Benson Meikle

OUR LOVELY BOY HAS GONE (27.12.2019)

Julie reported on Facebook, “We are heartbroken. Our lovely Benson, our gorgeous Golden Retriever, who we adopted nearly 11 years ago from the Irish Retriever Rescue, died early this morning. He was 12 and a half years old and we had found out just 10 days ago that he had cancer. It is devastating losing him.

Mr Benson was a delightful, handsome, stubborn, wilful, intelligent, fun-loving, bouncy boy. He loved cuddles, walks (he preferred paths with no gorse), eating cushions and dog beds, lying in the garden and everything dogs love doing. We loved him so much and will miss him terribly. Here are some favourite pictures:-

Thank you IRR for letting us adopt Benson nearly 11 years ago. We will miss him so much”.

HISTORY

In 2009, Benson was approximately 18 months old. He was a neutered Golden Retriever and was initially fostered by Jane and her family.

INITIAL REPORT

Jane said, “He arrived 36 hrs ago, full of bounce and in need of a good bath and grooming, which he has now had. He is a very handsome boy. He is a real live wire one minute and the next he is lying down like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth”.

He arrived 36 hrs ago full of bounce and in need of a good bath and grooming, which he has now had. He is a very handsome boy. He is a real live wire one minute and the next is lying down like butter wouldn’t melt.

He is very friendly, happy, craves attention and acts like an overgrown puppy. He sleeps all night through with no accidents but as soon as he is up he is raring to go. He needs plenty of training and a firm hand. Not brilliant on the lead but he is eager to learn. He understand basic commands, sit, stay and down but only for about 30 seconds!!!!!!!!

He has a strong liking for our cats but just wants to play with them.

SECOND REPORT

Benson has been with us for 2 weeks now. He is still strong willed and it’s normally his way or no way but we are working on that!! Everything is a game to him especially when you scold him, so we have found it’s best to ignore him or remove him from the situation when he is naughty and he calms down and behaves himself for a short while.

You can see why he has got away with murder in the past because he is so cute and adorable and has got a great personality. He needs some tough love bless him.

He loves to be groomed and would stand for it all day!!

He is not brilliant on the lead but we have been using a halti. Once he got the idea of it and realised that lying on the floor to try and get his own way did not help, he was fine.

He is much better with the cats and we have caught him sleeping with them once or twice. He loves to get in the car and travels well. He has met quite a few other dogs and seems fine with them.

Due to him acting like a boisterous teenager he would be much better suited to a home with older children.

UPDATE FEB 2009

Benson is currently in foster in Gloucester with Di and family and their two dogs, Penny and Dazzle.

Di said, “Benson has been here nearly a week, has settled in well and enjoys a good rough and tumble with both dogs. Jane’s description of him as an overgrown puppy is absolutely correct. He seeks attention by randomly picking up any object within reaching distance and attempting to chew it – fortunately my Satnav survived serious damage through our quick retrieval. I did forgive him though when my latest Dogs Today magazine was found lying on the floor as Benson clearly just wanted to look at the pictures! When told to drop, he will obey and will allow any of us to remove articles from his mouth without resistance. His place in the canine hierarchy has been quickly established and he knows for instance, that he will be the last one to be fed. He is happy to both feed and sleep in his crate. During our mealtimes, he will bark but has learnt that this will get him nowhere and if ignored, will soon give up.

Benson is a lovely, friendly boy who will make a great family pet. He is not bad, but he is lively and needs firm discipline and an owner who is willing to invest time and effort in training him. There is no doubt that his behaviour has improved due in no small part to the influence that Dazzle, as the elder statesman exerts on him. If he does get a bit over exuberant, Dazzle will growl his displeasure and both he and Penny will not stand any nonsense from Benson.

This would suggest that Benson may be better suited to a home with an older dog, or dogs, where he can learn good behaviour by example.”

UPDATE 14/2/09

Di said. ”After a short period of looking after the delightful Benson, he has left us today to be fostered by Jackie in Norfolk. It has been a pleasure to have him in our home although I think Penny and Dazzle might be grateful for some peace and quiet. I hope this lovely boy finds his forever home very soon.”

LATEST UPDATE ON BENSON FROM JACKIE

Benson has been with me for 2 weeks now and has settled in very well.

At first he was a bit wary of my hubby Ron and quite large son who is 6ft 4in. He soon gained trust with Ron, but it has taken just a little longer with my son. They are all great mates now, I’m very happy to say.

Benson plays very well with my 3yr old golden retriever Bridie. The pic below shows Benson being cuddled by Bridie – or is that a neck hold? Lol

Benson is a big baby and needs someone who will be in charge and not allow him to dominate.

He is a very loveable rogue with plenty of fun and love to give to the right owner, who will guide him in the right direction and continue with his training.

I am finding it very enjoyable looking after Benson, but then I do have lots of patience like most of our fosterers. He is a typical young inquisitive retriever, who will look for anything and I mean anything to bring you, lol.

