We had lost the last of our four terriers earlier in 2004 and the place seemed very empty without them.  We felt we wanted to offer another dog a home, but it was going to be a difficult decision as the other four had been part of the family for more than 20 years.  Although the terriers had all been pedigrees, this time we decided to try to offer a rescue dog a home.  After visiting one or two shelters, we were dismayed at not being able to find a dog that had a fair chance of being able to live in reasonable harmony with our cats, and so we happened upon the Poplar Farm Kennels website!

We were immediately impressed by its layout,  photographs and descriptions, which seemed honest and straightforward.  And so we made an appointment to visit Dave and Rachel, with a view to taking a closer look at Amy, among others.  According to the website, she was probably OK with cats, which in our book was a very big “plus”, and much more important than her looks or size.  Described as a whippet-collie cross, our first sight of her was to watch her racing round their garden, her favourite toy (a plastic watering-can) held firmly in her mouth, scraping it along the ground in front of her.  She was not in the least interested in us, and had eyes only for her watering can. 

Black and sleek, long-legged and very fast, she looked very different from our small, short-legged terriers – but perhaps that was a good thing.  Dave and Rachel explained that although she was only two years old, she had spent about ten months at Poplar Farm and for a short while with a foster-family, where her acceptance of cats had been noticed. 

It was not long, however, before we made her acquaintance, and Amy certainly seemed like a girl who deserved a chance.  Rachel brought her to us on 4 August 2004 to check our suitability, and that of our home and garden.  Amy soon seemed to make herself at home, flying round our garden with her watering can.  It was soon decided that Amy and we could give each other a trial to see how we got on with each other. 

She soon settled in with the cats, and was every bit as good as we had hoped she would be.  It was other dogs and vehicles when we took her out for walks that were the problem.  Although she had been fine in the kennels with dogs, she appeared terrified of other dogs when she met them while out on her walks, barking and spinning round as though trying to escape.  Loud lorries and cars were also a cause for concern, as were planes and helicopters – and deer and pheasants and squirrels – in fact just about anything that moved seemed to bother Amy. 

As the weeks went by she soon grew used to the many pheasants she saw on her walks and started to improve when traffic passed.  It seemed as though this was going to be a long process, so we decided to enlist on a training course – for us as much as for Amy.  That was back in the autumn, and she will soon be completing her fourth six week course involving both obedience and agility.  Through that time we have seen her change from a very frightened and at times seemingly aggressive dog into a sociable and much better balanced girl, perfectly happy off the lead with other dogs, eager to please in all her exercises (and loving every minute of them) and with a great sense of humour.  But what has really shone through is her intelligence.  We all like to think our dogs are bright, but she certainly is, and she learns very quickly.

Nowadays she is much happier when meeting other dogs when out for walks, traffic bothers her less, she ignores deer and aeroplanes, she is a great traveller in as car, loves being with people – but she still hates squirrels and helicopters.  We are so pleased we made the decision to offer her a home, and so relieved she settled in so well with the cats.  She has fulfilled so much of the potential Dave and Rachel told us she had – and with two very long walks every day we have never been fitter. 

The watering can did not last too long, but it has been replaced with many new toys, and each one she seems to love more than the last!

Margaret Blackett March 2005