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Case study 2

Joy

Recently bereaved and re-homed Border Collie bitch

By

Pauhla Whitaker

Feb 2003 Diploma course student

Background and past history

Joy is an 11 year old pure bred Border Collie bitch who was bread by her former owner Don Tinsey, a farmer and neighbour of ours, and has been a working cattle dog for all her life.

In December 2003, Don died in hospital after breaking his hip when a bull he was loading for market accidentally knocked him off the trailer ramp.

Joy lived with Dons 6 other collies, several of who were related to her, and although they were all working dogs, they were also companions to Don who lived alone, and were very attached to him. Although one of Dons daughters was living locally and was coming up to the farm to look after them and the cattle each day, they could not keep all the dogs.

Two of them were re-homed with Dons daughters and the rest went to local farms but although someone was interested in Joy and although she is still fit, well, active and a very capable working dog, her age put them off.

It was important that she was found a new home as soon as possible since Dons family were selling the cattle, the other dogs were all gone except one who was staying with the family and they did not want her to be left on her own at the farm once he had been re-homed.

We had bought the hay and silage from the farm and my husband was collecting another load with the tractor in January 2004 when he was persuaded to bring Joy home for the night and see how she settled. Apparently he didn't need as much persuading as he claimed and needless to say, once she was here neither of us wanted to let her go back! We also had great respect for Don and knowing how worried he had always been about the future of his animals, we wanted to help if we possibly could.

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Current management

When Joy came to us, we were told that she worked but would probably be happy to retire and be a house dog, although she would possibly need to be house-trained if she was inside for long periods of time.

I immediately introduced her to our other dogs (3 collies of 12 years, 7 years and 9 months) and a Black and Tan Border Terrier x Jack Russell of 6 years. She was very passive and they immediately integrated her into the pack with no problem. I made up a bed for her in the backhouse (utility type room by the backdoor) and she slept there with Folly, our oldest dog who sleeps there at night. She went through the night with no noise and the floor was clean in the morning and has been every morning since.

We also have 3 cats who are well used to dogs and Joy met them all at some point in the first week and was mildly interested in the big male who is very "dog-like" and uses dogs as a rubbing post but is otherwise unconcerned and doesn't pay them much attention, although she can occasionally be found "staring them out" in typical collie fashion.

Callers to the house are not a problem and she is very happy to meet new people.

We also allowed her into the house in the evening with the other dogs and she was happy to lie down and doze until put out for a pee with the other dogs. In short, she is totally house-trained and virtually faultless!

All our dogs are fed on a raw diet made up of meat and bones with occasional vegetables, offal and eggs etc.

Joy was very non-plussed when I gave her a chicken leg and eventually she gnawed off the leg end and left the meat. I cut the meat into chunks and put it in a bowl with the bone and was very surprised to see that she ate the bone and left the meat so there is no worry about her ability to chew but she seemed a little off-put by the texture of raw meat. I introduced it gradually and within 3 weeks she was happily eating raw meat and bones plus raw minced beef or chicken and Tripe mix from the Prize Choice range which comes ready prepared and frozen.

I am glad that she has made the transition to a full raw diet as her teeth are not in very good condition and she has lost two incisors on the lower jaw and her breath was a little smelly but this is improving all the time.

Joy is happy to come for walks with the other dogs and to wander about in the farmyard while we are working. She goes about on the tractor or in the Landrover with the other dogs, or alone with one of us and seems to be happy to be a farm dog when the opportunity arises.

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Issues arising from the consultation

Emotional issues

The reason why I decided to carry out an assessment on Joy was because I felt that she had been through a huge upheaval in the last months and although she seems to have settled in well, there are a few things that have made it obvious that she needs some support to come to terms with the change.

