DOGGONE IT! look what have i done

If you'd told me two years ago that I'd be driving through the desert with two dogs seat-belted in the back of my car I'd have said you were crazy.

But here I am, doing just that. With the top down on my convertible, a breeze (albeit a warm one) blowing through my hair, and incredulous looks from my fellow drivers, I'm headed back from a doggie play date along a desert highway.

Dogs have play dates? Yep, that's right. Dogs wear seat belts? Well mine do; it was either that or switch to a more dog-friendly car and, I'm sorry, it was no contest, my Mini Cooper convertible won.

Never having owned so much as a stick insect before arriving in Bahrain, within the space of three short months I found myself in a "love at first sight" meeting with Jack, a jet black, stunningly elegant, abandoned greyhound/saluki cross.

Jack was followed 12 months later by a fateful encounter with a very slobbery, overweight but incredibly handsome, chocolate brown Labrador by the name of Baloo - as in the slightly dopey but loveable Jungle Book character. You see, Jack needed a brother, didn't he?

Together they make quite a pair. On the one hand there's smart, slim-line, super fast, gentle yet neurotic Jack, severely traumatised having been locked up in a bathroom when his owners left the country and him behind, frightened of the world and multi-phobic.

On the other, there's ex-trainee sniffer dog Baloo, who didn't quite come up to snuff (sorry) and was passed from pillar to post for six months, because nobody loves a failure, who's so laid back he'd fall over at the slightest tap, has not terribly tidy eating and personal habits, and let's just say his fitness is still a "work in progress".

It's been a long, hard 18 months for me and my charges involving hours of training, coaxing and cajoling, hundreds of kilometres of dog walking, a few thousand dinars of expenses, a bucket load of tears, an abundance of smiles and very recently a glowing pride when I realised that the hard slog might just have paid off:

This week, for the first time Jack and Baloo played together like "normal" dogs!

But the harsh reality is that before adopting Jack and Baloo, I had no idea of the emotional, financial and physical toll they would have on me.

And, as much as I wouldn't be separated from them now, would I be quite so reckless again? I doubt it. While it's been an enriching voyage of discovery, one I would urge anyone to take provided that, unlike me, they've done their homework and thought about the consequences of dog ownership properly, there are some important lessons I wished I known before I'd taken the plunge.

Lesson 1: Buyer's beware

No one in their right mind would buy a car sight unseen, or purchase a suit they'd not tried on, would they? Then why did I take on Jack without doing a full road test? I must have needed my head examining! I did bring him home for a trial weekend, when, of course, he was on his best behaviour. I was so smitten that I failed to pick up on the subtle behaviour indicators that should have had the alarm bells ringing. Basically, I didn't do enough research.

Jack looked superb and fitted my sole selection criterion: He was a dog I could run with.

It never occurred to me to enquire in detail about his mental health, response to every day situations or to examine closely his temperament.

The enormity of Jack's "issues" emerged Day 2 when I couldn't get him out of the house. I should have returned him then and there but didn't.

I'm not the one to give up easily.

On Day 3, he freaked when I locked him in the kitchen when I wanted to go out.

On Day 4, he frightened my cleaner half to death.

With the dawning of Day 5 came a terrified Jack desperately trying to escape the gardener and water sprinklers.

At that point I realised I had a serious problem and needed help, big time. And so began four months of hell. My life was turned upside down. After his rescue, Jack lived in a kennel environment for two years.

Consequently, he was rather institutionalised, generally scared of life and terrified of his shadow.

He shook and cried when left alone, refused to budge when on a lead, stalked strangers and tried to nip them, had a Houdini-like capacity to get out of harnesses, open doors and escape capture, had food allergies and began to lose what little fur he had.

I'm not sure why I soldiered on, despite my better judgement and the urging of friends. For some reason I was not about to give up on this helpless, damaged animal.

Without me he had no future.

So, guided and supported on a daily, sometimes hourly basis by Pauline, trainer at Delmon Kennels, Jack and I learned to trust each other and gradually he inched along the road to recovery.

Without Pauline I'd have been sunk; she was my life line, there for me at all hours, even providing respite care on days when I just needed a break.

I trained Jack up to three times a day for what seemed like hours at a time, going round and round the same route, coaxing him along, forcing him in the kindest possible way to overcome his fears.

Slowly but surely I began to rid him of his horror of closed spaces, tiled floors and water, all of which he was phobic about and none of which he is entirely comfortable with yet.

Eighteen months on and you wouldn't believe the transformation in Jack. He's relaxed and happy in his own skin. Well most of the time ... scarcely a day goes by without something spooking Jack.

The arrival of Baloo (designed to ease Jack's distress) brought with it, its share of problems. Now I have to deal with issues of sibling rivalry, jealousy and aggressive "top dog" behaviour.

Fortunately, Baloo is just happy to have a home and goes along with everything Jack or I throw at him. I guess you'd call him the normal one of a very "odd couple"!

Looking back, what would be my advice? Think long and hard before taking home that cute little thing that steals your heart at the rescue centre, or the abandoned dog looking helplessly at you by the side of the road; you may be getting more than you bargained for.

Lesson 2:

It's tough, really tough, looking after a dog in the desert. It probably goes without saying that all dogs need exercise; some more than others. Jack is a sight hound, bred to hunt anything that's small and moves fast.