UPDATE ON BENSON FROM JACKIE – APRIL 2009

I am really happy to announce that our beloved Benson has now found his perfect forever home. Thanks to Julie and Ali for giving him the lovely home that he has been looking for with a new sister and two brothers to keep him happy.

Julie first met Benson when she assisted in the final leg of Benson`s transport from Di to me. Benson was the first dog that Julie had ever transported through the RHU (Rescue Helpers Unite) who IRR often use if there are no other transporters available in the areas where we need them.

Special thanks to Sal who does a fantastic job in organising transport for IRR and who helped to arrange Benson’s journey from Gloucester to Norfolk.

REPORT FROM HIS FOREVER HOME

Julie said. “Well, we have had Benson with us for about 10 days now and we are all gradually settling down together. He is a very loving boy….but very wilful!!

Benson loves walking through the heath and woods enjoying new smells and sniffing the air. He has not been off lead yet so he does not get to run around as much as our springers do, but that is just a matter of time. We want to be sure that he will come back!

We took him and Charlie (the biggest springer who we have only had for about 9 weeks) to a trainer to help us train them on recall and walking better on leads. We will then move on to “leave” which will be useful when he picks up yet another thing in his mouth that he should not have! He has destroyed a dog bed that was in the car, but it was pretty tatty anyway and the non-slip mat under the vet bed. He has not chewed anything in the house though and I think this is a bit of anxiety and/or excitement in the car as he soon settles. In fact we had to leave them for a couple of hours a few days ago and because of late trains it turned out to be longer than planned. The others are fine, but Benson we were worried about, but there was no problem and I got a rapturous welcome and he soon settled down.

He is a little afraid of the sea……it comes back at him! He does not mind the water in pools, but the tide coming in and out surprises him and he dances away from it. He loves other dogs and is keen to play so we are really looking forward to him being off his lead.

Thanks for letting him come to live with us….he is a lovely boy and his new brothers and sister love playing with him and his new sister keeps him in order!”

UPDATE JUN 2009

He is coming along wonderfully. He loves his walks now and is getting better and better at not jumping on every dog owner we come across. We’ve learnt that you have to catch him just as he spots people. He crouches right down, all the better to leap up into their faces and bounce all over them and their dogs.

He has responded really well and is so much better. I don’t want to put him on the lead every time we see people as it just reinforces the jumping up, so we now are more alert and call him back when we see him spot someone. He then plays nicely rather than going over the top. Take a while yet though I suspect.

Benson chased a rabbit last week….I saw him looking into the clearing in the woods and then he shot off into the woods. He did have fun and, fortunately, the rabbit got away. The springers do that all the time, but often catch them…..Charlie just gulps them down (eeucch!), so I am glad this time bunny lived to run another day. He also likes digging to China in the garden so he has to be watched when that wiggly bum he does comes over him. Otherwise he does like a wood floor to lie down on.

We had a trial run in our small tent as we will camp overnight on our way up to the Cairngorms in a few weeks. It is a small tent but they all loved camping out……..we put the inner tent up in the summer house! We have camped with Maddie, but not with the others so we were hoping they would settle OK. They were great. Benson just settled down stretched out by my side with his bum in my face and his nose at Harry’s nose and slept like a baby all night….unfortunately he broke wind all night too!! I didn’t get a picture of us all in there as I forgot the camera and did not dare disturb them by going in for it.

BENSON’S HOLIDAY IN SCOTLAND

Julie said. “We had a great holiday in Speyside, Scotland so here are a few pics of Benson. Benson was very good and really enjoyed himself. He gained confidence and started to explore the cover. We had a cottage 50yds from a forest so the dogs had miles of tracks to run on…..and miles of heather and bracken to run through. Benson even went paddling as it was so hot during the first week. When he felt himself getting out of his depth and having to swim he did a vertical take off and thrashed through the water to the safety of dry land! We got very wet when he did that. He travelled well all that distance in the car and the spaniels and he just curled up together. They had plenty of walks along the way and I think they would like to be on holiday all the time….I would!

Benson took to camping when we camped in the small tent to break the journey on the way up and back. He did manage to get all of my camping mat so he was very comfortable….at least he did not have a wind problem this time! On the way up we stopped at Moffat and took them on a river walk before putting the tent up. Benson is afraid of cows! He flatly refused to walk past them even though they were behind a fence.

On the way back it was awful weather and he just settled down to sleep with his head across me….nice! He and Charlie play together most, with Charlie rounding him up if he was not near enough. Charlie is very protective of Benson, and when Benson does not take no for an answer with other big dogs…or little terriers if they don’t want to play, Charlie joins in and makes sure Benson does not get into any bother.”

VISITING RON AND JACKIE SEP 2009

FURTHER UPDATE NOV 2009

Julie said. “The photo of Benson running through the bracken is at Salthouse, the one in our house is Harry using him as a cushion! The others are from our week in Scotland last month. He got absolutely filthy one day…luckily we had covered all chairs and carpets in throws!!

We were lucky with the weather on the whole. The cabin was in acres of woods with miles of forest beyond that. The river was our daily, morning and evening walks with others in between so we all got tired out. Benson does not really do swimming, but he paddles. We all had a lovely time.”