When Martin, my husband took her back to the farm with him to collect some bales of silage on the second day we had her, she was very happy to run about the yard while he was working. Later on when he was back home, she disappeared from the garden while he came in for a coffee break and within half an hour had made it back home, approximately 1 ½ miles as the crow flies across the fields and through the wood. He took her back again over the next few days as we felt it was important not to just cut off from her former life and to gradually let her see that things had changed but on one occasion, Sue, Dons daughter was there with her dogs, one of which is Joys son and although Joy had a brilliant time running about with them and was very animated, she did not want to leave and had to be lifted into the tractor cab as opposed to jumping up as she would normally do.

Although, over the next few days she became more and more settled, she just seemed to be a little lacklustre and would stay very close to me when walking and did not run much. If she did go off for a forage, she seemed very unaware of me and the other dogs although she immediately came to call when I asked her to.

The other thing I noticed was that she was very quiet. Even though the rest of our dogs are very noisy when people arrive at the farm, Joy would not make a sound and even came back into the house rather than go to the gate with the others which I know is not normal for her as all Dons dogs were well known for letting him know in no uncertain terms that there was someone there! She is a very affectionate dog but seemed to be slightly reserved and timid in the way she showed her affection. Obviously, after 11 years with an owner she adored and living within a pack which was related, it would be a lot to expect that she would show the same degree of affection to us in such a short time but I wanted to help her through this transition with the minimum of stress if at all possible.

Physical issues

As a much-loved dog, Joy was physically well and in good condition for a working dog of 11 years old. However, she has a small tear to the lower eyelid of her left eye that appeared to be an old injury. Although it is very minor, it channels the tears from the centre of her eyelid so that the eye is a little wet. She also had a slight brown discharge to her other eye and so I wanted to check that there was no problem there.

Her coat is very thick as she is a long-haired collie and although it is a little dull, there is no scurf or sign of fleas, she does not scratch and does not smell particularly "doggy".

She is quite a short-coupled and stocky dog and so her stride is naturally short but there are occasions when she does look a little stiff behind, especially on her back left leg but it is very minor and only noticeable if you are looking for it. I also felt that she was a little overweight and "stodgy" and hope that regular exercise coupled with a raw diet will help her to fitten-up again and shed some weight in a more natural and gradual way.

The oils selected

The oils selected as a result of the kinesiology assessment were Rose ( Rosa damascena ) and Neroli ( Citrus aurantium ) in Hempseed oil ( Canabis sativa)

I tried the hydrosols of these oils in case Joy needed something subtler but they did not test as strong.

Neither Joy nor I (who will be offering the oils) have any known sensitivities to any of the oils, are on any form of medical treatment or are pregnant and so there were no relevant safety issues or contra-indications that I was aware of with these oils.

Below is a summary of the oils and their properties.

Rose otto (Rosa damascena)

Neroli (Citrus aurantium var amara)

Hempseed (Cannabis sativa) (Base oil)

I also tested Rose hydrosol and used it as an eye wash to clean Joys eyes of accumulated discharge and help soothe any irritation, mainly from wind-burn as a result of the tears that were channelled from her eye via the tear in the lower eyelid on her left eye.

I made up both oils in the Hempseed base oil at the rate of 2 drops of essential oil in 5ml of base and offered them to Joy myself twice daily. I bathed her eyes with the hydrosol diluted at the rate indicated by kinesiology of 5ml in 50ml of tepid water after offering the oils in case the smell of the hydrosol affected her reaction to the Rose oil.

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Treatment diary

(Reactions are classed from A.very interested, to C.no interest in the oil at all)

Joy was a "text book" example when it came to sniffing the oils and she took time to "process" the information by walking away to her bed and licking her lips and yawning before coming back for another sniff but she was not interested in licking them at all.

She showed a B the first time I offered the Rose oil but then went on to A's for the next day and a half before dropping to a B for 24 hours and then finally to a C for two treatments. I gave her 48 hours break from the oils and she gave two C reactions in a row when I offered them again and I discontinued the Rose oil on day 8 (23 rd Jan 04)

She was immediately very keen on the Neroli and showed an A reaction for the first 24 hours, dropping to a B for the next two treatments and then straight to a C for two treatments. After a break of 48 hours she was still not interested and so I discontinued the Neroli on 22 nd January after 6 days.

