Ebony

We saw Ebony’s photo on the website, and after our first visit we were smitten – she was perfect for us. Unfortunately we were waiting to move house and it would be a while before we could adopt her. Luckily her fosterer was wonderful and looked after her for us until we could bring her home to our other dog Oscar and Zebedee the cat.

It took a little while to settle in – Ebony had obviously had to fight to survive at some point and did not know how to share. Also, her approach to dealing with dogs required some work; she had no concept of social behaviour and often just barked madly at the perceived threat, or became so rough when playing with dogs she knew that she hurt them. People shouting terrified her, we only had to walk past someone telling off their child in the park and she sank to the ground in terror.

Ebony had a great trick to steal food when she first arrived. I learnt this the hard way! As we stood at the bus stop for a socialisation session, a lady came up and asked if she could fuss the dogs. I gave her some treats to offer them, and she put down her shopping. Oscar started merrily wagging and scoffing away. Ebony used this moment of distraction to grab the shopping bag, find the top, and tip it up. It took approximately three seconds to perform quite a complicated manoeuvre! I have no doubt that if she hadn’t been on lead that the bag and contents would never have been seen again. Luckily the lady thought this was so adorable that the cheese in the bottom of the bag was donated to two very happy little dogs!

While Ebony liked everyone, she never trusted anyone fully for the first few months, odd movements could panic her and she just wasn’t able to let herself relax fully – now she has most definitely chosen us as her own, and has started singing when she sees people she loves. This includes the couple we often meet at the park who bring bread for the ducks, but always keep a bit back for two very wide-eyed, angelic dogs! Ebony seemed unused to children when we got her, but is now a favourite of next door's children, and adores our 9 year old niece and 7 month old nephew.

Sadly, shortly after Ebony came to us, Oscar developed serious on-going nerve problems with his hips and lower back. But they have adapted their play perfectly to his ‘bad’ days. Sometimes the cat deigns to join in and it’s amazing to watch. They play and cuddle together all the time, and Ebony knows much better than us whether Oscar is having a 'good' or 'bad' day, and whether to go racing off on walks or have a steady potter (and as she lives life at full-speed only, this is really focused of her!) She has really helped him to get his confidence back about life generally since he became ill.

Ebony has developed into a fantastic agility dog – I have had offers of money for her she has so much potential! She came second in her first ever competition. Especially considering all the things Ebony had to learn about life when we got her, it’s amazing to see her work with such precision and confidence. Although she's always had a knack for it, she took a while to fully grasp the concept of agility - why look to the next obstacle when you can jump 5.5" from standing anyway?!

She even sings as she does the weaves at an insane speed - it's a good job she knows what she's doing as there's not a chance I could keep up with her!

Ebony’s fear of small spaces has totally gone (I think this has a lot to do with tunnels at agility - she loves it so much that nothing scares her there) and she now loves the car and has not been travel sick for at least 6 months, even on long journeys. She is now great with other dogs, but to be honest is so obsessed with her chuckit that I have to encourage her to leave it just to say hello to another dog! She has a very high working instinct, but now the chasing is easily channelled, her recall is spot-on and because she loves to work so much she is a pleasure to teach. She also makes the perfect family dog – we recently took visiting family to Chatsworth gardens where we were constantly complimented on our beautifully behaved dogs. We really can’t imagine life without her!!

Fiona tells us that Ebony has just won second place in a big local agility competition and she is very very proud of her.

Fiona says "Ebony and Oscar are still doing very well, best of friends and Oscar is even forgetting to look aloof when Ebony gives him nose-kisses! It is odd, as they generally get up to much mischief together and chaos, but they only cuddle when Osc is poorly having a bad day and Ebs still knows to be so gentle when he is ill (he now has heart disease on top of his joint problems but Ebs keeps him well-exercised and too busy to worry about it most of the time)."

"Our biggest news is that Ebony, Osc and I have temporarily moved to Aberdeen in Scotland and it is absolutely fantastic!! The beaches are amazing and so is the countryside. We explored along a local nature reserve with sand dunes for over 5 hours the other day and it just stretched out in front of us. Our local beach is 5mins away, so very happy dogs! Also, Ebs has Osc to run with here as the sand seems to help him move with much less pain and more freely so they can run about together rather than Ebs just being totally obsessed with her ball the whole time! She is funny with the seawater - she takes big gulps everytime she runs into the sea and looks suprised that it still tastes awful, even though she is constantly in and out of it. Darren and Zeb-cat have stayed in Sheffield due to work, so our main address is still there."

"The dogs are loving it and I can arrange my hours/take them with me so they get loads of time. I think it is fantastic for the dogs, they love the newness and novelty of it all, thank goodness they just take it all in their stride and are so adaptable, they are happy wherever we all are, though they have wiggled and squealed at a few people on the beach before realising they weren't Darren! We are staying in a little house here, with nice neighbours, across the road from a moorland nature reserve."

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2010

We are all good. I am staying up with them with the TV on loud until I am sure the fireworks have finished. They have no problems with them and I don't want any to start if some loud ones go off and worry them when they're asleep.

The three of us (Oscar, Ebony and me) are currently living a two minute walk from the beach in Aberdeen! Doesn't get much better for the dogs, they love it and we are on one of our three local beaches at least twice a day, but we also have the sand dunes 5 minutes the other way, so have to pop and check on the rabbits regularly too! Yesterday evening we spent over an hour (we only popped out for a wee-walk!) playing with dogs, and then watched the seals catching fish. The dogs are doing so well, Ebony is like lightning up and down the beach for the tennis ball - when we were last at the vets with Oscar (heart check-up), the vet used these two to show some students what dogs 'should feel like' when healthy, fit and lean. They both enjoyed the extra cuddles from all the staff as they felt them!!

Darren and Zeb-cat are still in Sheffield due to Darren's job at the moment but we're hoping that we can all stay together again soon. We all meet up for the required game of football with Darren and the dogs regularly (the dogs just look at me with pity if i try to play football with them; it has to be Darren!!). Over the Spring and Summer we stayed back in Sheffield for a good few weeks at a time so that Ebs and Osc got to spend some time with all their extended family, and we have been having regular visitors here, people and dogs, so it works out well for them. When we pop back to Sheffield we have so many dog-walks with doggy friends to catch up on it is lovely (and go to agility too, which they are doing great at). The dogs very much like the attention everywhere we go!

Ebony and Oscar still have odd but fantastic little games that allow Ebs to play like a mad-thing while Osc gets to be involved in the game without the rushing about when he is having a poorly day. Currently Ebs brings the ball almost back when we are playing on the beach, but drops it a few metres before she gets back to me. Then Osc runs off as fast as he can to bring it the last bit so he feels important too, where I pick it up and Ebs goes shooting off down the beach for it again!! They have worked it out for themselves and it is like a little relay-double-act, they will not play with a ball each either and get frustrated with me if i don't play right and keep up with the game! Loads of people have come over to say how cute it looks. They also have some great wrestling games in the house which are hilarious to watch, and apparently lots of fun to play!

Fiona says "I have gone on a bit but am just always so proud of them!"