Lottie the ‘Norty Stubby Collie’ !
Boo goes to meet Lottie
Lottie is a rescue dog described by her human as a ‘norty stubby Collie’ and she certainly looks like a miniature Border Collie – with many cheeky characteristics.
Lottie came to the UK in 2016 from Romania, having been rescued in Bucharest by Consuela Barsan and brought to England by an amazing lady called Yvonne Goode. Lottie now lives with her human Lisa, and her new doggie pals, Parka and Tilly. Rommie rescues, as they are commonly known, are dogs that have had a bad start in life and as a result don’t trust humans easily.
Boo: ME BOO, YOU LOTTIE AND WE TALK, YES?
Lottie: Its ok Boo I understand and bark in English now. No need to bark slowly or loudly!
Boo: Oh sorry, I wasn’t sure and I have a very limited vocabulary in Romanian!
Boo: So you came from Romania and my human showed me a map – that’s a LONG way away! How did you get here?
Lottie: It was a very long journey Boo but luckily Yvonne arranged for me to travel from Romania in a special van with other Rommies travelling to England. I started my journey on 26 July 2016 and we travelled through lots of countries including Austria, Germany and Belgium. The people who travelled with us were really nice and they stayed with me the whole time to make sure I had water and food. There was one very nice lady, who played lots with me too ‘cos I was only a baby. I got to England two days later, and then stayed in kennels in Retford,for another couple of days and then Lisa came to collect me. I should have been tired but I was soooo excited.
Boo: I know you were very young but what was your life like there?
Lottie came all the way from Romania to the UK
Lottie: It was very scary Boo. I was dumped in a forest and I was very little, less than 8 weeks old, so I shouldn’t have been taken from my mum. Luckily Consuela, my rescuer, was having a picnic there and heard me cry and picked me up and took me to safety. Consuela was worried I wouldn’t live as I was so small and weak but she looked after me so well and as you can see I’ve grown into a strong, small norty. I was one of the lucky ones though because lots of dogs live on the street there and don’t have such a happy ending.
Boo: What do you like about your new home?
Lottie: I love playing with Tilly who is my best friend, and I like bugging Parka who is a bit grumpy, but I think he likes me really ‘cos he plays occasionally. Lisa gives lots of hugs and kisses and I love snuggling with her on the settee. We also go for loads of walks and she is training me too. The best thing about that is I get lots of treats. Lisa makes sure I’ve got lots and lots of doggy friends to play with, which is lots of fun.
Boo: I can imagine there have been lots of new experiences for you here, what’s been the most difficult thing to learn?
Lottie: When I first came I fought for food and gobbled it down so fast I made myself sick. I had a bit of a scrap with Parka as he tried to steal some food from me. Lisa got some advice from her friend Claire Martin who is a behaviourist which has helped with this and I have my food in my crate now so no one can steal it and I don’t have to eat it so quickly. Lisa also makes me sit and wait for treats which is very, very hard because I love them soooo much and get very, very excited when she brings them out. I always get my treat – all I have to do is wait my turn ……… I still try to grab a cheeky one every now and again though LOL.
Boo: Its sad I know that there are still lots of dogs in Romania that would love to have a new life. How can my friends humans help?
Lottie: There are lots of ways. They can send money to help the shelters keep the dogs that are there safe and some of them need money at the moment to build shelters as the snow in Winter makes it very cold. They can adopt from the many charities who rescue. They can also send food parcels, blankets and vet medication that is no longer needed here.
Boo: Well thank you Lottie it’s been a real eye opener for me. I look forward to bumping into to you and Parka and Tilly on the agility circuit this year.
Lottie: It would be fun to run around a field chasing you Boo, so I look forward to it too. La revedere mulţumesc frumos.
Pawnote: Yvonne Goode was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year and was such an amazing character that the agility community raised thousands of pounds to help to pay for treatment in Germany. During her valiant fight Yvonne carried on training and running her dogs at agility and being a fantastic friend touching the hearts of everyone, even those who never actually met her. She even went to the Para Agility World Championship in Czech Republic and brought home 2 golds, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals. Yvonne is the Guardian Angel of many rescue dogs over many years with a particular soft spot for the black dogs that so many people overlook. In more recent years she has helped many dogs from Romania after seeing their plight by ensuring they have loving homes over here. Yvonne unfortunately, passed away in December 2016 but she is such an inspiration that her friends are now carrying on her legacy by raising money for the Rommies.
Currently fundraising in memory of Yvonne is being collected via Paypal at ygfundraiser@yahoo.com please contact Heather for updates.
