When I first saw Charlie, he was a
small, loveable but lively little puppy, with a very snotty nose.
I was only fostering him for a few days while Ian and Tracy were
away. Tracey said he had a problem with his pallet and that’s
why his nose kept running, he was waiting for an operation to hopefully
rectify his problem. So off we went with his feeding bowl, favourite
teddy and lots of tissues. We must have stopped about a hundred
times on the way home just to wipe his nose, with some very strange
looks from people walking past. I thought this is going to be hard
work but like having another child it should be fun. The kids fell
in love with him as soon as they saw him (the cat wasn't so sure).
It was a totally hectic weekend he turned our lives upside down.
He loved all the attention he got from the kids but the more excited
he got the worse his nose ran, it was never ending wiping. Trying
to tell 3 kids and a puppy to calm down was impossible. When it
came time for Charlie to go back the kids weren’t happy and
to be honest neither was I. The kids asked if we could keep him
so I asked Tracey if it was possible, she said we could have first
refusal, but it wouldn’t be until after his operation. When
the day of his op came everyone was on tenterhooks, it was potentially
a life or death operation, if it didn’t work Charlie's quality
of life wouldn’t be very good at all and could have resulted
in him being put down. When I got the call to say the op went well,
I was so relieved. His healing time was also crucial so it would
be a few weeks before he could come and live with us. It was about
3-4 weeks before we got a phone call from Tracey to say we could
come and take him home, he was back to his normal lively self again.
We were all over the moon. The kids couldn’t contain their
excitement , again when we arrived home it was hectic, but one thing
was missing, the nose running. It didn’t bother me having
to wipe his nose constantly because it had to be done but I didn’t
miss it either. Occasionally there would be a little trickle but
nothing compared to what it was like for him before the op. Now
nearly two years on he’s solid but still loveable and playful
(sometimes), Charlie is fighting fit. We still get the odd trickle
every now and then usually when the weather isn’t good but
it is no longer a problem. Charlie still causes havoc around the
house ( the cat still doesn’t like him) but we wouldn’t
have him any other way. I would like to take this opportunity to
thank everyone involved with Charlie before he came to live with
us, without them we probably wouldn’t have him. I will always
support the SSBTR in any way I can in the future because if it wasn’t
for the dedication of the people dogs like Charlie wouldn’t
stand a chance. Thanks again to everyone, Jeni Kirk (Charlie's’
mum)
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