Our foster and subsequent adoption of Roan started when I saw a post on Facebook appealing for foster homes for rescue terriers. I had been thinking for some time that it would be good for our two year old  wire haired fox terrier Lulu to have a companion, but wasn’t sure if she would feel the same!

After a long family discussion, during which the now grown up kids applied a significant amount of arm-twisting to their father, I filled the fostering form in and started to keep an eye on the Terrier SOS website for dogs arriving from Spain.

As we already had a female terrier we had been advised that a male would most likely be a suitable second dog, but as a couple of months went by it seemed that only female dogs were in need of homes.

In the meantime, Lulu set up her own Twitter account and made friends with a whole group of Terrierables on Twitter. Amongst these doggy tweeters was @RootyFoxWire, a cheeky chap! As a staunch supporter of Terrier SOS, Rooty always posted the photos and information about the desperate dogs in care.

I don’t think we will ever forget the day we saw Rooty’s post featuring a photo of the saddest looking dog we had ever seen. His big eyes looked straight into the camera and appealed for help. I fell in love. I showed the photo to my daughter and she fell in love too. In response to my tweet, Rooty asked “Iz yoo smitten?” I replied ‘trying not to be’, but as much as I tried, I just loved that dog. Rooty (or his mum) encouraged me to fill in those forms again and this time to post them!

After a long phone call with Diana Brusi we agreed that we would foster Roan, with a view to adopting him if it worked out well. We passed our home check and a place in the Animal Express van travelling from Spain was subsequently booked for Roan. No turning back now. Without a foster space in the UK, these dogs simply cannot travel and have no hope of finding safety, comfort and love.

Having spent a nerve wracking day in contact with Diana, our fingers firmly crossed that he would actually be allowed into the UK due to a mistake with his worming tablets, we eventually heard that ‘Dantastic’ Dan from Animal Express had managed to save the day. Roan was on his way!!!

As the big day drew near I started to get very nervous! I hadn’t even met this dog and didn’t know anything about him…how can you know, these dogs have no background.

I had been told that Roan would have nothing when he came, no toys, no bowl, nothing, but it was still so sad that even the collar he was wearing when he arrived had to be given back – he was literally an orphan with absolutely nothing to call his own.

Well, we were expecting Roan to be a quiet, shell-shocked and nervous boy, who would need to be coaxed out of his shell. What we got was a large, over-excited, confident, springy nutter! More like Tigger than a dog!

A walk up to the common with Lulu seemed to go well, but when we got back to the house she was not a happy girl, teeth were bared and there was much growling! She was not impressed by the new arrival one bit! Sensing Lulu’s uncertainty, Roan in turn showed dominant behaviour, barking when she came near and barging her out of the way. It wasn’t exactly going to plan.

As the days went by Roan made himself at home. On the surface he was an outwardly confident dog, but he cried in his sleep, yelped when picked up and barked if you got too close to his face. Looking deep into his eyes you could see that he couldn’t quite believe he was allowed on the sofa or the bed and he wolfed down every meal down as though it was his last.

Lulu, on the other hand, was not happy with his presence in the house. She behaved like a jealous toddler with a new baby, stopped eating, refused to go out into the garden if Roan was, stopped dead when out walking, ate grass, was sick, reverted to chewing things she knew she shouldn’t and ran away in the park, not wanting to come back because Roan was near. The look in her eye accused us of ruining her life and we were heart-broken to see her sink into doggy depression. One look at her sad face had me in tears nearly every day for the first week.

I was beginning to think we would have to give Roan up, even though I knew we as a family already loved him. We didn’t want to give up. Luckily I had fabulous support from Andrea (Rooty’s mum), who stayed up into the early hours giving me advice and support and also from Naomi, who had done our home check. The turning point though was half way through the second week when I phoned Diana and said “I’m struggling – help me please!”  Being able to chat about my concerns for Lulu with others has helped enormously. Roan was being a bit cheeky really and I was made to realize that it was ok to give him firm boundaries if he was going to stay.

Armed with new ideas and supportive suggestions, by the end of the second week we were beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel and I was wondering about why I had been so worried. Roan had become a firm member of our family!

As I write this today it’s nearing the end of week four and we have formally adopted our handsome Spanish boy. I wouldn’t say that Lulu and he are friends yet, but I feel like things are going in the right direction! Roan has learned to ‘sit’ and give his paw for treats. We are working on ‘down’ now, but that’s a bit sketchy still. Armed with hotdogs for treats we let him off his lead and he runs around enthusiastically. The look on his face when he runs back to me at what seems like a hundred miles an hour to get sausage is priceless. He does the same run up before jumping onto my bed at night. When I watch him sleep I can’t help thinking about the bewilderment and confusion he must have felt when his former owners abandoned him. He is still anxious about being left but hopefully in time he will start to believe the promise I have made to him that I love him and I will always come back.

