Starlight Bartholomew-Fletcher

STARLIGHT HAS A FANTASTIC FOREVER HOME (7.6.2015)

Kerrigan tells us Starlight is lovely and full of energy and is doing really well especially considering all her moves on the way to her longer stay in her foster home with Phil, Julie and the girls. After they left she seemed lost but she quickly settled in really well (sort of taking over might be the best way of describing it). She has been left while he’s gone to work for an hour or two with no issues.

His dogs have a new lease of life now Starlight has moved in and all three have welcomed her as have the lambs. She likes playing with them and they seem fine all chasing round the garden. They stop when they’ve had enough. The cats can take her or leave her. She has been great with them really although she, occasionally, does launch at one of them. They just have a swipe and she stops. For their safety, the goose and ducks go into a pen once she goes outside.

Kerrigan says “Starlight does chase the goose and ducks but we put them in a separate pen and she cant get them. The goose stands his ground and she stops. I might do a bit of lead training with her with the ducks as one of them does have a bad leg and probably doesn’t appreciate the chase much.

She is really exploring the house and garden and then comes back and plonks herself at my feet and snoozes. I was sunbathing yesterday and suddenly she plonked herself on my back and nodded off. She seems very chilled and is tucked in by my feet now. She sleeps by the side of the bed and you don’t hear a peep from her all night.

We absolutely love her being here and I believe our paths were meant to cross the day I took Bizzi to the eye clinic. She’s a lovely dog. Once she is totally settled I will probably take her to school with me as the kids will love her”.

Starlight is always a big hit at the Get Togethers in Gizzie’s field. Here she is running around with two other blind dogs

HISTORY

Starlight is an 18mths old Golden Retriever (born 28.11.2013). She was awaiting a season wasn’t spayed until the appropriate time.

Star, as she was originally called, had been bought as a puppy and was very much loved but her sight is not good and it appears she has a congenital eye condition. This has never held her back so far but her owners were concerned that they may not be in a position to afford to do the very best for their little Star in the future.

It has been a struggle for them to let her go but they realise her best chance in life is by having the best ophthalmic assessments possible and IRR have promised if there is anything that can be done to help her then it will be done.

Our Northern Ireland Co-ordinator first took her into her home where she met her dog, Pepper, and Heather’s 3 cats. After 2 days, there she was transported over the Irish Sea by Carol and her husband into Scotland and was then transferred to Amanda at Gretna Green. From there she went on to Amanda’s home in Cumbria for an overnight stop.

The next day, she continued her journey South to Burnley in Lancashire where she enjoyed 3 days in the company of new doggy friends Bonnie, April and Marley at David and Alison’s home and then it was on to Bristol to her foster home with Julie and Phil which was especially chosen for it’s proximity to a canine eye specialist.

Our thanks must go to all these lovely people who helped our special girl on her way.

ASSESSMENTS IN IRELAND AND THE UK

Heather soon discovered she loves cuddles. It was clear she had been very well looked after and loved by her family.

Carol, described her as “a lovely wee dog” who really is a star. She was delighted to be able to help She thought, with a little lead training she would soon make a wonderful pet.

Apparently, Star was a little “excited” but nowhere near as “excited” as Lola (a previous foster dog of Carol’s) was on a normal day. Amazingly, she just seems to take everything in her stride.

Amanda and David both thought how lovely she was and marvelled at how well she coped with life. They found it hard to believe her sight was poor at all.

Phil tells us she loves a cuddle and a Goldie grrrrrrrwl when playing then is happy to snooze contentedly on her bed.

HEALTH ETC

Heather says “she is a bit of a chunky monkey but not overly fat and just needs some exercise so this will quickly turn to muscle”. She was delighted to find her eyesight or lack of it does not hold her back. Heather said “She arrived at my house and couldn’t have known where anything was placed but she has been able to manage to go from room to room with no problems at all, only very rarely bumping into things but then carrying on, unconcerned”.

Apart from her eyes, she appears to be in the best of health.

Once in the UK, Starlight made her way down to be with her fosterer, Phil, in Bristol.

EYE CHECK

She went to see an eye specialist in Bristol and she was found to be suffering from three different conditions. As operating could have exacerbated one of the conditions and she is doing so well as she is, it was decided to put treatment on hold until it would be a more positive and advantageous option for her.

SOCIAL LEARNING

Travel: Even although she is partially sighted, she managed extremely well on the ferry. As it was a holiday weekend the ferry was busy and getting through the security gates, in and out of the kennel and up and down the ferry levels really was hard work for her transporters but she breezed through it all.

During the various car journeys, which got her down from Scotland to Bristol, she also coped really well and just settled down quietly, letting the various humans do all the hard work.

Housetraining: She is fully housetrained but, interesting, prefers not to go to the loo when she is in the park and prefers to wait until she back in the garden.

Grooming: On return from her first walk, she was towelled down and had a comb as well with no issues on either.

Lead walking : On her first evening she went out for a nice walk, which she really enjoyed, smelling everything she could and meeting new friends. At first she pulled like a train but her lead walking is already getting better after a few days and her fosterers are going to work on it. They have changed her to a harness so there is no pressure on her eyes as would be using a collar.

She really loves to go out and, as soon they touch the harness she gets very excited. She is now learning to sit and wait by the kerb.

She is meeting a few new friends every day and there seem to be no issues just a waggy tail. Their owners say how lovely she is but, of course, we ALL know that already!!

Recall: She is itching to get off the lead, but that’s a while away yet.

Separation: At night, Star just settles down and goes to sleep having been let her out in the garden prior to going a bed. Even on her first night, Star was really good during the night and settled down nicely. She did have a little walk about in the early hours, but it was nothing major.

Food: On her first day, she had breakfast separately still and cleaned out the bowl. Star is still being fed away from the girls but her fosterer can take her food dish away or move it & she doesn’t appear to be worried at all.

When eating, she is certainly not food possessive so now they intend to work on leaving dropped food until she is told to take it.

Her humans are also working on when they are eating. Star will normally sit or lay down but, every now and again, she forgets and tries to sit in your lap. However, once corrected, she is a good girl again.

Household noises etc: We wondered if household noises might be scary for her but Star had no issues with the lawnmower and didn’t bat an eyelid at the bin men came this morning again.

Dogs: Heather didn’t think Star had been well socialised with other dogs as her Pepper seemed to be the first she had met but she quickly learnt how to make friends with other dogs like Bonnie, April and Marley at David and Alison’s home on her way down South.

She is also very happy with her two new sisters, Somer and Maisie, in her foster home.

Starlight has met up with Alex (who lives quite nearby and is quite famous in the Bristol area for being the blind IRR dog with a passport and his own bank account) and they had a whale of a time together. Anyone who didn’t know would have had no idea that neither could see more than shadows.

When she came across 2 barky dogs whilst out walking, Starlight came just sat there with her ears forward and didn’t react at all.

Cats: Although she had never been in contact with cats previously, she didn’t really take much notice of Heather’s 3 cats just sniffing one and walking on.

Since being in Bristol, on the way back from their walks, she has come across a few cats. Some sat still and she was ok but one moved which got her attention but she made no attempt to chase it and was just interested.