Baloo is a retriever, designed to find and retrieve hidden objects (though he's pretty hopeless at it).

In other words, they are both "working dogs". This means they need exercise, and lots of it! On average we walk around 75km a week, two or three hours a day, more in the winter, less in the summer.

That's 3,000km a year, around 1,100 hours (excluding the 12 weeks or so that I'm out of the country). Oh and this doesn't include about an hour of supervised playtime a day in the garden, ad-hoc training sessions and play dates, plus consultations with Pauline.

Given the climate here, it's hard work exercising a dog. We're up at 5am in the height of the summer, repeating the exercise at sunset every day.

The heat and humidity are not pleasant. Often it's a game of dodging between shady spots, more frequently it's simply a long, hard, sweaty slog.

There's not just the heat to contend with either; it's quite a jungle out there.

Along the way there are tasty remnants of long discarded lunches to ferret for, unsuspecting cats to chase after, shards of glass and metal to injure tender paws, cars hurtling by at F1 speeds to scare us, stray dogs to challenge our progress, passers-by to jeer at us, friendly and not so friendly, dogs to play with.

As a result, I'm constantly scanning the horizon looking for hazards and trying to outsmart my dogs.

Running after either dog is not a sensible option even if it weren't so hot. Sometimes I just have to hope that at some point they'll remember that I'm the one who feeds them and that they'll return on my call.

As a last resort, there's always my pocket full of treats. Since Jack's behaviour can be unpredictable, I have to be on my guard at all times in the presence of people, particularly small children, and other dogs.

The latter seem to sense Jack is a "victim" and twice he's been the vanquished in a fight with another dog, this despite all my best efforts to pre-empt any tricky situations.

Latterly, I've come up with a partial solution to the need for twice daily walks; I take them to the kennels for "day care".

There Jack gets to run on a dog version of a tread mill (I kid you not) and Baloo has a swim in a specially designed pool.

This training has backfired to a certain extent because Jack is now in such good condition that he's a bundle of excess energy and Baloo, having gone down a harness size and 5cm on his collar due to a strict exercise and diet regime, is fast catching up in the fitness stakes.

Some of my dogs' excess energy is also worked off at play dates with their best mates Bruno and Gypsy; thankfully Neisha, their mum, doesn't mind her garden being destroyed by four marauding dogs.

And remember, that cute little puppy of unknown pedigree just might grow up into a powerful dog requiring oodles of exercise.

Lesson 3:

Dog ownership is a costly business and a life time commitment

It's been quite a shock to me how expensive it is to own a dog.

Not only is there a plethora of doggie paraphernalia to buy including harnesses, seat belts, leads, bowls, toys and bedding, but also there's the reality that big, active dogs eat lots of (expensive) food.

Added to which there's kennelling to consider if, like me, you don't have full time live-in help, vets fees have to be paid and collateral damage repaired, if you're unfortunate to have adopted a chewer, which I'm happy to say Jack and Baloo are not.

Ball-park, kennel boarding fees alone for my dogs amount to BD800 to BD1,000 a year, weekly day-care fees some BD24, grooming another BD50 a year, vets expenses around BD400 a year, food anywhere from BD300 to BD500 depending on what gourmet delights I buy. And, were we to leave the country, there is the no small matter of dog transportation which can be as much as BD1,500 per dog, for a dog Jack or Baloo's size, depending on the destination.

Thinking about these figures, it beats me why some enterprising individual hasn't established a savings scheme for dogs.

As prices inevitably go up, owning a dog in the desert will never be a cheap proposition. So please start saving now!

Lesson 4:

The love, loyalty and respect you give a dog will be given back to you 10 fold.

If by now you're thinking "why would anyone ever want to own a dog in this part of the world?" you're probably not alone.

Frankly, I've had the same thought myself on many occasions over the last 18 months.

And, I've come this close to giving up on Jack. But where would he go? Who would look after him?

Tony, the 'Dogfather' featured in GulfWeekly, has more dogs than he knows what to do with. The BSPCA has (temporarily) closed its doors.

Jack's behaviour is too unpredictable to hand him over to another family. Could I, would I ever be driven to abandoning him? Not on your life.

He's part of our family. He's taught me so much. I love him dearly and in his own way I like to think he loves me too. I can't imagine my life without him. But make no mistake about it, if he ever bit me or anyone else I would have to make a very tough decision about his future.

Jack's a wonderful dog that, through no fault of his own, was mentally damaged at the hands of a thoughtless owner.

I'm not asking for your sympathy and I don't expect you to understand why I've devoted so much time and effort to this animal.

If you know me, you'll know I'm not sentimental. I'm pretty down to earth, usually level-headed and most likely to tell it like it is.

When all is said and done, Jack's a dog. But to me he's not just any old dog. He's an intelligent, elegant, gentle and loyal dog who, I'm afraid to say, will probably drive me crazy for years to come.

He waits for me to come home, will accept no substitutes when he needs comforting and knows who is boss (that's me, in case you were wondering).

As with all dogs, he thrives on discipline, exercise and love. I made a commitment to him and like it or not he's stuck with me.

If you decide to make a similar commitment to a dog here in Bahrain, please think hard before you do it.

l Editor's note: Anyone wanting first hand advice about what it's like looking after a dog in Bahrain may contact Sarah Clarke on 3998 9727. She'll be happy to chat to you - unless of course she's out walking her dogs!