Ali's Story

 

Ali hound came to live with us in April 2013, she travelled very well in her crate during the five hour journey home, stopping every hour and a half to let her have a comfort break and to reassure her.

 

She settled in to her new home quickly, sleeping in her crate at night in our bedroom. As she is an only dog and had come from the welfare pack, she was used to having company at all times.

We knew we had to become her pack.

 

Ali was very food intensive when she first arrived, and would be after anything going or left unguarded. Being an only hound we feed her when we eat, so she feels she eats with the rest of her pack, and now we have to call her from the sofa for dinner. (Still would not trust her with the Sunday roast) and she is well behaved at meal times and knows she just has to sit and look cute for the leftovers.

 

Around home she is a good house hound, we can leave her for two hours in her crate.

 

She will bring her ball to play and enjoys interacting with the whole family, she will keep herself entertained chewing on a toy or recycling an old cardboard box she has been given. Other times she is content to curl up on the sofa and sleep, or cuddle.

 

Ali hound is a joy to walk with, she is polite and social with all other dogs and people, she always greets other dogs carefully before the play starts, but when it starts she really shows what a foxhound is about. Ali is very fast and can keep it up all day.

 

It’s not unusual for a Labrador or a Hungarian Vizla to get tired and to just stand and watch as Ali runs a figure of eight around them. She has doggie friends ranging in size from Ralph the King Dane to Molly the Yorkie cross Chihuahua. She adjusts her play depending on the dog she is with, hard and fast with the young and fit, slow and gentle with the small and old. We are normally out for two hours on her main walk every day. Ali has fairly good recall, and comes to a dog whistle from longer ranges, and comes running back to rejoin her family.

 

The guidance and advice given to us by Foxhound Welfare UK has been invaluable in the successful rehoming of Ali.

From the first conversation with Jackie Wallace to going out walking with Emma Turner, and finally walking with Jackie and all the hounds in need, gave us a good understanding of what we were taking on.

 

Every minute spent with Ali has been worthwhile; we have a fantastic addition to the family.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Chairman's Story

 

On the 14th of February 2011 two hounds came in from rescue in Ireland they had been in a rescue there since December 2010.

They both had skin problems, Cromwell, sadly was in a worse state then chairman.

Cromwell couldn’t walk as his feet were so bad, he also had a heart problem. sadly his mistreatment was too much and he was in pain, we had to let him go.

Chairman was a thin older boy with bite marks over face and ears and chest, his skin needed to be bathed every two days, and we had to administer antibiotics.

After nearly a month of the extra tlc on warm beds and plenty of food, it started to make a difference to his dry spilt skin. He was easy to house train and was a dream on lead, got on well with other hounds.

 

Care for Chairman was mainly gaining trust. He travelled really well and enjoyed just watching the world go by in the front seat of the van. In the summer of 2011 he was picked to be the main hound in a film ‘Private Peaceful’. we were on set for the month of filming and he was shy with some of the act ors and loved others.

Chairman is my second foxhound and had been living with me and my blind 11 year old cocker spaniel since July 2013. He settled in straight away and is such a loving and placid boy and a real gentleman. He loves to hunt in the woods barking and singing at the top of his voice and charging through the undergrowth. Like all hounds, he will eat anything that is offered and when not eating or hunting will happily snooze on which ever sofa takes his fancy. The hard work put in by Foxhound Welfare and Jackie in retraining him has resulted in a healthy happy hound who is affectionate, sociable and a joy to live with.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Crossword's Story

 

Even after this the hound managed to run off. They then spent the next four hours trying to find him.

 

After finding him, it was clear that he was in a bad way. Both physically and mentally his sprit had been truly broken.

 

They got him into a stable and had called the vet.

 

To get near this lad, they had to use a blow dart to sedate him. They set his broken legs and cleaned his wounds, one of which was invested with maggots.

 

They had to carry on sedating him to get near him, while this treatment continued.

 

Here in the UK we worked hard to raise the funds needed to be able to go and collect him. We were unable to use a dog transporter to bring him across for his safety and theirs. Three weeks later we had the £600 we needed to bring him and 15 other dogs over which Jackie agreed to transport to another UK rescue.

 

The ferry trip over to Ireland went well. We met with the volunteers from the rescue who had him in the back of a horse box. He was like a wild horse, he felt cornered and one of the volunteers had been bitten. The volunteer then handed the lead over to Jackie while he nursed his bite wound. Crossword was walked around with no response to his behaviour. He just didn’t engage with him at all, slowly he settled a little and was placed in the back of the van. The other dogs were loaded and we went back to the ferry port.

 

On the drive back all the others came out for toilet stops but not Crossword.

 

Finally, once home, and after a 28 hour round trip, Jackie settled her other hounds. The back of the van was opened and the other hounds were used to encourage Crossword to come out, which after ten minutes he did. Doors were left open and everyone else came into the house, apart from Crossword. Tea time came and went and he was still outside. It was now starting to get dark, the others were put in the sitting room. A trail of chicken was laid to lead him towards a cage in the kitchen.

