The Dogs: Soli

I'll keep this fairly short; Soli will get her own lengthy article at some point.


Soli is a brilliant example of what not to do when getting a puppy: don't go for a working breed you know nothing about (especially when you know nothing about dogs at all); don't go for the noisiest, bolshiest pup in the litter; don't not bother to train said pup; don't see her be frightened of other pups once and abandon all socialisation of any kind; don't waste money on a behaviourist who knows naff-all.

All these don'ts were ignored with Soli: at 4 weeks old, in a litter of 16, she barked and barked and that is why her old owner picked her, on a whim, when the boyfriend was picking his pup (who was also terrified of other dogs, like their parents, as it turned out - bad breeding at work, ladies and gents).

One or two puppy classes and a scared pup later and all socialisation was abandoned except with the brother - literally. When Soli came to me in Dec 06, she had never met children, was scared of strangers, all dogs to an extreme, and reacted to just about every noise (she still does to an extent).

The owner went on a Jan Fennel course - waste of time and money - she learned nothing helpful and Soli was still a pain in the bum.

At 5.5 years old, her owner's hours increased so Soli was put on Dogpages for rehoming. In 5 months, not one person stepped forward; it took 5 months before I could offer a home but I watched all the while, desperately wanting a red dobe bitch.

She came home and the fun began: extreme aggression displays to frighten off other dogs, on or off lead; severe guarding of sofas, beds and stolen things (had it not been for my thick fleece jacket she would have given me a nasty bite once over a stolen glove); nervousness, so on and so forth.

It took about 2 1/2 years all told to really get to grips with it; there are still niggling issues and always will be, her fear is too ingrained (and too genetic also) to fully solve but she's fine as she is. She's a medical nightmare - to date she is incontinent (from her spay at 2 years old, but the meds work), has hypothyroidism, osteoarthritis caused by bony degenerative disease, a peculiar irritation/inflammation issue on one leg bone, a wonky pelvis (which caused a lot of the initial aggression), and at present is healing from a nasty tear on her leg caused by... wait for it... no, not a dog fight...

...a bush. Sigh. That little episode has so far cost me over £200 - the initial knockout and staples, then the restapling after she pulled some out, then the re-restapling after she caught some on my car seat.

She's also just had samples taken of a HUGE lump in her abdomen - she's plastered in fatty lumps, dozens of them, but this one is tucked inside the bottom of her ribcage and very hard to feel so I've only just found it. It looks fatty but we're checking to be sure.

All in all, blumming heck what a dog! She's also just had a major grump at Saffi for the horrendous crime of touching her while she was asleep (this is a big issue of hers, because of her joint problems she is perpetually worried that a dog will touch her and hurt her when she's lying down). Fun.