You might have spotted the hashtag #RSPCAPetPeeves on twitter, celebrating our pets and their quirks and personalities. So in honour of this I thought it was about time I introduced our new doggy addition and tell you a little bit about him. You might have seen him on my Insta Stories and lots of you have already tweeted me to say how cute he is and lots of support when we first were settling him into the home with our other dog.
His name is Gus and he is a 5 year old Jack Russell cross. He's most likely crossed with a corgi as he has a very chunky bum and stubby little tail. This boy is an absolute cutie. We found him on a dog rehoming page and it was love at first sight. Described as affectionate, playful and the most chilled out dog ever we hoped he would be the perfect match for our 13 year old jack russell Eddie.
The first thing we discovered about this handsome little man is that he is ball obsessed, and I mean OBSESSED! He will spend hours chasing the ball (if you can throw it for that long) and when you don't throw it he will sit staring at it and in turn you, obviously hoping that those big brown eyes will persuade you to throw it just one more time. Now this ball obsession does have its plus sides. On the park Gus is the most obedient dog and stays right by your side if you have a ball in your hand and this can be a great thing. However on occasion he does take a liking to someone else's ball and can leg it after theirs instead ha ha. It does mean he gets a huge amount of exercise though. He was a little overweight when we rehomed him and so combined with a good diet and lots of ball chasing he is already shedding the pounds. Plus our little dog Eddie is older and not fussed by ball chasing, this means we can walk Eddie at a nice slow pace whilst flinging the tennis ball across the park for Gus to chase. Twice as much exercise for Gus.
When we first settled him in we did struggle. The two dogs didn't seem to be getting on and Eddie our first dog looked so unhappy. Plus Gus would wander and sit in the kitchen at night on his own and I panicked that we hadn't done the right thing in rehoming him. However all it took was some time and some patience. Now Gus and Eddie get on so much better. There's still the occasional snap from Eddie at meal time (Eddie does get possessive of his food - one of his pet peeves I imagine) but on the whole having the younger dog has livened Eddie up a lot.
Eddie is different in so many ways to Gus. Again we rehomed him around aged 9 and he has always been a very calm, chilled out dog. He doesn't bark, he doesn't play with toys, doesn't chase balls and in so many ways is very un dog like to be honest. He just loves food, a walk and to lie on the sofa and he's happy. He also loves sunbathing. He loves it so much sometimes I have to drag him inside to stop him overheating.
Gus is much more energetic. He loves cuddles and sitting up next to me on the sofa and he especially loves wandering upstairs to wake me up at 5.30am by jumping on the bed and licking my face. All of these quirks are lovely but we're not used to them having owned a dog for four years that doesn't do any of these things. But we still love Eddie very much and we try to make sure we show the same affection and attention to both dogs. We think they compliment each other beautifully and we love our little family me, Ben, Eddie and Gus.
We would always rehome a dog rather than buy one as there are so many dogs out there looking for homes in the UK. Its often about finding the right dog for your situation, but owning a dog is so rewarding and something I'd wanted to do my whole life. I'm so happy we now have two furry friends and that Gus has really settled in well. Plus we made sure that we got Gus insured straight away! This is so so important. If you didn't know the RSPCA offer insurance too and £20 from each insurance policy sold goes to the charity, which means they can help even more doggies, win win eh?
Keep up with all of Gus and Eddie's antics over on their instagram also check out the #Rspcapetpeeves hashtag for more pet stories.
Debs
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This was written in collaboration with the RSPCA but all images and opinions are as always 100% mine.
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