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Ben

 

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Ben is 6 year old castrated male who has come into us with a chronic skin condition, resulting in significant hair loss.  It is possible his coat will not grow back in the most seriously affected areas.  This poor chap has been left to suffer for a number of years without veterinary help.  Our vets have now been treating Ben for a number of weeks and his skin has vastly improved.

Ben will need ongoing veterinary treatment for some time to come and may always need medical aid to keep his condition under control.  Therefore Ben will go out on assisted adoption, this means that DGSDR will pay for any medication with regards to his skin condition.

Ben has been through a lot in his life but remains very sweet natured, playful and a joy to know.  He is currently residing in kennels but is to go into a foster home shortly where he can be fully assessed. 

Update from his foster home:

"A gorgeous gentleman, cheeky sense of humour, loves to give you the run around, but pocket full of treats soon sorts that out, firm favourite here with us, but prefers his own company with us humans, wants all attention on him, but with education might accept a companion. He is not keen on cats."

If you think you can offer this special boy his forever home and help him on his road to recovery please contact us.

Below is an update from Ben’s fosterers: “Just a quick note to let you know that Ben is settling in very well. He has been well trained by his previous carers to respond to "Sit" and "Lie down" - which is very useful. He is eating and playing well in the day and sleeping well at night. These photos were taken this morning on our walk in our local woods two minutes walk away from our home. We'll keep you in touch regularly.”

A further update:

"Ben has made himself very much at home!  He soon picked up on our routines and "house rules" and seems very happy and settled.  We took him back to the vets this morning for another weigh-in, and we're pleased to report that he has gained another 1.1 kg since coming to stay with us.  Under the vet’s guidance, we are now starting to reduce the steroid treatment in the hope of getting him completely off them very soon."

The following is an update from Ben’s fosterers on 3rd May 2011.

Ben has been off the steroids now for nearly 3 weeks, and down to just 1 antihistamine per day. The skin problem doesn't seem to bother him at all, and the patch on his back is hardly visible now. His belly is still quite bare, and I don't think this will ever recover to how it should be. But what he may lack in the looks department, he certainly makes up for with bucket loads of character and cheekiness!

Ben is now in his new home.

We have received this update on Ben.

“Here are some photos of Ben with Summer who came to stay for the weekend (she has stayed before with Ben) and Ice, who is my son and partner's Jack Russell, who is now 12 weeks old. Ice keeps Ben on his paws. They play non-stop and enjoy their walks together as well as sharing bones and even food. Ben is brilliant at tracking and I will be furthering some training with him regarding this. He loves his long walks and is getting better with other dogs and people on our travels.
He is such a loving dog and is well settled living here.”

Some more pictures of Ben enjoying his new life:

 

An update from Ben’s owner:

"Ben and Ice are a pair of characters together and are also known as “Double Trouble”. The photos show Ben and Ice munching on their bones and having a sleep after a good walk

They sit side by side in the kitchen waiting for me to serve their food. I make them wait until I have put the food and milk in their dishes and then I sort out my own food before I say "GO" and the pair of them go straight to their own dishes.

Ben does love his comforts and likes nothing more than to be invited onto the settee or my bed most nights. He loves going out in the car and on walks and is still besotted with my son, who doesn't even live at home with us. The mere mention of my son's name and Ben is waiting at the front door in a matter of seconds. Ice had stayed overnight (as he does one or two nights some weeks) and I could hear them running about from the big bedroom and into the spare room. I stood at the bottom of the stairs and called them both. Ben arrived at the top of the stairs and just stood there. A few seconds later Ice arrived with one of my husband’s socks in his mouth. Ice looked up at Ben, then me, then Ben again and then dropped the sock and they both stood there looking at me all innocent. I wish I had got that on video. The expression on both their faces were priceless. You have to look hard to see the sock, which is at Ice's paws as the sock is black and so is the colour of my stair carpet..

I am really lucky to have Ben and he truly is a lovely dog, although the postman might not always thinks so!  I thank the Rescue for letting me adopt Ben."

 

A further update on Ben who is a very busy boy:

“The photo (below) is of Ben after he had done two hours training at my Dog Psychology Course yesterday. Ben just looks so cute and chilled out. In fact he is a right LAZY BONES. I also took Ice with us, who was as equally shattered. Although Ben has been at the course before, he did some scent work, agility and some more lead work yesterday. Ben has never done agility work since he has been with me, but he was brilliant at it. I am thinking of getting some agility poles for the garden so that Ben and Ice can have some extra fun. As you know he loves tracking, so the scent work was great for him. Little Ice had never been before, but he did the same work as Ben and they both had a great time. I was really pleased with them both. As you will see Ben has a new bed. His bed is now in the bedroom, the one from the bedroom is now in the car and the one from the car is now in the bin. He’s now curled up next to me on the settee. Bless him, he really is a loving dog.”

 

The following photos of Ben and Ice were taken on Irvine Shore, Scotland on Tuesday 14th February 2012.

They had two hours of great fun and Ben had to drag the biggest stick he could find out of the sea!

 

May 2012: Ben enjoying his walk in the woods looking for the stick thrown by his owner: