The Dog thread

Our dogs have birthdays of course but because they have all been rescues they have gotcha days, the day we adopted them and they are the days we remember.
On 15 oct 2001 I was broken into...
My old dog had died in the July and we hadnt really come round to the idea of a new dog yet, but OH said 'thats it tomorrow we go to the rescue and you get a new dog'

He was working away a lot of the time leaving me and my 15 yr old daughter alone at home.

So off we went the following morning and the choice was simple there were three dogs in the rescue, a JRT who had sat for 3 day with his dead owner. An elderly yorkie who needed a quite place, and a very young hyper Border collie.

We asked about the BC and were told he had been seized by police on an animal welfare raid.
An elderly couple in a farming community had him, he had been locked up in a shed without food or water and was close to death when found.
His injuries included being shot with an air rifle in his leg his ear and a glancing shot in his eye and he had had broken ribs on one side ( consistent with a kick)
At the time we saw him he had just come out of 3 weeks in the animal hospital. He weighed half what a BC should.

We took him home.
He was easily exhausted, crazy for water so we had to ration him or else he drank until he was sick , he licked condense off grass and bottles or windows.. He gobbled his food so we had to sort that out too, but he quickly settled into a routine although he was scared of every noise and shadow at first.
After the first year even the vet was surprised at how well he had recovered and he became my rock,he was kind and gentle.
I know BC's stare but Oscar had a way of looking into you not at you he smelled of milk and cookies like a baby does.
It broke my heart when we lost him in 2012..

Today I think of him and the brilliant times we had, I miss him by my side, keeping my feet warm in the evenings and just knowing that while he was with me I felt invincible.

He was the best birthday I ever had and I will never forget his gotcha day...