Yes we’ve had the frisson, the stress, the giddy behaviour. We’ve had tears too and no doubt more to come. But these are far outweighed by the smiles and laughter that we have already had with OUR cheeky, springy, one hundred mile an hour dog.

Thanks TerrierSOS – we are privileged to be allowed to look after one of your wonderful dogs!

xxx Debbie and Family xxx

Why not combine fundraising for Terrier SOS with buying a lovely box of handmade, homebaked, delicious treats from The Little Pet Biscuit Company? To support Terrier SOS fundraising activities they will be donating £1 for every order of 3 or more scrummy biscuits. All you need to do is quote ‘TerrierSOS’ when you order. Just follow the instructions here and SPREAD THE WORD! #Fankoo

http://www.littlepetbiscuitcompany.co.uk/pages/support-terriersos

Sample Box Photo, with the permission oLittle Pet Biscuit Co

How I Came To Be Involved… …Like most events in my life, I either do it fully or not at all. So I understand why many of you ask, “how do I know Diana and Terrier SOS?” Here it is! I lost my old girl, Tansy a Welsh Terrier to an inoperable and aggressive cancer. She left me with a terrier shaped hole, not just in me, but the whole family and in particular with Rupert (Rooty). He pined all day, every day – I changed food to try to tempt him back to life, whilst barely able to eat myself. I threw his ball, swung his tuggy, but the once playful and exuberant Rooty was gone. Walking became a pain, as he would go to the corner of the lane and BAM – brakes on. Endless drives to find new sniffs, new walk areas, village pub with his dad each night, ensued. Gradually through shifts in routine and copious dead toy carcasses later, Rooty started to pull through his grief, which lifted mine. He took to Twitter and became a staunch activist for doggy rights – ask his pals – sofas for dogs, toys for dogs, chews for dogs, big beds for dogs. This is where it all began. I had followed Wire Fox Terriers on Twitter, little knowing that behind the moniker sat a lady called Marie. She put up a tweet that filled me with horror. EMERGENCY FOSTER HOME required for a dog, whose time was running out. After pulling poor Roger out of a business meeting to answer my call, I said we could help, albeit I am afraid to say in a rather ambivalent fashion. My gut feeling was “I haven’t a clue about fostering” and “are we what they need?” Marie forwarded my details to Diana, we talked at length and afterwards I knew we were exactly what they needed. Foster homes are in short supply. As it happens that particular dog was fostered and subsequently adopted into another loving home. We met a lovely lady, who home checked us – whilst I worried about whether I had dusted the coffee table – she looked at the garden, at us as a family, at the resident dog, not at whether I had washing in piles everywhere, ready to go in. Hilary – I thank you for that! Post home check passed, I received a call from Diana, the dog in foster, whom we were asked to consider adopting, had been adopted by the foster family. Far from being upset, I was relieved for that poor dog. I had primed my children, who were 13 and 15 years, that it’s not whether the dog was right for us, but the other way around, so as not to get hopes too high. Both took it well and were also thankful that the dog was spared. But where one Terrier SOS dog gets lucky, another waits in the wings. Diana asked whether we would consider another little girl, who was currently being saved from death row in Spain. I was sent the before (perrera) and after (kennels) photographs. “YES” said I. But we had already made our mind up as a family – it is a family decision – that we would help a dog in crisis. We could offer comfortable sofas for lounging, big beds aplenty, long rural walks and a good garden to run in. Food and veterinary care is a given. But what these dogs need mostly is to feel part of the family, to be loved, reassured that no matter what, you are there for them. Dogs don’t need a cream dream home or manicured lawn. Our day came – you saw the photographs! In the interim we rescued another poppet in need. Fostering/adopting is not about me “doing good” or “playing the hero”, it’s because I cannot stand by and watch, when I know I could assist. I have my mother to thank for teaching me that. One day I hope the same for my own two. There are many of you on here and on Twitter, exactly like us. Maybe you are sitting on the fence, worried about how your own dog will react. Rooty is adored, spoiled a little even, but like all pack/flock animals they have an innate sense of sorting “order” and establishing “harmony”. Now as we walk the dogs by the river, or sit drinking coffee at outside tables, dogs on lap, I talk to those who engage me in conversation reference “the dogs”. I tell them about our “foster”, you generally get the “ahhs”. I spread the “Terrier SOS” word. I ask them, if they seem genuinely interested, to take a look at www.terriersos.com. I made the posters to put in my vet’s practice. I know some of you have downloaded those and done the same. In my dog cuddling moments I have provided admin assistance to the various pages, as do others. There are many ways to assist Diana. No one woman can do this alone…in my case it took Marie, Diana, Hilary, my family and especially Rooty. Like a chain reaction, the links bind and make the ability to do something an inevitability. So if you are sitting on the fence – hop on over it instead – there are many ways to help Terrier SOS. My old boss always said that he was only ever as good as the people holding him up. I hope this answers “well, how do you know Diana?”