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Our Wonderful Gift Ella, now heartbroken

Posted: 22 Dec 2007, 06:42
by bessiebunches
29th Nov 2016
Well its nearly Christmas again, but this message is one of a heavy heart and celebration of the love our family shared with Ella.
One of the hardest things we have to do in lives as being mums and dads to our wonderful pets is make that terrible decision of when it is time for them to leave us. Ella left us on Monday to start her journey to the bridge it has been so still in this house. No grandkids around as much as they use to be. How john has coped as he retired this year I can only imagine.

Glenys and team we thank you with our whole hearts for allowing us to adopt Ella she was our treasure. She leaves us with emptiness but with the greatest gift of love. She loved us unconditionally as most dogs do. Ella had many health issues in her life and we know she is now resting. Sleep well beautiful girlie, till we meet again xxx




Our Wonderful Gift Ella
by bessiebunches ยป Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:42 am

I am sitting here at 5.00am and very much looking forward to Christmas.

Our Gift this Christmas time is having Ella in our family. I would like to share with you all at this time of caring and sharing our story of Ella as we know it.

As most of you know we lost our sweet Girl Bessie on 10th Aug 2006. After having 2 dogs for the best part of 14 years the loss of Bessie was very hard to bear. I started to come onto these great sites and made many friends. Glenys being one of my closest. Glenys knew our situation but felt that one day a special little girl would come to the rescue that was meant to be with John and I.

Well she was right. In May this year Glenys told us she have a little Black girl named Beth coming from Ireland, the history Glenys had was she was found abandond with her puppies, I think it was 8, we were told she was good in the home and OK with children. At this stage we had not seen her, instantly we said we wanted to meet her. We had to wait a few weeks for her to be transported to the rescue. On the 31st of May she was here and we couldn't wait to go along and see her.

When Glenys brought her out to us we could see she was in very poor condition, she was thin and underweight, her spine was very evident and her coat was thin and brown, ( she is a black girlie) her boobies were hanging due the puppies feeding from her , basically she was very undernurished, but the most upseting thing to see was the mark around her neck, she has a scar that goes all around here neck (it looks like she had had her head taken off and then re-attached) the scar in a full inch wide in places, I can only guess that she had been tied up and the fur had worn away as it does not look like a cut, thank goodness. she was very friendly and came to us, and wanted to play. We could not wait to get our hands on her and bring her home. On her first full day with us we took her to our regular vet and gave her a much needed bath. Her fur came out in handfulls and it was even more evident you could see her skin very easily through her thin fur.

As our last lab was Bess, we found it very difficult to call her Beth it sounded strange so we re-named her Ella, we gave her this name after Bessies mum who was bought by good friends of ours from a person in Cornwall, He had trained her as a working dog and had treated her very cruelly, when my friened first saw her she could not tell she was a lab, any way, back to Ella.

John had been off work as he was waiting for an operation which was wonderful timing for us, as it gave Ella lots of Love and attention and helped her settle at this time.

She has some behavioural problems which we are still working through, she is terrified of people who smoke, or wear a HI-Vis Jacket, she is also afraid of Parcels, post, anyone who knocks at the door, doorbells on the tv, She runs to me for support when she is afraid, and she is very aggressive to smaller dogs. We can not allow her off the lead yet as she constanlty hunts for food and when her nose is down she will not retrive. All these things we will work through.

Now the Big plus's
She is now in much better condition, her fur is thick and shinny, her spine is not pertruding as before, her boobies as now receeded, and she looks the picture of health, Our vet is delighted with her as are we. She is wonderful with the children, she adores them and follows them everywhere, she loves to lie with John by the fire, she always beats him to the bean bag!! :lol: she give us lots of love and attention, and her tail never, I mean Never stops wagging. She follows us all over the house she just loves to be near us. I forgot to mention she love to rip up her toys! Bless her

We feel she is a gift to us, we love her desperatley and can't wait to give her a wonderful Christmas as we do not know if she has had one before, and we want to give a a very special time, always.

