana that it might be a good idea to have a sponsorship section on her ROLDA website. I kept checking and one day it was there. I looked through the photos of the dogs available for sponsorship and stopped at Oache. He was looking up into the camera, a cheeky expression on his face. (Little did he know that camera flash would change his life forever) I e-mailed Dana immediately saying that I wanted to sponsor him.

I couldn't get that cheeky face out of my mind and quickly realised that I would be devastated if someone came along and adopted him. There was only one answer to my problem. Glory had fitted in so easily, why couldn't I also adopt Oache? So I did! And with Romania in the EU it was a much easier process than Glory's had been.

Renamed Archie he arrived 3 months after Glory. He had been struggling to survive on the streets of Galati when Dana found him and was still very thin. When we went for a walk he tired easily and kept having to stop and rest. On a very early walk he got so tired that I had to carry him home. Today I couldn't even pick him up.

Archie is a lot more lively than Cassie and Glory. When he first arrived he seemed a bit destructive until I compared notes with friends who had bought pedigree puppies and discovered that it was just normal, puppy like behaviour (although he was no longer a puppy) and in fact he was a lot better than most. He chewed a shoe and a corner of an old cane chair and scattered tissues and toilet paper all over the house, but it was a small price to pay for the joy of his company.

 
Right from the start he was a real character. Mischief is written all over his face and everyone who walks their dogs in the local park knows him. Even when he was thin he used to play rough with other dogs and his favourite playmate is a very big, bulky Boxer called Marley. Initially his favourite pastime was wading through mud at the edge of the lake and getting filthy and he'd come home smelling like The Creature from the Swamp. After a year of this we came to a compromise. He walks into the park lake until the water is up to his neck, but sticks to the clean bits. Surprisingly though, he doesn't like the rain. But then Glory, who is from Thailand, doesn't like the sun!

photo:Glory,Ginger and Archie happy team.

Glory can be a temperamental dog but she plays happily with Archie. At first she always won their tugs of war, whether they were tugging at a stick or each other's faces, but gradually as Archie got stronger he was able to hold his own and eventually win. Although he loves making friends with other dogs, he is used to Glory not wanting to so on the rare occasions when she does show an interest in another dog he is so jealous. He squeals and head butts her out of the way.  Once when she followed a dog that she likes out of the park gate he ran after her and pushed her back inside.  Nowadays he isn't so interested in strange dogs as he has his paws full with keeping Glory and Darcey happy.

I had seen another two ROLDA dogs who were up for adoption. Fred and Ginger. I liked them but didn't want another two dogs, didn't feel that Archie would accept another male and didn't want to split them up. Towards the end of 2009 I noticed that Fred had been adopted so asked Dana if I could adopt Ginger.

Darcey (Ginger) arrived at the end of February 2010. She was very timid when I collected her at Peterborough train station as she had only ever lived in the ROLDA shelter and had no experience of crowds, cars and trains. When she arrived both Archie and Glory made it clear that they didn't want to share me with her and initially I thought it was best to accept her decision to spend most of the time under the bed in the small bedroom.
Of course she came out to eat and drink and go for walks and after a couple of days of standing guard over me, Archie suddenly decided that he liked her and started playing with her. Glory still doesn't really like her but they rub along together.

I wondered if Archie would abandon playing with Glory for Darcey because she is a younger, more active dog but in fact he has been very diplomatic and shares his attentions equally between both of them. When he play fights with Glory in the park Darcey usually joins in but is careful to avoid touching Glory. Archie rolls around on the grass with Glory biting his neck and Darcey his back legs with a look on his face as if to say “Why do all these women want my attention?”

I don't have a car so we are lucky that my garden backs onto a council park. The dogs never seem bored with it and at least I know that they are safe. Archie is very friendly and knows all the people who give him treats, but using typical dog logic he doesn't like their dogs getting a treat from me.
Archie became house trained very quickly, Darcey took a bit longer but she is fine now. When I first let Archie off his lead in the park, 3 walks after he arrived, he stuck very close to me but once his confidence grew it took a while for him to come back to his name. Darcey ran around chasing Archie once she was let off her lead but came back to her name almost straight away. They all have their own personalities.

photo:Darcey recently shaved and playing ,summer 2010.