As Jackie left the kitchen Crossword ran in, wetting himself as he did so.

He ran into the cage and sat facing the wall. Jackie walked slowly in without eye contact and shut the door. Even with this he continued to wet himself. He was left alone to watch how the others interacted with Jackie. The following morning he had still not eaten. He would run outside until Jackie went out and then would run inside.

Sometimes people are too keen to force themselves onto animals. It has be learnt through watching dogs and especially Hounds.

When in the cage Crossword wasn’t touched or his space invaded, this was his safe place. By day three he had started to eat but only when left, this went on for four weeks. After the fourth week changes became more visible, he never had a problem with the other hounds, after all it wasn’t a dog that had caused him to be this way it was people. After six weeks Crossword started to interact with Jackie, only when it wasn’t forced on him and there was no eye contact, he would sit behind her and sniff her, not responding to this helped again his confidence.

 

At this point Jackie was the only one he trusted along with the other hounds. After nine weeks Crossword had started to come to a understanding if at any point he was unhappy he would freeze, this included being touched and hands would be taken off. Then after 12 weeks he had enough trust to be walked with the others, however if he was worried at all about anything he would freeze.

 

He soon learnt that he would not be put a situation that would be harmful.

 

By Christmas, five months later, he had been into the vets and started his vaccinations and the same rules applied if he froze hands were taken off!

 

This boy took 16 months of hard work to gain and rebuild his trust in humans!

 

Crossword's New Home

 

About a year ago I popped into my local pets at home store to pick up a new lead for my mum's dog. While in there I came across Jackie Wallace from Foxhound Welfare UK with some of her rescues needing homes .....

One of them immediately caught my eye and when I started chatting to Jackie and she told me his “story “ my heart was

stolen !

This beautiful boy had been thrown from a vehicle with legs bound and had clearly had a very traumatic life. He ended up with Jackie and from what she tells me he was the most mentally scarred hound she had ever encountered!

After 18 months of her dedicated rehabilitation and love he caught my eye and heart!

This hound was going to need a lot of love, patience and understanding and she emphasised that he may not be suitable for my circumstances . Anyway not to be put off I met with Jackie over the following 2 months on a weekly basis to walk crossword and introduce him to my 3 other dogs ( mini daxis ). Well the more I walked him the more I just knew I wanted him in my family. My oldest son came to walk him too as it was this “young male adult “ group that crossword was most wary of and we needed to make sure he was ok with him. All was good and I was to have crossword for a trial period to see how he settled .....He never returned, as he immediately fitted right in.

 

At first, he had a large crate for night time and while I was out but quickly was able to be left on his “sofa”. He is incredibly gentle with the small dogs and even when one of them had puppies he was a gent. He is very quiet in the house only barking when I get the leads out for walks! Is very loving and enjoys his home comforts and his food! He is well known in the village I live in and people often stop and chat and make a fuss over him.

 

I am truly blessed to have this gorgeous boy and hope to give him many happy years with us x

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Ella's Story

 

We adopted Ella last August. She came from a Scottish rescue, they had got her from a Pound and didn’t have much information on her. They aged her at 3 years, reckoned she had had a litter and that’s all we know about her. Her basic commands were more or less non-existent. Whilst researching the breed I came across Foxhound Welfare, it was a brilliant find.

In the past we have had two rescue Border Collies so having a Foxhound was very different. I contacted Foxhound Welfare regarding how we could work towards letting her off the lead. Our collies were very rarely on the lead so this was something new for us. Of course reading up on the breed we began to understand that it might not happen.

Jackie responded with advice on working on her recall, using a long line with plenty of treats. She suggested reading “when pigs fly” to help understand the breed that is as tunnelled as a scent hound and rethink our training which would be different from the Border Collies.

 

It’s seven months on and she is doing great, we are still working on her recall which is still a bit of hit and miss! It’s good to know that there is expert advice just an email away.

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

 

Gadget's Story

 

Gadget in foster

Whilst in foster with gadget we worked on her weight and her nervousness of indoor spaces. This included taking her into different halls for training classes and letting her off lead to wander round the hall .

 

With time and over some weeks the amount of time it took her to come back for a treat decreased. She became comfortable with being indoors and began to show her cheeky nature.

 

Since Gadget came to live with us over a year ago now, she has settled in to our home and lives without any problems at all. She is so good in the house and loves to play with our terrier and enjoys lots of adventures around the farm with our horses. Foxhound Welfare had done a great job re-training Gadget and it was great to see her in a foster home when we initially met her. It made the whole transition in to our home very easy. I would highly recommend adopting a hound through Foxhound Welfare as they offer lots of support and help to make re-homing a foxhound easy.

 

We wouldn’t be without our Gadget now - THANK YOU FOXHOUND WELFARE,

 

Kate and Jamie

 

Gadget and her Rescue

Gadget was one of two welsh foxhounds which came in from Stoke On Trent pound.

