Abbie McBurnie

THE DECISION WE ALL DREAD 20.4. 2015

On 21st April, Kay told us ” Last night Alan and I were suddenly faced with the decision we all dread. Our lovely Abbie suddenly had what appeared to be a massive fit and was extremely distressed. The vet came, explained what had happened to her and said that actually her heart had deteriorated so much that it was failing to pump the blood round and she just wasn’t getting enough oxygen. It was then an easy decision to help her pass on.

Abbie came to us almost seven years ago, a feisty lady who was so lovable. She still has the bird she brought with her from her adoptive family, she had the gentlest of mouths. We had to spend quite a lot of time and patience with her as her time on the streets had, shall we say, helped her develop some rather bad habits!! She knew how to look after herself!!

FIRST REPORT

Abbie is a 6-year-old Golden Retriever who was fostered by Simon and his family.

Simon said. “I collected Abbie early on Thursday 14/5/09. I was amazed at how calm she was after her long journey, she readily accepted fuss from me and I was rewarded with lots of wags from her. It appears that she must be used to travelling in a car because she was very calm and quiet and more importantly she wasn’t travel sick!!! When we got home she had a good mooch about the house and garden and then came looking for attention. Once I’d given Abbie some fuss she was happy to settle down for what remained of the night. She’s settled in very quickly, we’re used to Golden Retrievers sulking for the first couple of days and we’ve had none of that with Abbie. She’s got on fabulously with our two other dogs and quickly made firm friends of them.

She adores people and loves attention!!! If she feels that you haven’t given her enough fuss then she’ll start nudging you for more. She’s been superb with our three children and in particular the eldest, Chris (11) is besotted. He’s already asking if we can keep her. Abbie has also been great with Thomas our 2-year-old and is more than happy to cuddle up with him on the sofa. We’ve seen her playful side and she has a liking for soft toys and she also likes to have the toys thrown for her so she can play fetch – be warned she doesn’t return them!

On the lead Abbie is pretty good, she pulls a bit but it’s quite manageable. However, most of the time she’s quite happy to walk by your side with the occasional stop to sniff something interesting. When she does stop though, it can take some persuading to get her moving again and this is when you realise how strong she is!!

Abbie is quite timid and can be a bit skittish but she doesn’t turn into a quivering wreck. We’ve found that she doesn’t like sudden loud noises such as the washing machine, vacuum cleaner, thunder, doors slamming and passing traffic. She also doesn’t like being left on her own, we only have to go upstairs and shut the stair gate and she’ll start quietly whimpering. I think I can now safely say that she is house trained as she gone two days without any accidents in the house. The only caveat that I would add is that we have the back door open for most of the day so she is free to go outside when the need arises.

Abbie has just been spayed and had a wart removed together with the knots in her coat being cut out so as I’m sure you’ll appreciate she isn’t looking her best. However, looking at what remains of her coat it will be beautifully thick and soft. In fact, she reminds us of a cuddly teddy bear!!!

SECOND REPORT

Well, I can’t quite believe that Abbie has been with us for over a month now, she’s settled in so quickly it’s like she’s been here forever. She’s grown in confidence so we’re now seeing her true personality and she’s turning out to be a big friendly, sensitive girl.

Abbie has proved to be a hit with my children and their friends and they have all become very fond of her. She’s proved to be very gentle with the younger children and ready for the rough ‘n tumble with the older ones. She loves to play with them and enjoys tug-of-war and fetch which seem to be particular favourites. The only criticism I can make of Abbie is that when she’s around children she will try and steal food from them so it’s important to keep a close eye on her in this situation.

Abbie thoroughly enjoys her walks and is quite excitable when we first go out but she does calm after the first 5 or 10 minutes. During this period she does pull on her lead and a firm word tends to stop her from doing this. One thing that I have noticed is that when she’s on the lead she can be intimidating towards other dogs and on rare occasions, people with barking and growling. Although, she doesn’t do this when she’s off the lead so I suspect this is Fight or Flight behaviour.

When she’s off the lead and left to do her own thing then she’s brilliant, she doesn’t stray too far and the majority of the time will come back when she’s called. However, she does have a fondness for water and while she’s been here she has taken a couple of dips into the local pond. One occasion it was to chase the local ducks but once they were in the water she had no chance of catching them, in fact I’m sure the ducks were egging her on!!!!

In the house she’s a very well behaved dog and loves to spend most of her time either begging for fuss or curled up on the sofa. She likes to be in the company of people and will follow us around the house, stairs being no problem for her. She will whine if she’s shut in a room or unable to be with us for any reason. However, we’ve had to leave her on her own and she has always been good, doesn’t appear to have been agitated and she doesn’t destroy anything.

To sum Abbie up, I would call her a loveable rogue in that she gets into the occasional mischief but never anything too naughty or too bad. She enjoys company and loves having lots of affection and will actively seek it out. We all miss her once she finds her forever home and I think there will be a few tears shed.

ABBIE HAS GONE TO HER FOREVER HOME

It’s been wonderful looking after Abbie for the past 2 months but she left us this afternoon to start her new life with Kay and Alan in Carlisle. We wish them every success and we know that Abbie will have a wonderful life in her forever home.

