WELCOME to Rustys Website

RUSTY's HISTORY:

Rusty was adopted from NCDL, Roden, nr Telford.
As we were 'out of area' (Berkshire) our vet had to Fax a reference to NCDL. (Now renamed the Dogs Trust)
They said she was a stray found in Shrewsbury.
She was named 'Chocolat' but we changed her name to 'Rusty'
She was described as a Collie Cross.

I have tried to determine her breed, by searching on the Internet,
I have found many dog pictures that are identical to Rusty, they are on Australian Kelpie websites.
Kelpies are Australian sheepdogs (legend says they were Collies crossed with Dingos!!)
We can well believe it, She was terrible when we first had her, we nearly returned her to NCDL, several times

Following is my post to
'Dog Rescue Forum'
(When we were struggling to train her!)

"We adopted Rusty in April 2002, (Female Collie X approx.7 months)
She did the lot; 
CHEWING . . . ate a £10 note, hole in shed door, wooden arm of sunlounger, spine of new book (on dog training !),
guy rope of tent, destroyed the garden, ate plants, made herself ill by digging up and eating bulbs! made a large hole in the wall plaster, etc, etc. 
PULLING . . . broke her lead, she did my back in, pulling on her lead to get at other dogs and people, My wife then had to do all the dog walks for 4 weeks on her own, (an Halti has cured this)
JUMPING UP. . . jumps up everybody, (Why do people always say, "oh its alright I've got a dog of my own"
STEALING . . . took food from kitchen work surface etc, (We have now cured this)
SCAVENGING . . . picked up twigs, dead rat, dead bird,
sea weed, 'RAT POISON!!' anything edible (and inedible) within reach.
BITING . . . any fondling, stroking or grooming by us, ended in her nibbling and biting and scratching at us.
DISOBEDIENT . . . we did not dare to let her off the lead, we knew she would follow anything; other dogs, people, birds, bats, moths, livestock, vehicles, even aircraft.

She was terrible, in the end neither of us liked the dog, she was nothing like 'Lucky' and 'Jenny' our previous two companions.
We were very worried, we were'nt enjoying it, we could'nt bear the thought of 12yrs of War and attrition.
We almost returned her to the rescue home, but we suspected that she did like us, and she would be upset if she went back. So we gritted our teeth and perservered . . .

(I Studied the problem messages and solutions on 'Dog Rescue Forum')
Then 6 months later, she seemed to click, she changed, we are going to end up with the wonderful faithful dog we wanted, we still have work to do, but she is getting better, we are so pleased and proud of her now! Don't give up - it is worth it in the end"