Back at the end of April 2007 we had to have our old girl put to sleep at the grand age of 12 years and 8 months – not bad for a Bullmastiff. Colleagues at work kept asking when we were getting another dog and my standard reply was – there’s no rush, we’ll enjoy Tippa as an only dog for a while and I’m sure something will turn up eventually. They were all convinced that I was expecting to open the front door one morning and find a Bullmastiff with a big red ribbon around its neck waiting for us.
Well, what happened was almost like that.
I am a member of the UK Bullmastiff Forum and keep an eye on the site for any rescue dogs that might appear. One Monday night in late August, I logged on to see that a young, male was in a kennel in Sheffield and wanted moving to a safe place for neutering and subsequent re-homing. Within minutes of the posting a reply followed saying we can help. I told my husband that we’d just missed a dog in Sheffield and that was it. But I followed this story and by Wednesday there was a post saying he was being moved to Essex the following (bank holiday) week. At this point I just had to post and say we live 14 miles from Sheffield, couldn’t we help? – then told my hubbie what I’d done. I got a reply asking for my phone number and I’d be contacted the following day. This was now August 23rd, Debbie from UK Bullmastiffs rang me with the kennel address, I couldn’t believe it, the kennel is about one and a half miles from us. We duly went up to the kennel and collected the young dog with a view to fostering him until he’d been neutered.
This poor boy met all-sorts of things that he didn't expect in the space of the next few hours and he was well stressed, but he took it all in his stride. He was very thin with very little muscle on his backend and we could almost count every rib and vertebrae that he had when we collected him
When we arrived home with him, we decided to do meeting and greeting with our bitch on neutral ground - the driveway at the front. Tippa just ignored him and he plonked a paw on the top of her head, in greeting. The people at the kennel said he'd been out with a bitch and he'd been fine with her and he was ok with other dogs too. I asked if they'd given him a name and they said none that I could repeat so, we've been thinking and in the end decided that Hooch isn't the most original but he did smell, was dirty, he farts and boy can he flick the spit, so he's Hooch
He met our neighbours on the way out and loved the attention. We decided coffee on the patio was a good idea to see how we got on together on home turf - not a problem, Hooch wanted stroking and Tippa ignored him. He was moulting in clumps so I decided I had to do something about it and expected a fight to get him to stand and be groomed, but he just stood as good as gold whilst I brushed him. By this time I’d decided that the smell was too much, it had to be dealt with and so he just had to be bathed. In true Bullmastiff style he's not into water but does like the play at the end with the towel. He now smelt a lot sweeter.
The following day Tippa had ignored Hooch until they'd both had breakfast and then she initiated playtime, definitely a good sign. It was a very sedate bounce but a bounce never the less.
We live directly across from an access path onto the Trans Pennine Trail and from there we have a nice network of woods and paths to walk. We decided a walk in the wood would be nice - it is only a short walk and has ups and downs to build his muscles up and shade to keep us all cool.
Debbie kept in close contact to see how we were doing and to say that already there had been some interest for him from the websites – UK Bullmastiff Rescue and Rain Rescue. By now we’d fallen for him and said that I hoped we were top of the list of possible adoptive 'parents'. Debbie was thrilled – Hooch could have a forever home with us as soon as we had completed two weeks assessment of him.
After cocking his leg up on the kitchen wall on the first evening that was it, he asks to be let out, so he's been house trained in his past. He's quite vain and stands looking at his reflection in the patio doors for ages and if he catches sight of himself in a mirror he goes back to have another look. He comes back when called - although in true Bullmastiff style his hearing is a bit selective, he sits to command, he's not at all greedy with his food - at first he was leaving a bit for later but now it all goes in one go, he's quite gentle and doesn't snatch when you give him titbits, he gets terribly excited when the collars and leads come out for a walk. He is still a bit of a nightmare on the lead but he's getting better - I tried the head collar on him but his legs stop working - he just can't move
Sunday's walk was the longest ever - it should have taken about three quarters of an hour but it took us over two hours as we met most of the dog people in the village and they all had to come over to meet him. He loved all the attention.
He obviously hadn't been on walks which involved undergrowth, Tippa tried to lead him astray and took him down to the steam - there's a path to get there but she just barges through the undergrowth to come back, Hooch just stood there and hadn't a clue what to do, so we had to go and tread down the brambles for him to get back to the path.
Talk about throwing this poor little dog in at the deep end. One week after Hooch came to us, we got our trailer tent out, set it up, let Tippa get in first so, of course he followed sniffed everything and sat down. We set off Friday morning to camp on a corner of the Newark and Notts Showground to meet a group of friends. On arrival we pegged them both out whilst we did erecting and they both laid watching us, when everything was ready they came inside together and I'd already put his bed down by Tippa's and that was it, he found his place in the doorway and settled to watch the world go by.
As our group of friends arrived he greeted them all terribly enthusiastically. Our treat on the first night is no cooking, so tea is from the local chippie and the dogs always get a fish to share - he'd definitely lost his appetite and found a donkey's. At bedtime we put both dogs up in the trailer part with us, they found their own space and stayed there - no, fighting to get him off our bed, he just stayed on his own bed and slept. Saturday he was introduced to bacon butties for breakfast - he was well impressed and then the day was just really lazy, an ice-cream man came to our corner so they shared ice-creams, we had a couple of walks around the showground and then time for tea. Tea is a communal thing and we just left them both together in the awning and they both settled down till the last walk before bed. Sunday morning after breakfast we took him over to see the ponies as a local pony club had a gymkhana and he was quite happy, watching the ponies do their thing. After lunch we packed up ready for home - he was worried that he was going to be left but was fine as soon as he was in the car. After a good night's sleep we took them both for their walk and as we got to the local station the train was just pulling in, so he was introduced to the train and was again quite happy to sit and watch it's arrival and departure, then down the field to meet the free range pigs and their piglets. He sniffed the air, watched the piglets grubbing about and then decided it was time we were off again.
The next weekend we took him to the local agricultural show, where he was wanting to meet and greet everyone he saw – he was so excited with everything. He kept two ladies amused by standing and watching the display by an old aeroplane overhead.
He has now completed his course of vaccinations, been micro-chipped and been castrated - thank-you to Rain Rescue for the neutering voucher
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