Every dog deserves a happy home
Success stories
Cody
"I wouldn't of said I was necessarily a Dog person....That was until January 2009.
In December 2006 me and my girlfriend of 11 years Sally bought a small house in our Home town of Brentwood in Essex. The house was on quite a large plot of land and we spent the next 18 months planning and building an extension to make our perfect home. We got married on the 5th September 2008 at which point the house work had almost been completed. When we returned from Honeymoon we decided to get a dog to keep us company in our new home. My wife’s parents have two Long Haired Jack Russell Terriers (Mille & Beth) and although I thought i preferred bigger dogs we decided to get a Jack as well. We began looking in local papers and online for Breeders for our new family member but stumbled across a website called www.dogpages.co.uk, this had listings for rescue dogs across the country. I was sceptical at first thinking a Rescue Dog could bring all manor of problems, plus we probably wouldn’t find something to suit us.
After 15 mins of Surfing I was literally SHOCKED at the sheer number of Abandoned and unwanted Pets looking for a home. Flicking through a few of the more recent dogs listed on the site ranging from Yorkies to Mastiffs we were amazed at the variety. I simply couldn’t believe how many abandoned dogs there were that needed homes, some of the stories of abuse that went with the rescue dogs were sickening. After surfing for a while we came across a Young Parson jack Russell Terrier listed in the South East section (handy as we live in Essex). His name was Cody and he was approximately 10 months old, unfortunately he had been abused by his previous owners resulting in him having two broken back legs. The description only had a small picture of Cody but he had a gorgeous face, Sally loved him immediately.
We decided to call the rescue centre “Wagtails” and noticed that they were actually based in Brentwood as well. Corrine one of the volunteers at Wagtails answered the phone and knew all about Cody. She explained that Cody had one badly fractured back leg and one broken that was held in place with metal pins. A Kind Vet at Best Friends in Shenfield has offered to do the surgery for Cody a few weeks ago. Corrine said the vet thinks Cody will walk with a limp for the rest of his life but other than this he is a healthy young boy.
We decided that we had found our dog, Wagtails needed to do a home visit before we could begin the adoption process. This is so they know that Cody is going to a suitable home and wont be subjected to the abuse he suffered under his previous owners. Later that week It was time for our visit. It was actually Corrine that came round and she was very personable, she checked our garden was secure and chatted to us about our work commitments. She decided that we were a suitable candidate and we were able to collect Cody from his "foster" home in Hertfordshire the following week.
So a rainy Monday evening in January Sally and I headed to Hertfordshire to meet our Dog. We arrived at the Foster home and were welcomed by three dogs (a Westie, a Cocker Spaniel and CODY). Cody with his shaved back leg was very nervous and backed off into the corner but began to warm to us within 10 minutes or so. We thanked the Foster Family for there hospitality and headed off on our Journey home with an extra passenger.
Over the following weeks Cody grew in confidence as he learned our routine. He was so affectionate and just wanted to cuddle you and be close to human contact....this AMAZED me bearing in mind what he had been through in the past. After two weeks had passed Corrine visited us again to make sure everything so OK and we were happy to officially adopt Cody. We completed the adoption papers and paid a donation/adoption fee to Wagtails. This money goes towards the boarding cost and vet fees that Wagtails incur for the numerous rescue dogs they take in. So hopefully this donation will go towards helping another dog in need.
To be honest I found the whole process so easy, Cody was house trained all ready and had none of the "issues" I was expecting to inherit with a rescue dog. I thought why doesn’t every person looking for a dog get a Rescue!!
Cody did indeed walk with a limp and couldn’t go on long walks. Corrine said we need to build his strength up slowly in his legs, she also suggested that we take him to a vet that did the initial surgery for a check after a month or two. As Wagtails were based in Brentwood luckily the vets (Best Friends in Shenfield) were just down the road from us.
We built his walks up gradually from 5, 10 and 15 mins a time until he could walk happily for in excess of half an hour. We noticed that Cody was really effected by the Cold weather (probably due to metal in his leg) so we bought him a jacket. After 3 months had passed we took him back to Best Friends Vets, the nurse behind the counter recognised him immediately... apparently he was a favourite among the nurses. She couldn’t believe it was the same dog his limp had almost completely disappeared and he had built up a good deal of muscle in his leg. She explained that when he was initially brought in with the injury they weren’t sure if he would eventually lose the leg due to muscle wastage.
Over the following year his strength and confidence grew and grew. Now the limp is gone completely and only ever comes back in the very cold weather. Stronger Cody loves going for long walks, playing games and especially likes sleeping in front of our Log Burning fire.
At night he sleeps in a fleece bed down by the side of our bed, he literally sleeps from when we go to bed until we get up in the morning and we don’t hear a peep out of him.
It has been magical watching him grow into the dog he is today. Everyone who meets Cody loves him, he is good with kids, dogs and even with Cats. Cody is so happy to see you when you come home even if you have been out for just 10 minutes. The love and effort we put in gets returned 10 fold by him. Getting a rescue dog is one of the best decision I have ever made in my entire life. We are looking forward to many more happy years with our Boy.
The work and thankless job that rescues like Wagtails do tends to go unnoticed. I cannot thank you enough for what you do and the K9 lives you save... Without your efforts we wouldn’t have Cody in our lives."
Video of Cody
If you have a Wagtails dog and would like to share their story with others then we would love to hear from you! Please send a photo of your dog and an update on their story to wagtailsrescue@hotmail.co.uk
