I recently rescued a little spaniel.
She was advertised on Facebook as "Springer spaniel bitch 18 months. £200. Want rid of it as soon as possible".
Obviously everyone jumped on the post on FB saying "is she stolen?" etc. and the lad selling her removed the post within a couple of minutes of placing it.
I also thought that she could be stolen but managed to get in touch with the young lad selling her "for his uncle". Whether I did the right thing or not, I do not know but my theory was to just go and get her out of there and then try to find out if she was stolen etc.
Anyway I went and got her and speaking to the young lad and his uncle, it was quite apparent that they had indeed had her from a puppy. They use terriers and lurchers for rabbiting and thought a spaniel would be handy to flush the rabbits for the lurchers. Anyway they realised that this wasn't going to work and decided to sell her.
The little girl (we have named Daisy) was covered in fleas, stank to high heaven and her tail was really badly damaged. She had been tied up by her back leg with a piece of wire which her leg had grown around.
I have had her for about 6 weeks now. The vets have removed the wire from her leg and were amazed by the lack of damage it has caused. She has had to have her tail amutated due to the damage and that has now healed beautifully. Despited everything she has been through she is amazingly friendly. She loves everyone and just wants to be touched. She is a real live-wire and does not stop for a second, but she is ever so good. She picks things up really quickly and is very trustworthy. She has had a couple of 'accidents' involving the chickens. On two occations the chicken have flown out of their pen and she has duely brought me the rather unimpressed looking hen (completely undamaged!). She is fine in the field with the sheep, fine with the cat, fine with other dogs, fine in the car etc etc.
So now that I know that she is happy and healthy it is time to find her her forever home. I am in no hurry; my priority is finding exactly the right home for her.
While they said she was a Springer, she is small and has very cocker-ish mannerisms and I suspect that she is more likely to be a sproker. Obviously she has no papers.
With some training she could make a nice beating dog. Her recall is fantastic and we have just started on the stop whistle.
She could also be a fab little agility dog, but I think that she would excel at some sort of detection work. She has a fab nose and loves sniffing things out. If anyone knows of anyone who could give this little girl the love she deserves, please could you messgae me?
She is such a love bug that it is difficult to get a picture of her as she's always stuck to my legs. I have put a couple belwo, but will try to get a better pic soon!