UPDATE FROM HER FOREVER HOME 26.07.09

Kay said, “Abbie has had a busy day today meeting the boys. She put them in their places straight away, as you will see in the photo, she is the one in mid flight, she ran around the garden at full speed, having a fabulous time. She then found the only puddle in the garden to lie in on the decking to cool down!! I think we have the beginnings of a long and happy friendship.

She has just returned from her evening walk, had her dinner and is fast asleep. She has been admired by a lot of people today, even those whose dogs she leapt at whilst on the lead. She hates our old clock, and when it chimed, jumped onto Alan’s knee – we have stopped it from working at the moment until she is more settled.

We have only had her home for about 24 hours but she has fitted in so well, we love her to bits.

FURTHER UPDATE 1.8.09

She is laid on the settee tucked up right beside me. We went for an early walk and both got soaked! She is really good at letting me dry her. Yesterday Frankie and Ben came to our house to visit. Frankie, the choc lab has now bonded with her and she let him clean her ears and her teeth (he seems to feel this is his responsibility with all dogs that visit!! Some really are not too keen on the process!!!). She then decided to have a bit of rough and tumble in the front room, she certainly knows how to look after herself!! Ben sat and watched like a very grown up goldie, his face said it all, he was above any of this childish behaviour!! He then decided that he should come and sit leaning right up against me, and looked right at me as if to say “Is she staying?” He then gave a big sigh and got down and joined them, it was a bit like tag wrestling!!

I have been doing some work with her on recall, she is getting to know our voices now and getting used to the walks we are taking her on. This morning she turned into our house without prompt. I have been grooming her quite regularly and her coat is looking great, even the various bits that have been cut.

She has her holidays booked for September, she is going to a lovely cottage very near the sea in the Highlands of Scotland!

I am spreading the word about the great work of IRR, you may have some more hits to the website.”

ABBIE AND FRIENDS

Kay said. “Abbie has made great friends with Frankie and Ben, my daughter’s 2 dogs. She loves to tease them both and is very unladylike when she plays, lets just say she gives as good as she gets.

She is totally devoted to Alan, everywhere he goes, she follows closely at his heel. She is now off the lead when out for walks and her return is very good, if there are no cats or other things she is more interested in!! She loves the river and is a good swimmer. Her coat is growing back in those places where she had to have knots cutout, and her op sites. She loves being groomed, in fact, any kind of attention she soaks up and nudges your hand when you stop.

To be honest, we feel as if we have had her for ages, she has settled in so well. She has even started to show us a bit of her naughty streak, she emptied the bin yesterday, making confetti out of the paper contents! It is fantastic to see her settling in so well. I took her over to the North East near Newcastle last weekend to meet my aunties 2 labs, she had a wonderful time, came away with a ‘welcome to the family’ present and 2 new dog friends.

The photos are of her with Frankie and Ben, and it is actually my daughter underneath the pile of dogs on the settee, all wanting attention.

I think you can safely say she has found her forever home with us.”

UPDATE 4.11.09

Just to keep you up to date with our lovely Abbie. She is such a character, and has us well trained!! Her coat is beautiful now, we are both suprised at how beautiful and full it is. She still has the lopsided tuft on her head, and does very strange things with her ears!!

She recently took us by suprise, when having shown no interest in livestock, decided to herd up the local flock of sheep, then return to me and sit beautifully in front of me looking up with those big brown eyes!! AND she chases ducks and swans, she is an amazing swimmer!! She is a real scavenger outside, but we can leave food anywhere in the house and if she is told not to touch, she will not go near. She has been on holiday with us to Scotland, staying in a house right on the sea, she loved it!

We both love her to bits and she has settled so well. My house will be full of dogs this weekend as my daughter’s 2 big boys are coming to stay, she loves them! She is a terrible tease, and nudges the boys to get them to play. I think she is actually quite young actually, she is now very fit and very settled.

UPDATE 25/02/10

Abbie has settled so well, we feel as if she has been part of the family for ages. She loves my daughter’s dogs and they love her. We are still not sure about how old she is, as she is quite lazy when in the house, cuddling up to me at every opportunity. But she is mad when she is out! She has loved the snow, regularly doing headstands and wheelies as she tears about!! Her coat is beautiful, really thick and shiny, and all the dodgy bits have grown back well.

She is very well loved and we will always be very grateful to you for matching us up with her.

UPDATE 13.7.2010

Kay says “Abbie has been with us just over a year now and is part of the family and has been on a few holidays.

She has developed her technique of raiding people’s picnic hampers down by the river, in fact she has even given up her attempts to catch a swan or any of the ducks to concentrate her efforts on perfecting her butty nicking techniques!!! We have developed our apologising techniques!!

She is a real character, and is gorgeous with babies and young children.

Something in her past has made her very fearful of horses, in fact, whenever any go past the house we know before we actually see them as she barks like mad. BUT doesn’t when somebody comes to the door. I am going to invent a doorbell that sounds like horses trotting past.

Abbie has us well trained now and our lives revolve around her. I have just had a knee joint replacement and have been off work for a couple of months and she has been my nurse. She placed herself between my knee and the district nurse who had come to take my stitches out. She was not agressive in any way, just made herself a bit of a nuisance. I have always had boys before, so her motherly, feminine ways are gorgeous.

I could go for hours about her – she is fantastic and is well settled into our family.”