This weekend I was privileged to be accompanied by another SHAK dog as I completed three days of the Hadrian's Wall walk. On Stephen's request I took a young rottweiler/doberman cross called Jetta who had been reported to have dog aggression problems. After a day at the kennels on friday I piled all of Jetta's paraphernalia into my car (dogs don't travel light you know!) and plonked him on Andrew's knee who I was giving a lift home.
On arrival at my flat I let Jetta settle down and then we spent a lovely evening with some friends of mine who were round for dinner. Jetta coped fantastically with meeting new people in a new situation and took a distinct liking to Liam who
insisted on taking Jetta out for his 'wee walks'! I suspect if Liam didn't work full time I may well have lost my walking companion at that point as he'd have been off to Newcastle on the bus!
The next morning Jetta once again took up his position as my wingman in the car and then we headed for our hotel just outside Carlisle. After abandoning the car we set off on the first of three days walking along the wall. We encountered what seemed like numerous new experiences for Jetta all of which he took in his stride. The initial problem was the swing gates that he had to wind his way through at every fence crossing. Initially he was really scared of them and kept trying to get through them at the same time as me and my rucksack which all regular walkers will know is a physical impossibility! By the end of the day however he was trotting straight up to them and looking at me, patiently waiting for me to push them into the middle so he could u-turn through them at high speed - sometimes forgetting that I was still on the other side of the gate on the other end of his lead!
After about an hour of walking (in glorious sunshine I may add, not that it lasted) the 'dreaded' moment arrived as I saw a man heading towards us with his two labs and a spaniel, all off lead. Well, all I can say is, if Jetta is dog aggressive, then
so am I! The four of them were having a good gamble around each other, sniffing and playing and I suspect there may even have been a bit of eyelash batting between Jetta and the girl spaniel...
The rest of the day (ten miles walking) passed really well with Jetta never running out of energy and his tail constantly wagging. He proved himself to be a loving, friendly, attentive dog with everyone we met. In fact my only complaint would be we had to keep stopping when we passed people as they all kept asking about him, wanting to pat him and commenting on how handsome he is.
On arrival at our hotel (the very dog and owner friendly Walfoot Hotel) I felt confident enough in Jetta to leave him in the room unattended whilst I went down for dinner. On my return I found him sleeping on his blanket behind the door with nothing disturbed - and no warm sleeping dog shaped patch on my bed! Jetta succeeded in charming Nigel the owner of the hotel as well - I thought I was going to lose Jetta again there too but unfortunately Nigel's two labs would probably have something to say about that.
Day two saw us completing a colossal nineteen miles which he once again took in his stride albeit I'm sure the looks during the last half an hour were asking me if there wasn't a bus we could catch! During the day I decided to see what else this intelligent puppy could learn so he's mastered the art of drinking out of a water bottle (invaluable if you do a lot of walking!), indicating when he wanted water by stopping and looking at my rucksack and climbing over stone stiles. Unfortunately the little wooden stiles were too much for him leaving me to practise my weight lifting (never easy when the 'weight' is wriggling) and he didn't approve of where we stopped for lunch, The Greyhound Inn, which I think he felt should have been called the Doberweiller!
Day three started with my alarm going, the TV going on, Jetta lifting his head...and then putting it straight back down again! As soon as his lead appeared though he was raring to go again - far more so than I was. Unfortunately we lost the weather this time and proceeded to do six, hard miles in the rain before 'we' decided enough was enough and headed home without completing the last seven.
Jetta has done himself nothing but proud this weekend. As I said, he's encountered numerous new experiences, tens of dogs and even more people without batting an eyelid. In fact, I'm not even sure if he can bark! He even tolerated a bath when we got home today without me having to put a hand on him other than to wash out the shampoo. He's a fantastic little dog who is incredibly affectionate and impeccably behaved (after a bit of work with sheep!) and deserves a great home. He really is a little gem and whoever takes him will be just as lucky as he is.