Your body has come home in a box of your own, where you’ll sit proudly with all the rest. With no dog by my side, I walk all alone
Dear Jazz you were one of the best.
Your beds are all washed and put away, along with your collar and lead, I’m sure you won’t mind if we use them again
for another deserving dog in need.
There will be another in time to come
to fill the gap that you’ve left A tri colour girl, now that would be fun
But, at the moment we feel too bereft.
So we bid you farewell, fly high on your wings
‘Til the day I take my dying breath, to share cuddles and kisses and other such things on the universal plain we call death.
Jazz came into our lives aged 2 years after an horrendous puppy-hood at the hands of cruel humans. Her puppy years were spent with a family who tired of her, and her litter brother, Blue and put them in separate cages in a garage, where they were let out for a few minutes each day and had to put up with being tormented by the children, who would poke sticks through the bars. Jazz’s bottom front teeth were damaged at a very early age due to her trying to chew through the bars to escape. This had made her a very frightened little girl, who used the philosophy of “attack is the best form of defence”.
Blue and Jazz were rescued when they were advertised to a new home, by a couple who lived in Stockton-on-Tees. They originally only went for Blue, but on seeing how they were living and what the children thought of as playing with the dogs, offered to take them both, as they could not bear to think of Jazz on her own, but it became all too clear that they could not handle Jazz as she would bite out at anyone who came too close. Collie Rescue were asked if they could help with her, but her biting prevented her being re-homed and it was decided Rescue would have to have her put to sleep as being an aggressive dog.
Then we came along … We had just lost our blue merle girl, Gemma and were looking for another female to take her place. I was told about Jazz and being quite confident around dogs and a Committee Member for Collie Rescue I said I would give her two weeks to see if I could do anything for her. She was brought to us by the couple who rescued her and were keeping her litter brother, Blue.
I took one look at this small, scrawny tri-colour girl and fell in love. My collie boy, Oliver also thought she was delightful and they enjoyed many happy hours playing together. She accepted Oliver with no problem … maybe she knew her own breed, or accepted that she was in Oliver’s house so must behave – we will never know. I was determined that I would try my hardest to bring her round. With very small steps I got to be able to pet her on her body and the back of her head, but she would not tolerate anyone going near her face … I got bitten on more than one occasion, especially the day I decided to see if she would let me groom her, but there was no way I was giving up. Months passed and eventually I got through to her that neither me or my husband were going to hurt her and she accepted us being close around her. We were winning her around … BUT there was one major issue that was causing Jazz severe distress … she would not tolerate another dog or human anywhere near her, outside or inside, apart from Oliver. This led to some horrendous walks as she would suddenly fly at anything she saw, including carrier bags blowing in the breeze. You had to have eyes in the back of your head or lose your arm she was so quick and strong. There was no indication she was about to “go” she just went … This unfortunately stayed with her throughout her life, and it was only in the last weeks of her life that she stopped doing this, more because she was too frail than because she wanted to.
The next step to try and curb this behaviour was training classes and thanks to Jazz I made the most wonderful friend in Penny, a local dog trainer I enlisted to help. We joined her class and because we were in a small area and there were lots of other noisy dogs around, Jazz decided to turn in on herself and hid as far under the chair on her first night of training as she could. I literally had to drag her out and she slid along the floor splayed out like Bambi on ice, to the amusement of the rest of the class. After week three she began to relax and ten weeks later she passed her Good Citizen Dog Scheme Bronze Award. I was over the moon, we were on our way, but her behaviour on walks did not change at all. I decided to take this one step further and train Jazz to Silver where she had to do some close work around other dogs and humans … as she now knew these dogs and felt confident in their company she again passed the Silver Award. Gold was a big step up having to work off lead, but with Penny’s encouragement we tackled this and I am pleased to say she again passed, although her behaviour on walks never changed and sadly for Jazz she had a life of walking on an extender, as she would still fly at anything that moved, dogs, humans or inanimate objects in her path. Even Penny gave up in the end and we gave her the best life she could have without her being allowed free running.
It was shortly after this that Jazz was diagnosed with Pancreatitis after a serious bout of sickness and diarrhoea. She was put on a veterinary diet which overall controlled things, although there were more flare ups along the way, but antibiotics always cleared things up within days.
The years passed by, but Jazz’s behaviour towards other dogs and people never changed and we had to put her on a house lead if we had visitors, or put her in a separate room and on her extender outside. She missed out on so much, especially her precious ball which had to go everywhere with her, and she could only play ball chase within a short distance, unless she was in the secured back garden. Taking her to the vets was another “fun” thing we had to endure, taking her in through the back door, or carrying her into a room so she could not “attack” any dogs that were waiting.
She did very well in Companion Dog Shows though, gaining many rosettes for Best Female Veteran, Prettiest Bitch and Best Rescue. She always seemed to behave herself around these groups of dogs, and allowed the Judges to come near her, but still tried to attack single dogs and humans.
We owned a caravan on the coast and she loved her beach walks, coastal footpath walks and exploring the sand dunes, but she did not like the sea very much as water was something to be avoided at all costs. This was the only time she would not fetch her ball back if it was in the sea, although small rock pools were no problem.
In her later life she suffered liver problems, and at one point a liver enzyme test produced results that were off the scale. She would have a few good weeks, then the low liver function would produce toxins in the blood which made her very poorly, but after two or three days of antibiotics she would be fine again for a few more weeks. We used liver support powder in her food each day which did help, but the need for antibiotics was ever present. Two months before she passed away she had what the vet could only describe as a neurological episode which left her with signs of dementia where she would just wander around the house aimlessly not quite knowing where she was and unable to settle, until exhaustion, when she would settle down to sleep for hours on end. We could not allow this to happen, and along with another bout of liver toxins in the blood, enforced our decision that the time had come.
Jazz turned into a very loving, affectionate little girl with us and people she knew well, giving lots of kisses and loving nothing more than being close to you on the settee. Her life was the best we could give her. There was an ever present sound in our house … “Jazz, stop being a bugger” or “you’re a bloody pest” when she was scratching or digging at her numerous beds or carpets .. oh, how I wish I was still saying that. We miss you so much and still look for you in certain places in the house .. like “your bedroom” which was the downstairs toilet where you loved to curl up on your bed, or on the hearth rug .. if you were not lying on it, you were digging it up into a ball, then walking away, how I would love to straighten that carpet again. But especially I miss you next to the bed at night
Wherever you are, I hope you are now happy and free from that fear you carried for all those years.
Fly high, fly safe, be happy xx
Re-united with Oliver, Harvey and litter brother Blue (see below).
Annette and Paul xx