16 th Jan. I started offering Joy the oils on the morning of 16 th January 2004, approximately two weeks after she had come to live with us and she wanted both oils to inhale but did not want to lick them.

17 th Jan... The day after I offered the oils the first time, Martin took her to her old home on the tractor to collect some bales of hay that we had bought and she met up with two of Dons dogs who were living with his daughter and were visiting the arm. Joy was much less reluctant to leave with Martin this time where as on previous occasions he had had to lift her up into the tractor as she tried to follow then to their car.

In the afternoon I took her out for a walk with our other 3 collies and our terrier. Normally, Joy would walk very quietly by my heel and not interact with the others and if she did venture away from me then she would have her nose to the ground and just sniff about. On this occasion she got into the middle of an open field, gave one loud "woof" and sprung away from me, crouched down on her font legs as if she was about to spring forward again and then came trotting back to me. She spent the rest of the walk with me but with a much more animated expression and her mouth slightly open in a "smile" and her tail was wagging

18 th Jan. Joy has found her voice! The rest of the dogs went rushing up to the garden gate to bark at a passing lorry and I heard a bark which I didn't recognise, went outside and Joy was standing at the gate barking with them.

She has escaped from the garden once and gone home to Dons farm and has been waiting for Martin when he got there to collect another load of bales but as there was no-one else there, she was very happy to come home with him and hopped into the tractor cab as soon as he opened the door.

19 th Jan. I found an old ball and brought it in with the intention of giving it to Meg, our 9 month old collie puppy to play with but Joy hijacked it and spent 10 minutes pouncing on it and then took it into her bed to chew with before Meg sneaked up and stole it. This is the first real play I have seen her engage in. She has also started to jump up onto the sitting room chairs at night (if she can find one without another dog already on it!) and is looking very settled and domesticated.

24 th Jan. Breakthrough! Martin took Joy to Dons to collect a trailer load of bales and although Dons daughter and family and two of her dogs (one of whom is Joys son) were there, she played in the yard with them and then jumped straight into the tractor to go home as soon as Martin called her.

Although I was initially a little unsure about Martin taking her back with him, I'm sure now that this was the right way to approach it as it would have been very traumatic for her to just cut off from her old life. This way she has been able to see that things have changed there and that Don and the others are no longer there and gradually withdraw herself emotionally from her old home farm as she settles in with us and our dogs.

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Conclusion

I have been absolutely delighted with the way Joy has come out of herself.

To see such a profound change in such a short time was quite amazing and visitors who came within 3 weeks of Joy's arrival thought she was our original collie dog!

She is very happy wandering about the farm yard and likes nothing more than to ride in the tractor or the back of the Landrover and will sit in there quite happily watching the world go by. She has also had several more reunions with the rest of Dons dogs at the farm when we have been loading trailers with bales of hay and silage and she still seems much happier to leave them and come home when it is time to go.

She has found her voice in no uncertain terms and has started to play with toys, lark about with the other dogs on walks, is losing weight, getting fitter and more athletic and generally looks and behaves several years younger than she is.

Her eyes have also cleared-up, she is totally moved onto a raw diet and her breath and teeth are steadily improving.

We have since found out that she bred one litter 4 years ago and has not been spayed but as we are able to keep our dogs under supervision and do not have any entire dogs, we are happy to leave her entire too rather than put an older dog through the trauma and associated risks of general anaesthesia, unless our vet feels there is a medical reason why she should be spayed.

Unfortunately, Don had his own "language" when he worked his dogs and no one knows what it was. There may not be an opportunity to re-train her to more standard commands as Joy is so well-trained and obedient that she won't make the first move without being told to and so there is no way of linking an action with a new command but we are working on it !

In the meantime, she is living up to her name and is an absolute joy to have about and I would not be without her.

*** Keep looking as more case studies will be added ***

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