We’ve adopted a dog! Didn’t want to say too soon in case it didn’t work out, and it almost didn’t, but, he’s part of the family now. So, meet Rex, he’s a 10 year old “fully loaded” Alsation dog……

Rex’s owner died in February following a fall. His family couldn’t take him, they just didn’t have room. Rex continued to live in the courtyard of his owners house on his own with a visit from a neighbour once a day for food and water. In the hope that they could find someone to take Rex on they contacted the Hope Association who put him on their website, and that’s how Rex found us.

Backing up a bit – This is Big Jess the last dog we owned. We had her from 18 months old. We’d always had dogs, but Big Jess was a special dog, in my mind, the best dog that ever walked the face of the earth. You could take her anywhere she was so well behaved. You could leave her sat somewhere while you went in a shop, come back 20 minutes later, she’d still be there waiting patiently. Only difference being that she’d have gathered a bunch of admirers who’d insisit on telling you how fabulous she was, as if you didn’t already know. She was 13 when we lost her. I didn’t think I’d ever have a dog again. That was well over 10 years ago. I still think of her sometimes.

Since we’ve been in France we’ve looked after peoples dogs while they’ve been away. There was Weetabix the adorable Fauve Basset Bretagne, she stayed for a couple of weeks. She was a little darling, we missed her when she went back. Then there was Chabal (say Shabal), he stayed with us for two months. What a character! Such a positive energy to have around. He was great company, though he destroyed Carla’s garden. After two months we were really sorry to see him go. We talked about getting a dog, even went to the dogs home in Limoges. I believed that if we were meant to have another dog, a dog would present itself when the time was right.

Enter Rex – Rex as I first saw him…

So, I’m surfing the local online ad’s looking for nothing in particular when Rex shows up. There was something about him that made me want to make the effort to go and see him. I showed Carla the pictures, she agreed. I contacted Sioban of the Hope Association and organised a rendez vous.

On 13th April we travelled to a village near Melle in the Poitou Charente to meet Rex. We were just going to meet him, that’s all, but as soon as I met him I knew he was the one. We met the owner’s sister, Madame Morin, who’d put him up for adoption. I asked her if she was happy for us to take Rex, I reassured her that we would take good care of him, and that she would be welcome to come and visit him. Madame Morin thought we were suitable, and a short while later Rex left the garden where he had lived for 10 years to start a new life in the Haute Vienne. There were tears all round.

To be continued…