The one trait that they all have in common is their love of being at home. When Archie meets Marley in the park they play together for as long as we can let them but as soon as I call Archie to follow me he does without a backward glance at Marley. Meanwhile Marley has to be put on a lead and dragged away because he would rather stay with Archie than go home. Two winters ago a fox used to hang around at the bottom of my neighbour's garden and I started leaving food out before I went to bed. Archie and Glory used to know it was there are run down to the bottom of the garden and bark at the fence. Then one day a fence panel blew down and when I let them out they ran straight into my neighbour's garden and chased the fox into the park through a hole in her back fence. I put my shoes and coat on and unlocked the back gate expecting that I'd have to search for them in the park but when I opened the gate they were both waiting to be let back in. Even the excitement of chasing a fox in the dark wasn't enough to make them 'leave home'.

They don't even like going into the garden. Cassie might follow me outside but the furtherest Archie will go is to watch me from the conservatory. The other morning I sent Archie and Darcey to be clipped and they weren't returned home until tea time. I hope they didn't feel abandoned when they were driven away and when I collected them out of the van later that day they both almost dragged me off my feet in their haste to get back into the house.
So how do I feel about adopting dogs from abroad? Well firstly, I don't feel guilty about not adopting them from a local shelter because I only ever intended to adopt one dog – Cassie. Glory, Archie and Darcey were unplanned 'accidents'.

Secondly, I have a great sense of achievement and satisfaction knowing that I have made a real difference to the lives of three dogs. Obviously once Dana rescued Archie and Darcey they would have been safe in her shelter, but they wouldn't have a home and a 'mum' and the lives that they have now. And coming to me has made room for another two dogs to live in safety. As for Glory, she may well have been dead by now because she was living outside a temple and was always in danger of being killed by unfriendly locals.

Although they all 'have their moments' in general they are very well behaved and if I stop to chat to someone they just lie down next to me. (In the park they always walk off lead).   I have been approached on more than one occassion by strangers who wanted to tell me that my dogs are a credit to me.  One old chap congratulated me on their behaviour and he was a professional dog trainer.
And I also feel blessed. They are such wonderful dogs and give me so much happiness. In the winter of 2008/9 I was quite ill and having them gave me a reason to get up in the morning and carry on. I can't imagine how I would have felt if I hadn't have had them.

 
I sometimes wonder what they think about their new lives. Did they wake up in the morning when they first arrived and wonder where they were? Does Archie remember starving on the streets of Galati? Do they feel lucky or have they just accepted their lot as they had to accept being abandoned on the street to fend for themselves. I sometimes look back on my life and wonder what might have happened if I had taken different decisions at certain crossroads in my life, then I remember that if I had, I wouldn't have my 4 wonderful dogs and thank the fates that things turned out exactly as they have done.
Four years after I adopted her Cassie is very slow but plods along determined not to miss any of the walks. She is losing her sight and getting deaf but she can still put Archie in his place when he annoys her (which he does when he grabs the leads tied to my bag when we are on our walks and plays tug of war with them.)

Glory, who has fear issues despite having known nothing but loving attention from human beings for the last three years, is very slowly getting more confident with people. Darcey has settled down very well and is gaining confidence from watching Archie interact with people and other dogs. She loves her food and if I throw Archie or Cassie a treat to catch in their mouths and they miss, they don't even bother looking for it because Darcey will have pounced on it. And Archie? Archie is now a grown up dog and he isn't as interested in playing with his old friends now that he has his harem to keep him entertained. But no matter what, he is still my little prince, my pride and joy and I am the luckiest mum in the world to have him.

A final plus is, recently a lady and her 8 year old daughter stopped to stroke Archie in the park.  We got talking and now they often come for a walk with us and have decided to adopt Zuzu, another Romanian dog. Love,Gill.

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