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Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD

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Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD Empty Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD

Post by FriendsOfTheAnimalsRCT Mon Dec 06, 2010 4:00 pm

Meet Henry, a 6+ year old GSD cross Border Collie (with possibly a bit of St Bernard). Henry has a bit of a sad tale to tell but he is a lovely boy none the less so please take the time to read about him.

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD Photo-5-1

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD Photo-1-1

Henry was found in a flat with his dead owner and the owner had been dead for at least five weeks. Meaning that poor Henry here had been stuck in that flat for five weeks plus, with his deceased owner.
He then had the sudden shock of lots of police and medics coming into his house which must have really frightened Henry, causing him to be a very nervous lad when he first arrived with us but I am pleased to say that he is making good progress in his foster home.

In his fosterer’s words: “Henry is a very special boy; huge, gentle, loving, protective, playful and he really gets under your skin. He's very intelligent, as you might expect with his breed mix, he's also sensitive and quite complicated with an incredibly strong personality.”

Henry forms a very strong bond with his humans and can be protective of them and their home, so it is important that his new owners are experienced large dog breed owners. He is an excellent guard beast and barks the place down when anyone knocks on the door but calms down very fast once you let him know it's a friendly visitor.

He lives very happily with his fosterers resident Border Collie cross GSD but he is most definitely top dog which is something that has never happened before with his fosterer’s dog. I would therefore suggest that he could live with another female dog but not a male one. He very much likes to be in charge but at the same time, he doesn't push it or lord over others.

Henry plays nicely with children in the park but due to his size and protectiveness, he must not go to a home with resident children.

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD IMG_0094copy

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD Photo-5

There seem to be a lot of things he's not seen before; water, baths, lifts, hoovers etc. However, with a lot of encouragement by way of treats and cuddles he soon takes all these new challenges in his stride (although he's still not sure about the canal).

He seems to have not been walked much in the recent part of his life, his back legs had horrific muscle wastage which his fosterers are building back up with walks little and often. It also looks likely that he has arthritis in his hips and if he is over walked he will cry from discomfort afterwards. It seems that he was a very overweight boy before he was left to starve for 5 weeks - he walks very flat on his huge paws and was only a little underweight when he arrived but this has put a lot of strain on his joints. I must say though that the improvement in a few short weeks is remarkable as he now plays outside for 30-40 minutes at a time, running, chasing, jumping and fetching. Henry still has a rolling gait but doesn't seem to be in any discomfort from it any more. The vet has high hopes for him.
Apart from these back legs and hips problems which are improving by the day, Henry is in good health. He has been castrated, vaccinated and micro-chipped.

One of the sweetest things about Henry is how amazingly playful he is. If you give him a toy he gambols like a little puppy, throwing it up in the air and catching it. He also likes to kill the post when it arrives so you'll need to put up a little net for it. His favourite toy in the world is your socks and is often found with his snout in the laundry basket looking for more offenders to terrorise. He loves to play chase the person with the ball and then when he has the ball thinks you should chase him too. Seeing that huge, lumbering beast skipping about like a lamb is enough to bring tears to your eyes.

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD Photo-7

There's one part of his personality which needs real understanding. He is a very vocal chap, he grunts, whistles, snorts, purrs and growls pretty much all the time which is just in his nature, however he also growls at you if you approach him to take something (like a sock) that he wants. In my opinion this is merely a way of communicating with you; he's clearly never been told it's wrong and does it in play as well as normal life. This will need careful handling and as he's such a big boy, it can be a bit frightening if you're not experienced. He barks with happiness when you come home too.

He is going to be the most incredibly handsome man with lovely wavy border collie locks but at the moment he looks a little sorry. He'd most likely never had a bath and was unimaginably filthy when he arrived with us. You had to wash your hands after stroking him because your fingers would be black. His long fur was all matted too so he's been clipped from his shoulders down to the tip of his tail. He also has a bald patch on his back, probably due to malnutrition and stress, but this is growing back really fast with decent food, E45 cream and the odd scratch. On that note if you scratch his bald patch in just the right place his back legs go weak with pleasure and he ends up half collapsed on the floor, grunting with happiness.

He is very affectionate and loves to cuddle you. Like other massive, hairy beasts - he thinks he's a lap dog and will try to get on your lap if you're not careful! He likes to rest his big old head on your knee and stare soulfully at you and a scratch behind the ears will elicit wookie-esque noises of contentment. One really heart breaking thing is if you lie to still for too long he will come over and paw at you till you move a bit. We assume this is because of his experience of being with his dead owner for too long. Once you do move he cuddles up to you with genuine concern.

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD Photo-1-2

“I can't tell you how characterful this man is and how much we wish we could keep him. We know it's going to be hard to find him the right home but I promise you he is worth everything you could possibly give him and his owner will be a truly blessed person.
Please consider him.” (Henry’s fosterer)
Henry is on foster in London but we home across the UK.

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD IMG_0162copy

Can you offer this big lad the home he so needs and deserves?

