PDTE 2011 July Newsletter
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Home stories...<br />
A loving tribute to the memory of my sweet baby Jellybean Lollipop (Kennel name-Tallulah<br />
Sunrise 2005-<strong>2011</strong>), my rescue Bull Terrier who passed on 6th April <strong>2011</strong> after losing her<br />
brave battle with kidney failure. RIP my angel until we meet again, mummy loves you.<br />
Our journey began 3 years ago after a<br />
phone call from Joan Kenway of Bull<br />
Terrier Welfare. She asked if I could take<br />
on a young female Bull Terrier still in her<br />
previous home needing to be re-homed<br />
as soon as possible. So Tilly as she was<br />
called then joined my family. We renamed<br />
her Jellybean Lollipop on the way back<br />
from collecting her because she was such<br />
a sweetie and I love Jellybean Factory<br />
Jellybeans!<br />
Jelly was overweight (which made her<br />
a great pillow), had bad teeth, overshot<br />
jaw, smelly breath and a dolphin shaped<br />
marking in her red fur. Cassini, my other<br />
rescue red female, has a stingray shaped<br />
one so this was fate! My vet Martin Brice<br />
diagnosed a heart murmur which had gone<br />
unnoticed at her old vet’s and he let me<br />
devise an exercise and feeding protocol<br />
to tone her up and ease the bowel issues<br />
she had. Feeding this young girl was no<br />
problem she really loved her food, but I<br />
had to work on her food aggression as well<br />
as her other issues.<br />
Jelly had hyper-excitement issues, meaning<br />
if she saw a blade of grass (no, not<br />
kidding) she would tip from normal to<br />
yowling to high pitched incessant barking<br />
looking like she was high in seconds. Wow<br />
what a chemical rush this girl was getting!<br />
It made my mini Bull Terrier Koda stress<br />
and he wouldn’t go near her in the fields.<br />
It took approximately 6 months of sub trig-<br />
ger/threshold work, positive reinforcement<br />
and retraining to get her to the point where<br />
I could open the car without her exploding<br />
out and making open area visits calm and<br />
pleasant for all of us. Koda’s reactions and<br />
her passing out a few times were enough<br />
to motivate me early on to sort it out. She<br />
had hormone related reactivity issues as<br />
well!<br />
Food aggression was quick to sort out,<br />
as was the hyper-excitement with toys.<br />
Leading a sub threshold life is not easy<br />
but I owed it to all of the dogs, us as well<br />
as a responsible owner. Jelly was a joy to<br />
live with, she was compassionate beyond<br />
compare and taught me this in a way no<br />
human has. Her playful, sweet, loving<br />
attitude gave us joy and helped me cope<br />
when I got stressed and my Asperger Syndrome<br />
(it’s on the autism scale) took over.<br />
She would nudge a dog, any dog if was<br />
hurt or seemed fearful. She would nudge<br />
us humans if we were not happy, she<br />
would come and lie down with you if crying<br />
and she would give calming signals galore<br />
if arguments broke out in the house. She<br />
was like me; not happy to be touched unless<br />
asked for and didn’t like confrontation.<br />
In fact she would nudge on walks, nudge<br />
when washing up or cooking. It was as if<br />
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<strong>PDTE</strong> NEWS
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