Vik - Weimaraner, Dog (5 Years old)

Haha! fellow fosterers!! Nah, Baz and Jack need their next move to be their forever home!

You could bring them to the dog show in St Michaels on 24th with their I need a home dog coats on, and we'll see if we can do a hard sell on the people of St Michaels!! They may even pick up a rosette! Jack's a dead cert for most appealing eyes and I think Baz will win most handsome dog!

Of course, if Vik was around, he would have swept the board!!

Here is the evidence:




Then there is a photo competition at the fete too, one category being "Pets in Hats":





and can't forget the lady of the house....

You have most definately lost the plot....

Erm, well if Jack could get over his little 'spinny spinny barky' thing when he sees another dog, I'm sure he would scoop up the prizes for 'most endearing eyes', 'waggiest tail' and 'biggest hug'!

Phil is rejoicing because we won't have a huge dog on the bed tonight!

Phoebe is wondering where her mate is.

Vik is probably wondering why he's in a strange house with two parrots

And my heart is breaking....

Bye bye Vik. Until we meet again.

Think of the good uv done Ria.U gave him a path 2 follow 2 his forever home.Sure he will hav a lovely happy life.

You have done such a wonderful service to Vik - he was the dog that was soo stressed in kennels, who was not showing his true colours, and who everyone wondered what would become of him. Now we know that he has found a wonderful home with all the best chances for his future. None of this would have happened without you and Phil and Phoebe who believed in him.

Well well done! If you didn't care enough to be sad about him leaving then you might not have put all the effort you have into changing his life's path...

Jackie reports that Vik has had a good night, although his tummy was a bit upset (too many treats!) and he woke her up at 4am to go to the loo (that dog is soooo well trained!).

This morning, she was up bright and early to take him for his first walk. First, she opened the door and what is on her front path? A cat! Oh no!! I know exactly what happens when you're catapulted out the front door by Vik chasing a cat! Having composed herself and quietened him down, the next test was a nasty dog barking at him. Jackie had Vik under control very quickly, although she said he was agitated for a little while. Nothing like a baptism of fire. Jackie went for a really long walk, and in the end she said Vik was absolutely knackered and had that look that said, "Can we go home now?" She said he walked impeccably and was so good.

She's had a wonderful day with him. He has been cheeky and plonked himself on the sofa, but has obeyed her when she's told him to get off (more than he did for me!), although she said as soon as she went upstairs, he was back on there again. He slept soundly (bar the 4am loo break) on the floor by her bed.

"And, what about the parrots?" I asked, holding my breath. "Oh, they're both uncovered and he's fine. One has been talking her head off all morning, so she's relaxed, and the other has been squawking away as normal." PHEW!!! I can tell you, these parrots dominate the room, and there's no escaping them as there is only one room downstairs. I am so relieved! Just goes to show how quickly he has lost his overwhelming excitement for them.

Neither of us are niaive enough to think it's going to be plain sailing all the way, but the initial signs are looking really good. And do you know what the nicest thing is? Jackie said, "He's really taken my mind off all my problems and given me a whole new lease of life. I just feel so happy he's with us." Just goes to prove, dogs are good for the soul. Oh, and Barney the fifteen and a half year old Retriever, who hasn't been able to get up the stairs for over a week, decided he wanted to sleep on the floor of the bedroom too! So he might be getting a new lease of life too. Here's hoping ...

Another great update from Jackie and Vik is continuing to settle really well. Jackie says that she is bonding so well with him, and loves him very much already.

They went for a three hour walk today and he was as good as gold. I really do think that Vik has met his soul mate and any apprehension any of us had about his successful rehoming will slide into insignificance as Jackie guides him through his life.

The parrots are taking no bad behaviour from him and if he comes near the cages, the African Grey (Darwin) growls at him (like a dog) and he scarpers! Result!!

You must be so pleased Ria - I think we all are! Well done Vik and Jackie - sounds like you are both going to mean the world to each other.

This is probably the hardest post I have had to write, and already the tears are flowing as I try to put the words together.

