English Springer Spaniel

Rolo - 7 year old male English Springer Spaniel

Rolo is an English Springer Spaniel aged approximately 7 years old. He is an Irish rescue and was bought over after he was due to be put to sleep. Rolo was purchased by a farmer as a puppy as a working dog. Rolo is not a working dog by any means and the farmer was very cruel to him because he would not do his job properly. After a lot of harsh treatment Rolo snapped at the farmer and so he got rid of him at 4 years old.

Rolo needs a home who is experienced with abuse cases as although he is coming on in leaps and bounds he still has a lot of confidence building to do.

Rolo went to a rescue who managed to find him a home, but the family kept him on a chain in the back yard and through boredom and more harsh treatment he then snapped at them. They returned him to the rescue and that is where he stayed.The decision to have him put to sleep was made (due to him being un-rehomable) but we felt that he had not had a full assessment yet. He had never lived in a home and had never been given one to one or extra training to try and find out WHY he was snappy or if anything could be done about it.

On arrival Rolo did do a bit of a snarl, but only through fear, not through outright aggression. He spent about half an hour confused as he didn’t know what a house was, but within the hour he was coming up to me for a cuddle (shy but obviously wanting to be friends) and within two hours was accepting head scratches and responding positively to kind words.

Rolo needs a quiet home and cannot be homed with children. He would love to live with another dog and is quite happy to mix with my own four with no bad behaviour. However, Rolo does have some food aggression (due to severe starvation in the past) so would have to be fed separately and given chews in his own space. He is fine with cats and scared of chinchillas! In the right home and given time Rolo will make a lovely companion.

29May2009 | Furry Friends Animal Rescue Surrey | READ MORE