Found very thin and full of sores she was 14kg under weight, the points between the pin bones weren’t very far coming through her coat. you could see her shoulder blades and spine she had sores on her feet, gadget was nervous to start with, she would sit and watch the world, she was also nervous about being inside new enclosed buildings.

 

She walked very well on lead and was tested with children and cats once we had gained her trust, she was later tested off lead and after the first free run she very quick to come back.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Gracie's Story

 

Gracie's New Home

Our beautiful hound is the ever graceful Gracie. She is an old girl who was rescued from an Irish pound by the foxhound welfare.

 

Just seeing the scars on her nose and her lack of back teeth (all but 1 of her back teeth were removed after being rescued as they were in such a terrible state she couldn’t eat) you just know she’s had a hard life. Given everything life has thrown at her we couldn’t ask for a better, more loving hound. She is an absolute sweetheart who loves everyone she meets, cuddles and eating the chickens food!. We thank the foxhound welfare for allowing Gracie to be part of our lives as we couldn’t imagine our family without her.

 

Jackie and Emma at the welfare have given us all the knowledge and support we could possibly need and we thank them so much as without them we wouldn’t have our Gracie.

 

Gracie's Beginnings

Gracie came into us after being rescued from a lock up with a younger male dog. Once within rescue both hounds were checked by the vet. The male had been shot in the head. Gracie had been found very thin. Gracie’s mouth was rotten, her back teeth had been damaged and the poor girl couldn’t eat much food, at16kg she was around 6kg lighter then she should have been. She was booked into the vets to have a much needed dental treatment, she was also neutered. Her teeth were is such bad state most of them fell out with little forcing, she had over 30 teeth removed. After treatment, Gracie became a different dog, she would play and carry around her favourite toy and loved to play with the other hounds, but also loved to mother them.

 

She took a bit little longer to house train, but was very well behaved with children, cats, chickens and adults, Gracie’s worst habit was climbing up gently when unsure and wanted re-assurance.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Grateful's Story

 

We’ve had our hound ‘Grateful’ for about 18 months now and we love her too bits! It’s not easy taking on a rescue as you’re not always sure of their history but foxhound welfare are really supportive and always there for advice if you need it. Hounds are such loving, friendly amazing dogs and ‘Grateful’ fits in and is amazing with my other dogs. Grateful does run around at home off the lead and loves to run flat out up and down our field but she can occasionally wander but does comes back!

 

Foxhound welfare do an amazing job with all their hounds before they’re re-homed but you have to remember that it still takes quite a while for them to settle in. In my experience hounds are determined and strong minded but that’s what makes them so

 

adorable and a breed of their own. I absolutely love Grateful and I’m so lucky to have her in my life....

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Lily's Story

 

I first came across the Foxhound Welfare UK website in December of 2010, after searching online for anything relating to Foxhounds, as we had by this time adopted three - 2 males and a female. I fired off an email to the lady that runs the welfare, Jackie Wallace, not really knowing what to expect.

 

I received a response very quickly and spoke to Jackie very soon after - it was great to speak to another mad Foxhound lover!! :) After that, I checked the website on a daily basis (and still do!) to see what hounds were available for re-homing.

 

In the early part of 2011, Jackie rescued a female hound from Ireland and she had been named Dormouse. “Perfect” I thought to myself - another female to even out the male: female ratio in our household. Now I had to work out how to convince the “other half”. After speaking to Jackie about Dormouse on several occasions, I devised a cunning plan - I would tell my husband that we would be fostering Dormouse until a new home was found for her. Dormouse (now renamed Lily) came to live with us on the 31 May 2011. By this time I had managed to convince my husband to let us adopt her and so Lily became part of our pack.

 

Lily soon settled and was quite comical in some of her facial expressions. Especially if there was food around, as she had this habit of cocking her head to one side whilst licking her lips - you had to see it to see how comical she looked. Shortly after Lily came to live with us, I had a major operation and she became my shadow and ultimately I became “her human”. Lily loved to play with our youngest male and they became best of friends.

 

We are very lucky to live near an area of forest where we walk the hounds. On one of our walks, Lily decided to chase after some deer and spent the night in the forest - whilst we waited and waited in the car park!

 

I must have been on the ‘phone to Jackie several times and at one point, Jackie offered to travel down from her home (over 2 hrs away) to come and help look for Lily. Thankfully, Lily returned the following morning and slept most of the next two days!!

 

Sadly, Lily was diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2013 and after several discussions with our vet and the specialist, we decided to have the tumour removed. The support that we received from Jackie and the welfare family was overwhelming. Lily made a full recovery and after follow up appointment with the specialist, we were given the news that Lily should be in the 50% of dogs that live a normal life span. It was great to see Lily back to her cheeky, lovable self.

 

In the August, we noticed Lily had started coughing and our worst fears were confirmed, the cancer had come back. We lost Lily shortly after in the September.

 

Life with Foxhounds can be challenging and the more that you put in, the more you get out. I will never forget Lily and how she brightened up the lives of all those she met.