Rescue Dogs

This morning I was pottering about, half listening to Radio Four as I had breakfast, made another cup of tea, that type of thing, when I heard someone talking about her rescue dog, how he’d helped her during a really difficult period when she’d struggled with burnout from work and her marriage disintegrating which led to depression and lack of sleep. How she'd never been much of a walker, but having to get up every day to walk this poor dog, who was afraid of everything, gave her a purpose. It helped clear her head of the troublesome thoughts that plagued her all the time. She had to focus on the Bosnian rescue dog, who was so terrified of people and other dogs, she had to walk him on a lead, somewhere really quiet. She didn't say how hard this was, but having a very nervy dog myself, I can understand the huge amount of work involved with a dog this frightened. It is not to be underestimated. And when you're feeling terrible yourself - well, hats off to her. I wouldn't have been able to do it.

But she is evidently made of tougher stuff. Gradually, she and the dog started looking forward to their walks, and with the help of psychotherapy and managing herself, her sleep and remembering to eat regularly, life wasn't as terrible as it had been. The dog's tail started coming up - a sign that she was happier. After a long while, she was able to let the dog off the lead, and several years on, she’s a different dog. Still cautious and wary, but much happier. More confident. She adopted another foreign Bosnian dog who was as uncomplicated as her first one was complex.

She moved from the wilds of Essex to London, to be nearer loved ones, and wondered how they would both cope. Would they long for the quiet fields of Essex? How would the nervous dog cope? Initially she was wary, but after a while she settled down, and is enjoying the acres of roaming that Hampstead Heath provides, embracing the change. Learning to be more sociable.

The speaker turned out to be the novelist and journalist, Jo Jo Moyes. She said that maybe she has lessons to learn from her nervous dog. Maybe she does, but I thought, they’re called rescue dogs because we rescue them. But really, as everyone knows who has one, they rescue us.