If you're interested in adopting Henry, please read our adoption guidelines and procedure;
http://friendsoftheanimalsrct.org.uk/animalsforadoption.html
Before completing a pre-adoption form;
http://friendsoftheanimalsrct.org.uk/dogadopt.html

If you have any questions then please do ask Smile
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Post by Julie Mon Dec 06, 2010 4:58 pm

gl1 Henry 181
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Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD Empty Re: Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD

Post by minniemoo Tue Dec 07, 2010 10:19 pm

What a beatiful boy love that last pic of him on his armchair! lol! Good luck gorgeous.
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Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD Empty Re: Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD

Post by FriendsOfTheAnimalsRCT Thu Dec 16, 2010 10:15 pm

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Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD Empty Re: Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD

Post by FriendsOfTheAnimalsRCT Wed Jan 19, 2011 7:38 pm

BUMP!
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Post by FriendsOfTheAnimalsRCT Sat Feb 19, 2011 8:28 am

Bumpety1
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Post by mole Sat Feb 19, 2011 10:15 am

Is he on the Oldies website?

love1
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Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD Empty Re: Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD

Post by FriendsOfTheAnimalsRCT Sun Feb 20, 2011 4:44 pm

Yes he has been on since beginning of December.

Can't anyone offer this wonderful boy a home? xx
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Post by FriendsOfTheAnimalsRCT Thu Feb 24, 2011 9:50 pm

Update, 9/12/10

"Henry's back legs and hips seem to be totally fine now, it's a minor miracle. He now stays out for an hour at a time no problem and even comes running with me sometimes (not that I go very far, but still). He's really turned out to be a very energetic boy and bounces round my tiny flat until his big lunchtime walk. He seems so much younger now than when he first arrived and I can really see him as the young (ish) boy that he actually is!

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD IMG_0021copy

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD IMG_0029copy

Update 2/1/11

Henry has had a wonderful Christmas with his foster family travelling around to visit relatives. He's been a good boy with all the dogs and children he has met.

Henry is becoming a really active boy and he enjoys chasing a good stick Smile
IMG_0690.mp4 video by peachweeks - Photobucket

He is also the most loyal and loving boy
IMG_0700.mp4 video by peachweeks - Photobucket

Update 22/2/11

Henry's fosterer says that "he remains one of the most sensitive, deep canines I've ever had the pleasure of getting to know. Whatever lucky person gets to adopt him will be guaranteed a loyal, affectionate, fun, friend for life."

"Henry learns very quickly indeed and his language ability is second to none. Not only can we not say 'walk' we also can't spell it out loud, we also can't say 'go out' 'park' 'lead' 'fetch' etc. We've got to the stage where we make up a nonsense phrase and it can only mean walk, so Darling, shall we put the orange jjuggernaut on the flowerbed?' or whatever and we know we must be talking about walks! Henry loves to play. He plays with tree branches, sticks, balls and even bricks! It's nice to see such a big, stately beast throwing toys around like a little puppy, you can see loads of videos of him playing earlier in this post.

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD IMG_0055copy

Henry has always walked very nicely on the lead for me, but my Husband is a massive softy pushover and Henry knows it, so we bought him a Gentle Leader for the times Myles takes him out. He doesn't like it much but puts up with it valiantly! Henry really loves to play with other dogs in the park. His best friend is a tiny whippetXspaniel and they play chase and fight for hours. She has to run very slowly for him to keep up but she doesn't let on, she's nice like that. Henry has been exemplary with other dogs when off the lead, he has excellent manners when approaching and seems to know when he's overdoing it. However, he does bark at other dogs when he's on the lead. We've been working with distracting him and that's been great but it'll need to be kept up with. Henry's recall is good and he's not one for going to far from you anyway. A few months ago Henry was attacked by an off-lead dog but he is so lovely and gentle he didn't really fight back and tried to hide behind me while I spoke to the owner about it afterwards.

The only real problem I can see with Henry is that he can still be protective of his toys. We did just try to remove them all but he really likes to chew his nylabone and he ate our doorstop when we took it away. So, we've given him back his nyla bones but we don't cuddle him if he's chewing and we swop them for a treat if we need him to give them up, which he's quite happy to do.

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD IMG_0116copy-1

Henry is a large, intelligent, sensitive beast and needs to be treated with respect and understanding. His lovely strong character means you'll always know how he's feeling and as a lot of the time he's feeling love and loyalty I can guarantee he'll be the most positive addition to your life."

Henry's fosterer is due to move very soon into a smaller flat and Henry, unfortunately, won't be able to come. If we cannot find him a new foster home, or even better, a forever home soon then he will have to go to kennels until we do.

Can anyone offer this wonderful boy a home?
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Post by minniemoo Thu Feb 24, 2011 9:58 pm

Good luck my gorgeous one wish I could have you! fingerscrossed1
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Post by FriendsOfTheAnimalsRCT Thu Apr 14, 2011 7:27 pm

Poor Henry is still waiting for a forever home but in the mean time he'd love a foster home. Can anyone help him?

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD 2011_0412dogsrescue0011

Henry - 6+ year old Border Collie cross GSD 2011_0412dogsrescue0015
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Post by minniemoo Thu Jul 07, 2011 7:54 pm

Hows the lovely Henry doing?
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Post by AmyJo Thu Jul 07, 2011 9:41 pm

He's been rehomed.
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Post by Julie Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:16 pm

joy1
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