A dog changed my life (3)

I suppose the first significant change to my life was to get beyond my gate without my car. I thought I was keeping fit doing hours of gardening most days. I had no idea. 

Until puppy/dog training could begin in earnest, we took walks, on lead, around the neighbourhood. A stop-start, back and forth process that is integral to all dog behaviour but was not calming or soothing for me. Also, my breathing was laboured and my body ached. Neither of us were getting the exercise we needed. We had to cut that umbilical cord

Initial training sessions were utterly useless. A huge group of about 25 owners and their young dogs stood in a huge circle outside, where a young softly spoken woman put us through our paces. The wind blew, the dogs yelped and yapped, and I caught not a word. Utter failure. We bummed out!

The next big step was to go to the high end, top shelf trainer. I was worried about the cost, but a council subsidy came to the rescue. Jodi and I were now in the hands of a wonderful Irish woman. Her voice carried. She laughed a lot and clearly preferred dogs to most people. It turns out she was a qualified lawyer, did all her dog training courses in the States and really loved jumping out of planes!

Finally we were on our way. Up to this point Jodi was increasingly taking charge, chewing all my tapestry cushions and refused to play fetch. I had had visions of sitting in a chair with gin and tonic in hand, throwing a ball and wearing the little monster out. Yeah right!

Our initial daily walks on the beach were perfect. Jodi zigzagging all over, greeting all people and dogs, learning social skills the natural way. And I became accustomed to interacting with so many of those people Jodi befriended, quickly getting to the point of exchanging names. I was establishing a larger friendship base than I would ever have done without Jodi crashing through those barriers. 

In the meantime Jodi was taking to the new training sessions really well. I was a lot slower. I wasn't exaxtly stupid, I just needed to understand the principles. it didn't take me long to realise the trainer was working on the dog owner rather than the dog. Also, once I realised that consistency was key (not a strong trait of mine), we made good progress.

So, the next level was sniffer training. I dismissed agility classes because I was hopelessly not suited on a hundred levels!

At this stage, I was getting much fitter and was keen to take Jodi on a variety of walks.

Somewhere along the way I went from no mobile phone to a scary cell phone, with wonderful camera, and a whole new world opened up before me 🤗🥰

A dog changed my life (2)

So, Jodi wasn't the first dog in my life. In my mid 20s, living in rural Scotland, a friend turned up at my cottage one day with a little black puppy. It was a ploy to persuade me to live permanently in Scotland -  but that is another long story of:

. minor aristocracy, 

. pheasant shooting, 

. Paratroopers, 

. a castle who's name is the same as a paddock on one of Gisborne's backcountry sheep stations, 

. bagpipes serenades,

. a poacher who arrived in NZ as a stowaway,

and so much more...

Freddy was a labrador, whippet cross. He was sweet, biddable and easy to accommodate into my life. I ended up bringing him back to Aotearoa New Zealand when he was about a year old. He lived for about 16 years, going everywhere with me.

Then it wasn't until many years later, when I was in my 50s that I inherited my younger brother's dog, a golden labrador, called Nikki, brother having gone to Australia to live and work. I can't remember how old she was but she was with me for about 3-4 years, until she succumbed to cancer. She was perhaps the most gentle, sweetest natured dog I had ever known. Textbook perfect!! With her I acquainted myself with some of the many wonderful dog walking areas.

(Photo of Nikki, if I can find one)

I introduced Jodi to my well-fenced quarter acre section in Stoke, Nelson. An area that should  have been perfectly adequate for a pup. But the extensive planting of fruit and vegetables and the addition of a large fenced-off chook run started to seem way too small. So many precious plants were dug up and replaced with burried bones. 

We needed to head out into the great outdoors!

A dog changed my life (1)

Its hard to think that this little pup, adopted on the spur of the moment, completely changed the direction of my life.

In this first blog I will explain how that came about.

12 years ago I was without a pet animal in my life. I was 63, single, no children, a heavy smoker, overweight, unfit, unemployed and living off savings and with no clear idea where my life was headed. 

Completely on a whim, I adopted a 3 month old pup. I didn't shop around. I didn't research. I hadn't been considering it. But there I was facing a litter of 6 puppies. I made the instant decision, and picked out the one who seemed lively and alert - characteristics I came to question on many an occasion ever since.

Jodi is a cross between a pedigree border collie mother and a pig dog father from a neighbouring property. The pig dog bit is rather hard to define. It is a mix of breeds with specific characteristics for pig hunting. They need to be fast, strong, instinctual, intelligent. Pit bull, bull terrier, hunterway are some of the breeds used, depending on the job required. In Jodi's case I would definitely say one of the terrier breeds and perhaps huntaway.

From the outset this little pup was stroppy, fast, not housetrained, answered back, not into lots of cuddling, inquisitive, and with endless energy.

Wow, what a challenge.