Three weeks ago, Vik’s adopter returned him to me as she felt she couldn’t cope with him. There had been an incident where she believed he was going for her dog as she was taking him out for a walk. As Vik dashed towards the door (I believe because he thought he was getting another walk too), the adopter assumed he was going for her other dog and put her hand out in his path and startled him. This resulted in a nick to her wrist, which unfortunately caught a vessel which bled heavily.

When I collected Vik, he was waiting patiently at the patio door, alongside the same dog. There had been no altercations during the three week period, other than a small nip when the dog had pushed past Vik in the kitchen to get to the adopter when she was giving them a treat, and a growl and a nip when the dog had walked over Vik when he was asleep by the patio door and had startled him.

I was obviously very upset, as was the adopter, as we both felt she was letting Vik down, as she had repeatedly told me of all her dog training experiences and how she had turned previous problem dogs around in the run up to her first meeting with Vik. In the end, what it really boiled down to was her inability to control Vik when he was on the lead around dominant dogs.

Needless to say, Vik was absolutely overjoyed to see me, and was wagging his tail twenty to the dozen, probably thinking that I was collecting him after his little ‘holiday’.

To cut a long story short, I brought Vik home, and he remained with us, while we had to return Ferdie, who was being fostered, to the kennels, because despite trying very hard, Ferdie would not tolerate Vik in any way, and attacked him quite badly on two occasions. It was interesting to witness that Vik actually tried to escape the attacks without retaliating in any way. Had Vik been on the lead, I have no doubt that his panic would have sent him into meltdown.

Vik’s fate was not looking good, and sadly he was deemed not suitable for rehoming – a decision that I disagreed with. Kate, the behaviourist, spent an afternoon with me, assessing Vik, and we started him on a rigorous training plan, something in hindsight that should have been done when he first came into foster with me. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Last Wednesday morning we set off for our normal walk at 7.20am. As part of the walk I had to undertake certain training procedures that Kate had shown me when we came across the neighbourhood dogs, and over the week there was massive improvements in his behaviour. That morning, we didn’t have any of the usual altercations on our journey down the lane, so Vik wasn’t stressed in any way. We got to the track and I let him off lead, and he did his usual bounding around. We walked down the track and across Cadmore golf course, and he was having the best run ever, up and down the hills and the fairway. At one point on the walk, he would always jump into the brook for a little swim and a drink. Although he was panting really heavily, and running about a lot more than normal, he wouldn’t be tempted into the brook, so we carried on the walk. We walked up a hill and Vik as normal ran around on another path and met us at the top of the hill, and then we got to the kissing gate at the entrance to a huge field. We checked out the field first, because there are sometimes cattle in the field, but the field was empty. We let Vik into the field, and off he went again, running up and down the hill, really pounding out a beat. At one point he was right up alongside the hedge way back, and I whistled for him, and he came bounding down the hill towards me with his great big cheesy grin, and passed me. I patted his back as he ran past me and we carried on. The next obstacle is a stile, where countless dogs, Phoebe included, have scrambled underneath the fence alongside it. Next to the stile is the bank to the brook, where Vik would always run into the brook and have a paddle about and a drink. After that, we would put him on the lead, I would get over the stile and Phil would hand me the lead under the fence, and then he would really pull the fence up hard and I would encourage Vik underneath it. A few times he just didn’t like getting so low and pulling himself under, so Phil even had to lift him over the stile (not an easy task with a wet dog weighing over 30kgs). Just as we were heading towards the brook, there was rustling in the brambles on the other side of the fence, and instead of going into the brook, Vik ran up the hill alongside the fence and went out of view. I started calling him, and didn’t see him, and said to Phil that I thought he had got through the fence further up. All of a sudden Vik appeared at the top of the hill and came running down towards the stile at great speed, and completely unexpectedly he started to really scramble and push his way under the fence at the normal point he goes through. I shouted, “Wait Vik!!” which he normally responds to, but he was so distracted that he just kept pushing on through. I reached the fence just as his back paws were going through, and he shot off into the undergrowth. Phil and I went over the stile and started calling him. We were quite worried because we knew there could be sheep in the top field, so I climbed through the undergrowth to the top field and Phil carried on the wooded path. At the top field there was a massive flock of sheep, just munching through the grass, completely unperturbed by my sudden appearance. I came back down the hill and met with Phil who said he had passed three sheep on the path, so we didn’t think that Vik had gone that way. Suddenly, and I will remember this until the day I die, we heard a shotgun in the distance and I just ran and ran until I could see the farmer standing there above a small clearing by some trees, and I shouted, “Oh God, you haven’t shot my dog have you?” and he replied, “Yep!! Look what he’s done to my sheep.” There, alongside Vik’s body, was a sheep with blood all over its chest. The farmer then shot the sheep in front of us.

