Honey Sawyer

THE VERY WORST OF NEWS 18.10.2014

We heard from Elaine: “My darling Honeybee had to be put to sleep today after a long fight against a nasty aggressive cancer called Epithelial Lymphoma. I am so grateful to Hats vets in Bicester for all their help and support over the very difficult months since Honey was diagnosed. We adopted Honey from IRR several years ago when she and her mum were rescued from a farm. Her mother Stella is living with Belinda. Sleep well my little princess. We will always miss you. Xx”

HONEY’S STORY

Unfortunately, due to ill health, Honey’s owner could no longer keep her.

Honey was initially fostered in Somerset and her fosterer said: “Honey is about 6 years old, very friendly and gets on very well with our dogs and all the dogs she meets.

Although she is quite lively, she is a very gentle dog and needs to be rehomed with another dog, ideally one that is not too boisterous. She enjoys her walks although she needs some training on the lead. She is an excellent traveller and jumps in and out of the car.

Honey is good with children, though probably better with slightly older children. She is not good with cats, and chases our cat at every opportunity. She is good at night but hasn’t been left for long periods during the day. She loves to be stroked, brushed and made a fuss of.”

HONEY HAS GONE TO HER FOREVER HOME

Elaine said. “Jaffa likes her a lot. He doesn’t seem to worry she has blagged the bed downstairs and he is happy and friendly towards her. I think he would like her to play as he has loads of toys esp balls but at the moment she is not interested; hopefully over the next few weeks that will change.

We have been for fairly long walks to the woods and round the canal (a beautiful place with the Canal one side and the river the other.) Honey has been loving it and trying to keep up with Jaffa which is impossible as she is still on the lead!!!!!

She is walking quite well now on the lead and we have had a few training sessions where we have been in a large enclosed field and we have let her off the lead. She has come back really well thank goodness. She is also sitting to command and sometimes lying down too. I am also training her to walk on the lead and that is going well – she seems to instinctively understand certain commands

I am grooming her daily which she seems to love and she is definitely becoming more confident and bouncy every day. She has also picked up one of my slippers and put it in her bed and she has shown a small interest in Jaffas’ quacky duck toy

Our 6 year old grandson has completely fallen in love with her too and fusses her lots which she is quite happy about.

We were watching a film on TV last night and I noticed Honey was actually watching the screen too. There were some scenes where the baddies were walking right up to the edge of the screen so it looked like they were coming into the house–you should have heard Honey barking at them!!! And of course that set Jaffa off too.

I hope you like the photo of both dogs –they had just been groomed and so look really gorgeous!!!!!

Honey is absolutely great. She and Jaffa are getting on really well, to the point where they have both been in the same bed together. They both like to roll around on the floor getting their tummies tickled. We have also carefully let Honey off the lead in a really safe enclosed place and she so loved it. She was like a different little dog, running around with Jaffa having a great time. She also comes back well with a treat (of course).

Honey is such a good little dog and everyone who meets her falls in love with her.”

UPDATE 9.8.09

Well our update is that she is doing absolutely brilliantly well.!!!! Honey has settled really well and she and Jaffa have become good friends. She is quite an expressive little lady and often will make little sounds as she settles in bed or even on the floor. She also snores sometimes which is really funny as she looks so lady like. She enjoys her walkies with Jaffa and I have started training her to come back first on the lead and now very gradually off the lead. The really nice thing is off lead she is such a bouncy happy little dog and loves to run as fast as she can. Luckily she does come back well!!!!

I can’t tell you how lucky we feel to have her. I have been doing some training with her prior to starting her proper classes and she will now sit and comes back when off the lead. She is such a different Honey when off the lead – really bouncy and playful. She is still not playing with toys but has a sense of humour and sometimes steals one of my slippers or Kim’s socks.

We have had our holiday which was originally to Pembrokeshire but the caravan park contacted us week previously to say weather there was very bad. Luckily Kim found us a lovely site over on the Norfolk coast and the weather was great. Honey was not sure about the waves but we took her to Wells-Next-The-Sea where the tide goes out for miles so no big waves. The little boy is our grandson and he loves Honey.

As you can see this is Honey having a snooze after a day at the beach.

The only downfall at the moment is that she was very car sick going to Norfolk but after that on shorter journeys and even on the journey home she was much better so we are hoping she will become accustomed to the car.

ELAINE’S UPDATE 24.8.09

Honey bee is such a gorgeous little dog. We are getting on really well and she now sits and comes to command (well usually) She has her own little soft toy (a bunny) so now there are lots of quips about Honey and the bunny!!!! She often walks around with the rabbit in her mouth and will drop it to command but until yesterday I could not get her to retrieve it. No longer !!! I am pleased to say that we had a breakthrough yesterday and she actually brought it back several times although since then she has refused to do it again!!!

Honey also had her first experience of our dog bathing lady the other day. She was absolutely great with the grooming and claws but was quite frightened by the hand held shower part of it. However she was absolutely fine once it was stopped thank goodness.

We are going away again soon, this time to Looe, so we have been trying to acclimatise her to the car. Jaffa is very good with her and I think he is secretly in love with her!!!!

We are hoping to visit a friend soon who has just adpoted a Spanador puppy (this is the breed Jaffa is) so we are all keen to meet him. As you know Honey is so good with other dogs so it should be fun.

UPDATE FROM ELAINE MAY 2010

We adopted Honey in July last year and she has settled brilliantly and is doing so well. She is utterly gorgeous and has a fantastic nature. We are so lucky to have her. I am sure Belinda and Terry, who looked after Honey initially, will be really pleased to hear how well she is doing.

Honey is the most gorgeous little dog. She is usually quite quiet but now when she knows it is walkies time she gets really excited and runs around the garden barking and chasing our other dog, Jaffa. She can be very happy and bouncy sometimes.

She is more obedient on the lead and off and recently had a walk of around 4 miles which she managed really well. She is eating well and has gained some weight as you will see from the pics. Honey loves to be groomed and fussed over and she has such a great nature – she is so affectionate and follows me around the house sometimes. She is also very affectionate towards my husband and he is delighted as originally she was a little unsure of him!! Recently Jaffa was out with my husband for several hours and Honey really missed him. When they returned she went straight up to Jaffa as if to say “thank goodness you are back”. She then lay next to him as if she was making sure he would not go out without her in the future!!

When Honey came to us for the first couple of months she had disturbed nights when she would be yelping in her sleep. Not sure if she was having bad dreams or just dreaming about doggy things but she seems more settled now although she continues to be very vocal making all sorts of sounds to get my attention. She also loves to roll around on the carpet or in the garden gettiing her tummy tickled.

Jaffa continues to be great with her and he secretly enjoys having Honey as his companion.

I am so grateful to IRR for giving us the chance to make a difference to Honey. From the moment I saw her picture I knew she would fit in with our family and she certainly has.