Thank You, Glenys for helping us find Ella, for bringing her over here and for letting us give her a new home. We are very blessed


Our first photo of Ella

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Week One

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Ella after a few months with us

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Posted: 22 Dec 2007, 07:31
by Flinty
She is a real credit to you.
Give her a great Christmas and unplug the doorbell.
:)

Posted: 22 Dec 2007, 12:37
by kathryn
Thanks for your lovely story,it just shows what love and patience can do, dogs need time to re-adjust and given time so many people want instant bonding and want the dog to settle in straight away, this very rarely happens with rescue, put yourselves in their position gone from a home they have always known, then to us and a kennel enviroment then to a new home a period of adjustemnt is always needed...

She is a credit to you both, and so lucky to have found a wonderful home that cares, and of course we have got to know you both, and your wonderful support for the Rescue.
Have a wonderful xmas.
Kathryn.x

Posted: 22 Dec 2007, 14:18
by Glenys
A wonderful inspiring story especially at christmas

Love to you all

Glenys xx

Posted: 22 Dec 2007, 14:56
by janhind
Gail, Ella is absolutely gorgeous, a real credit to you, I bet you are a real proud mum, love jan xx

Posted: 23 Dec 2007, 18:52
by CarolynM
Gail - she is absolutely beautiful

Posted: 28 Dec 2007, 23:56
by bessiebunches
thanks to you all for your kind words. I hope you don't mind but I have here a few pics of Ella on her 1sr Christmas with us She was not too keen on the dress up and she would not look at the camera :lol: she was very clever unwrapping her own gifts. Bless her!

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Posted: 29 Dec 2007, 00:01
by dogspaw
She is such a beautiful girl, Gail. Nice to see her enjoying her pressies.
Jill xx

Posted: 29 Dec 2007, 11:34
by janhind
Lovely to see her enjoying her first christmas with you, its extra special when you dont know if they have ever had one before, love jan & big licks from paddy xxx

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 15:47
by Glenys
Yes gail more pics please the Irish ladies love the updates on the dogs they helped xx

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 19:35
by benjiesmum
I thought that I has replied to this thread but clearly I have had another senior moment. What a credit she is to you both. And she now has a lovely settled home too. That picture of her transformation after a few months is a real WOW!!!!! Keep the photos coming. :P

Posted: 04 Apr 2008, 21:57
by Alison B
Gail, she is stunning! :)

What a transformation.

Love Alison & Rosie XXX

Ellla

Posted: 05 Apr 2008, 10:00
by cnocluinge
I would love to know what was Ella's name before she went to Glenys. I remember a lovely girl called Norma, sounds very like her, and if it was then I fostered her pups until they got their forever homes.

Ella is beautiful and its lovely to see these dogs in wonderful, happy homes.

All at LAW are very greatful to all of you. xx

Posted: 05 Apr 2008, 10:36
by bessiebunches
Hi Marie
When we first saw Ella her name was BETH I don't know much about her. I know she was fostered for a while. She may be remembered by the 1/2 inch scar which goes all the way around her neck, and she had recently had puppies.
Like Jan I would love to get a firend for her but she is very posessive in the house and I would be afraid of how she would cope emotionally, as she is our NO 1 concern and her security and well being are of paramount importance. (gosh some big words there for me, Ian, I need a spell checker :lol: )
Any info you have on her would be most appreciated, she tends not to like other dogs when we are out with her and we are taking her to training to help her with this. She also likes to do a runner when she can. so recall is also a key part of her training, and long lead play she love to seek and fetch the rabbit!!!!! and then kill it, please don't worry it is only a skin (training aid), not a real BOB THE BUN!, not to be to caucuios but she is chipped and has a tag to inform this, she also has 3 telephone numbers on her collar tag :lol:
But she is a little smasher and we would't be with out her :angel5:

Gail
x

Posted: 05 Apr 2008, 17:46
by cnocluinge
Awwww poor girl, she will be happy for the rest of her life with you. I will make inquires about her on Monday and see what I can find out.

No fear she will be lost with all the information she has on her necklace!!!!
ha ha ha.

Its lovely to hear about her and now that I know her I will be keeping an eye on her to see how many rabbits she catches :shock:

I will let you know if I find out details of her story.