[SIZE=10pt]Due to upsetting & unexpected circumstances, Byron needs a home- can you help?[/SIZE]
(Very long post, sorry.)
I hadn't mentioned it on K9, as I wanted to see if things sorted themselves out, but I can now let you know that Clara has been rehomed, and Byron is looking for a new place to live.
The problem that has led to this is not directly anything to do with Byron, though- it's because of Clara and Daisy. In the past 3 or 4 years, Clara and Daisy have had a couple of fights, but things have escalated very quickly, and they have had 3 extremely serious fights within the last month. When I say 'fights', I mean proper, savage fights, which have necessitated trips to the vet in the middle of the night for emergency treatment. I honestly don't know what the problem is, because nothing obvious like one dog stealing the other's food etc, has triggered the attacks. Daisy was the one who initiated the fights, (through some perceived fear, maybe?) but Clara was the more vicious, and each time, peppered Daisy with severe bite wounds, one of which went right through the main vein on the side of Daisy's face, and which could have killed her due to blood loss and shock if we hadn't got her to the vet straight away. Byron was never involved, but it made me a bit uneasy whenever he tried to pester the girls.
For the past couple of weeks we've been keeping all the dogs apart from each other, ie: a rotation of one dog in a crate upstairs, one loose upstairs and one loose downstairs. This system was making everyone unhappy, so we had to make the difficult decision to rehome 2 of the dogs, and keep the remaining one as an 'only dog.'
Fortunately, Jo and Scott Frodsham said they would have Clara on a trial basis, with a view to keeping her if everything goes well. I was a bit concerned, seeing as Clara had been extremely vicious with Daisy, but after talking it through, Jo and Scott still wanted to have Clara, and decided to take the risk. Clara has been with the Frodshams & their 7 other whippets for about 5 days now, and everything is going brilliantly (well, with Clara anyway- Jo and Scott have got a lot on their plate at the moment, with Diesel being injured.)
So we had to decide which of the remaining 2 dogs to keep. We initially decided to rehome Daisy, and even got as far as organising a temporary assessment home with Julie Morgan of Sheya Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue. But then late last night, after many tears, my parents (who I still live with) and myself, decided that Daisy needs us now more than ever- especially because since the attacks, Daisy has become ultra-nervous- the slightest noise or sudden movement terrifies her, she was scared every time Byron bounced up to, or near her, and even though she used to be fine with meeting other dogs on her walks, she is a nervous wreck if a dog is anywhere in sight, and she tries to run home. Daisy is such a bag of nerves that she is having to take diazepam (the drug that, in human medicine, used to be known as Valium) twice a day just to try and get her to relax. We felt that, since Daisy has lived with us for almost 5 years, and that from a rehoming point of view, would be very difficult to rehome due to the history of violence, her precarious nervous state, and the fact that she's 5½ years old already, that she should stay with us, in her familiar environment, as our only dog, so that she gets our undivided attention and TLC. Also, Daisy has always been special to me, as she was my first whippet, and when I went to the breeder, she chose me as much as I chose her. I also think that being taken away from us and thrown into an alien environment with alien people, would only increase her already fragile mental state. Byron, on the other hand, is still only 13½ weeks old, and is healthy (the fits stopped after the first 3 weeks, and he was declared healthy by the vet,) and he is a beautiful blue colour, so I think not only would he be 'snapped up' by potential new owners, but he would adapt to the situation much better.
Jill (Owner of Byron's mother, Buffy- K9 ID: buffyrannoch) and Susan (Owner of Byron's father, Robbie- K9 ID: Susan) are aware of the situation, and they are going to try and help me find a new home for Byron, but if anyone out there thinks they could offer Byron a home, then please email me at ros@rattus.co.uk or phone 01253 739405. I live in Lytham St. Annes, (about 8 miles south of Blackpool, in Lancashire,) and though it would be helpful if Byron was collected from our house, we could maybe take him to his new owner, or at least meet them halfway, depending on the distance. He has had all his vaccinations, and has almost finished his course of worming tablets, and is microchipped (I can supply the documentation for transferral of registered owner) and we would throw in some of his favourite toys and things- but to cover the costs of these, and bearing in mind we paid £250 for him only 7 weeks ago, plus we have paid for his vets' consultations, jabs & worming tablets we would really need to be paid a similar £250 by the new owner. I would really like to keep in touch with his new owner(s), and follow his progress as he gets older. Ideally, it would also be nice if the new owner(s) would keep his name as Byron, as he responds to it- although, at the end of the day, it's up to the owners. Please note that Byron is a non-pedigree whippet, although his father is a champion non-pedigree racing dog. (Rch Guess Who?)
I hope everyone will understand why we are doing this- we certainly haven't made the decision to rehome Clara and Byron lightly, and we certainly don't believe that dogs are disposable- we just didn't think it was right for Clara and Daisy to be living together, and staying in crates most of the time, or that we could keep Byron at the expense of Daisy's health.
If someone out there thinks they could offer Byron a good home, or knows someone who could, please get in touch.
Byron- Taken on 13th April