I have played that morning over and over and over in my head for the past week. There is nobody more full of guilt than Phil and I for not taking care of Vik. So many people have said to us that we can’t blame ourselves, it’s one of those freak accidents that can happen when you live in the country and you choose to give your dog the freedom it needs to be offlead in what you believe is a safe environment. That unforeseen, red mist moment that dogs sometimes have that make them do such unexpected things, when they are in 'the zone' that you just can't shake them out of. The 'what ifs' will haunt me for a long time. I would give anything to turn back the clock. I am grateful that the farmer was at point blank range and Vik wouldn’t have known what hit him. The farmer said that he had lost three sheep that last week, which was why he just happened to be there, half a mile from his farm, in the most bizarre place. He agreed that he had always seen us walking the dogs on leads and knew that we walked the dogs every morning through that spot.

There were those who shared our overwhelming grief for the loss of Vik and, sadly, those who felt it was a blessing in disguise, given his future circumstances. I find it hard to understand people that judged him so harshly, but it has been said that I saw him through rose tinted glasses. To me he was a very misunderstood dog.

Despite his bad press, Vik was the most loving, cuddly, gentle giant that I have known. Today we picked up his ashes, and he is now home with us forever. I hope that he is at peace now. He will be in my heart for a long, long time. Rest in Peace Vik. You were the best and we're so sorry we didn't take better care of you.

I don't know you Ria, but always read your posts with great admiration. I've just read this with tears streaming down my face, as much for you as for Vic. We all know hindsight is a wonderful thing, but you have really cared for and about that lovely dog and this was just a tragic accident. So glad you had his ashes, but now carry on with your wonderful fostering work caring for these dogs in need.

Ria, I am one of the former - I felt your loss and you have been through such a terrible time - you and Phil.



Anyone that saw you with Vik knew that you never let him down - how on earth could you have known what was going to happen to him on that fateful morning? You both loved Vik with a passion and gave him his chance to shine.



I have the greatest respect for you both and what you did for the handsome boy and also for the other dogs you have taken care of since I first met you. Don't you DARE blame yourself for something that was a fluke - you are both worth so much more than that.



Sleep well Vik - have fun at the bridge

Ria & Phil, I'm sure you will feel Vik's loss for a very very long time, but try to remember that he was happy with you both because you gave him the time & love he needed, this tragic accident is just that, an accident & one nobody would wish on another dog owner, I know you always look after your foster dogs as your own,so Vik had the best of care. Thank you for the lovely photos of your boy, happy & content a lovely way to remember Vik xx

I missed Vik from the moment he left the kennels in the back of your car Ria, he is one of those dogs that touches you forever, as many of the people who truly knew him have said.


As you said, the only comfort I can take is that Vik had a lovely last morning and he knew nothing of his fate. It is such a great loss and I am still in shock I think... It doesn't seem real.


At least you can hold your head up and say that you gave him a way out of the extreme stress and anxiety he felt in kennels and gave him space to breathe, space for him to show himself for the loving, gentle dog that we know him to have been.

Oh Ria what sad news, you must be feeling as low as you can get.I always think things are for a reason & Vic was needed elsewhere.Think of the HAPPY TIMES, the time you spent with him the LOVE you shared & think of the fun Vic had.Those are lovely memories.My heart goes out to you.In time im sure you will think his days of FUN & LOVE out weigh his bad days.You did a wonderful thing giving Vic a happy home.Hope to see you soon. Lots of love Jan & Baz.