There he was, asleep, alone in the puppy kennels, he was the only one left from his litter and he was everything we were looking for. We purchased him on the spot and named him Hamish, he was 14 weeks old at the time. After Hamish had settled in to our home we started to wonder if we should get Hamish a playmate as we have the space for another dog, and Scotties love being in a pack. As the weeks went by and end less searching, puppy kennels, websites and news paper adverts until we discovered Stecs.
Stecs was recommended to us by our vets on Hamish’s weight and worm check, our vet gave us a contact number and we hoped this was the answer to our search. We rang Sandra Weir, our area coordinator that night to express our interest in another Scottie. Before we know it we have filled out an application profile on our lifestyle, house, etc and sent it back to Sandra.
After a short wait the call came from Sandra to say there was a possible young Scottie Westie cross named Dougal that fit our profile. Sandra informed us that we would have to contact Cath to arrange a date to visit her, with our Hamish, to see how we suited to Dougal. After the conversations we both couldn’t wait to meet Cath and Dougal, the date was set for the following Wednesday.
We set off early that morning with Hamish, after a short journey we arrived at Cath’s and were instantly amazed at the number of Scotties, it could only be described as Scottie City . Cath invited us in to meet Dougal; we let Hamish and Dougal play together as Cath told us all about him. We took them both for a short walk to spend some time alone with Dougal. He was a great dog, full of energy and life, about 8 months older than our puppy, but our Hamish wasn’t bonding with him as we would have hoped for. We spent all morning with Dougal and Hamish but that spark between the two never happened.
But Sue had spotted another one of Caths Stecs dogs outside in a separate run, the Scotties was with a Labrador named Pip and a Blood Hound cross called Forrest they looked the most oddest of friends. His name was Fergus, he was a 4 year old dog, average height and build, he was amazing for Sue and Fergus it was love at first sight. Cath explained to use why Fergus had been given to Stecs he had shown aggression and problem whilst on his lead towards other dogs. Fergus had also been recently castrated, and was suffering from a long standing ear infection.
Hamish and Fergus played together for the rest of the day, we were so made up to see Fergus excepting our Hamish, there was no sign of aggression towards us or Hamish, he was the dog for us. We took Fergus home that night, he settled in instantly, he patrolled the garden parameter, found his favourite place to sleep and watch television (he was glued to the TV when Crufts was on). As the weeks pass we watched the pair of them constantly, waiting just encase this aggression flared up in Fergus, I’m delighted to say he never once has shown any. Over most recent weeks we slowly started living them together for short periods of time unsupervised; every time we came home they were asleep together, on top, or curled up with each other.
Fergus has turned in to the perfect role model, as Hamish will watch and learn all the time. Whenever we take the boys for a walk he wants to lead by an example and basically be a big brother for Hamish.