The Long and Winding Road... A Rescued Brittany

"The long and winding road, that leads to your door, will never disappear, I've seen that road before.  It always leads me here, lead me to your door..." beautiful lyrics to the Lennon/McCartney song came to mind when I was traveling back to ATB yesterday.  I had just transported "Blaze", a Brittany surrendered to New England Brittany Rescue last week and had spent several days with us. There have been a few times that John and I have been in a position to foster, rehabilitate, transport and do a home visit on behalf of all the Brittany organizations.  I wish we could do so much more.  I posted the following comment on Facebook about this most recent experience and the way it has touched my heart.  "Working with NEBR leaves me wishing I could do so much more to help while wondering what went wrong in a particular Brittanys life. Blame can be distributed equally among breeders and owners; Lack of socializing, education, experience, responsibility etc. on one side or the other are some reasons. Life happens, but a commitment to a dog is a commitment to it's entire life."  Our friend Zina commented that it was as great of a responsibility as if it were a child.  She is right.  And the breeder(s) and owner(s) are as if they are parents, sharing that responsibility. I am not one to assign human attributes to an animal and I do not support the concept of guardianship for animals in any way.  But the whole idea, the point I was trying to make is that breeders and owners alike share that responsibility.  I have seen breeders lie about their experience, persuading unknowing and unsuspecting individuals and in the end sell their puppies to people who have no understanding of the particular breed or even what is considered normal puppy behavior.  I'm too close to getting up on my soap box again, I realize this. But Blaze... The first thing any good breeder of purebred dogs will do when learning of a local surrender or rescue of their breed is ask how they can help. Get that dog out of the shelter and into the hands of a reputable breed rescue org.  I was told that not too many Brittanys show up in shelters in one of Maine's major shelters - which is good news.  Second thing the breeder should do is do a 'head count' of where their own pups were sold, recall the last time they heard from the owners, and gain as much information about the rescued dog as possible - especially the birthdate. Even when a pup is sold with the stipulation it must always be returned to the owner no questions ask prior to surrender to a shelter, rescue or humane agents that requirement is not always honored. Quite honestly, I am personally aware of several dogs from one particular breeder frequently showing up in shelters and rescued. This is just wrong.

I spent 7 wonderful days with Blaze.  It was not that I could do so much for him, but we could offer him a place of transition, a place where the other dogs are well rounded, balanced, and happy.  It rubbed off on him. Being an intact male with absolutely no manners we knew he could not stay in the house, especially with JackDog.  So at first a place was set up just for him in the grooming studio.  But Blaze needed to be able to see what was going on around him.  I knew he was up to date on his shots and so were our dogs so we doubled up on a couple of runs and gave him the "corner office."  Within no time at all he had settled into the ATB routine - well, that is with the exception of the free run with the rest of the crew.  I couldn't take a chance with the direct interaction or more importantly, the chance of Blaze running off.  He did enjoy being out with the 30' check cord but oh my! That boy is strong and muscular and I had all I could do to hold on.  I discovered he is like a little puppy and absolutely loved the water though.  He was no trouble at all. The first day or so he barked intermittedly and I had warned a couple of our neighbors we had a rescue dog in residence temporarily.  In the meantime Christine (who probably hates to hear from me by now!) of New England Brittany Rescue was hard at work behind the scenes laying a plan out for Blaze. His second vet visit was scheduled which would include heartworm testing and neutering - required by law for all rescued animals.  I had the paperwork on this side of the border necessary for housing and transporting him further.  And the good news was that a foster home had been found.  The day that he left he received a 'bath in a bottle', coat conditioning, some cosmetic grooming and clipping, and a full body massage.  What a happy boy!  (We can't always house a rescued Brittany here, especially if we have pups on the ground or are expecting a litter.  We are very particular about our interaction with other dogs and even people visiting our crew in those situations.  But I was happy we could help out this time.  And thoughts of Blaze will linger in my heart along with the other rescued Brittanys that briefly came into my life.

Ironically this came about just as we were ready to announce additional news about our fall breeding plan.  I appreciate those who did inquire about Blaze either directly or indirectly.  We do have some exciting news to share in the near future.  Stay tuned!  In the meantime, I am looking forward to an upcoming weekend of Hunt Tests. Nash will try to qualify for his second leg of his Junior Hunter title as will his 'friend' Paris.  John will handle our two youngsters, True and Piper.  They are not a year old so this is really asking a lot of them but we believe they are ready.  And last but not least we were pleasantly surprised to learn that 'Buddy' will also be tested.  The fun part of all of this is yet another weekend shared with good friends and their great dogs... and thank you Steve for offering up the camp for everyone - it's really going to be a great weekend.
Take care and God bless, John, Ann and All Things Brittany