I heart my pet – Freya 10

It would be hard for regular blog readers to have not realised I adore my woofer. She was a rescue from Dogs Trust, she had been stray and severely underweight. She fitted in here so fast, and although we have only been in her life since October 2013 she is now utterly irreplaceable.

She loves attention, and being a nuisance to the neighbours cats, and running on the muddy field, and (weirdly) the vets. Most dogs dislike posties and vets, not Freya – she hugs them – paws on to their tummies and wagging her tail super fast with her head squashing into them in a please please stroke me kind of way.

She is patient and kind and loving and daft. That’s right, daft, she will scratch her nose and growl at her paws if she can’t scratch that itch. If her water or food bowls are empty she picks them up in her teeth, running with it, and a cheeky look in her eyes.

She plays a bit rough with me, but is so gentle with my boys, if she thinks she’s hurt them she just stops and moves away. Just after this photo my son said “ouch” and Freya let go and laid down, it wasn’t even her fault, my son was just moaning about tired arms from playing tug-o-war with silly pup.

Every night Freya waits for everyone to go to bed, then she checks things are right, and that the kids are ok before she comes in to our room and sleeps on her bed on our floor. She did have her bed downstairs but she can’t sleep alone, she just cries and paces about because of her abandonment issues. Poor woofer has been in our room or on Jen’s bed every night since then. She can’t get on D’s bed though, she is actually scared of heights and D has the top bunk. We got her up there once, but she got so upset that I had to climb up and plead with her until she came close enough for me to pick her up. She was wimpering for about ten minutes afterwards too.

I have mental health and anxiety issues, and so does Freya. I help her and she helps me. She officially has separation anxiety but our vet said she’s the worse case of it they’ve ever seen. She can be totally calm, happy and relaxed, then I step into the garden and she will be wimpering, licking the glass in the back door, scratching desperately at the door handle and howling. All because someone kicked her out. Please, please, please if you don’t want a pet for any reason give them to a new home, don’t abandon pets. Freya nearly died, extremely thin, and mentally tormented, all because she wasn’t wanted.

I adore Freya, she is my shadow, and I am hers. She hides under my duvet during storms. She hugs up to me when I am unwell. She pounces like a kitten. She absolutely loves the school run walk because she gets strokes and hugs from other children and parents. She loves sitting in my car when I need to go out. She only growls or snaps at other dogs, and that’s a fear thing. She hates walkies in the rain. But she adores us back I hope!

She is my friend 🙂
And I care about her like family. She’s like a child to me. I look after her, and I know when she is off colour. I make sure she hasn’t got fleas or worms, I keep an eye on her weight, we “pop in” to our vets just because she sees them as friends. I scratch her itches when she can’t reach them. I wash her paws after walks. I care about her, and she cares about us.

From Pet Health Info

Our study of over 2,000 UK pet owners has revealed that more than three quarters (77%) believe their pet’s health is as important as or more important than their own.
16% claim to visit their vet more than their own doctor according to the research, suggesting that owners are taking on board messages to seek expert healthcare advice for their pets.
The study marks the launch of our new website and the second year of our ‘I Heart My Pet’ campaign. The campaign is designed to encourage owners to seek expert preventative healthcare advice for their animals and was created in response to NOAH figures which show that despite our love for our pets, many owners neglect to take preventative healthcare measures such as vaccination and worming.

More of the article here.

If I won first prize I will be using some of the Amazon voucher to send toys and treats to Freya’s old kennel buddies at the dogs trust.

This is my entry into the I heart my pet blogger competition. Pssst, I didn’t win, but everything I wrote was heartfelt, so the post stays.