'In February 2008, we lost our adored wheaten Charlie, he reached the good age of 16 and a half years and he was a rescue wheaten.   We like the wheaten breed and decided we would try and rescue another dog.   We trawled the Internet and found a breeder of Wheaten Terriers who also assisted in the re-homing of rescue dogs.   We sent an email and asked her to consider us.  In March 2008 she contacted us to say there was a possibility of an 18 month old male called Benny.   He had been neglected, his coat was badly matted, he was covered in tractor oil and he had been tied up on a farmyard with a rope with a tractor his only protection from the elements.   After much interrogation by the breeder as to our suitability as dog owners and our own efforts to ensure that we had dog walkers we arranged to transport Ben from Ireland to our home in Shropshire.   At 4am on a cold winter's night we travelled to a service centre near Bristol and waited for the transporter and Ben to arrive.    When Ben arrived he still had the rope round his neck and it took us 30 minutes to cut it off.   It had been that tight for so long his coat was growing through the rope and we also had to cut away some of his hair.   We travelled home arriving at 6am.   Ben was clearly exhausted so after a quick bite to eat we settled him on his new bed.   We then went to bed and at 10am we got up and went to check on him.   He was so excited to see us he had an accident (no worries and understandable).   We took him for a brief walk - which was very interesting as he didn't know how to walk with a collar and lead but with some persuasion (fresh chicken) we managed.   Then to tackle his coat, we bathed him three times and it was clearly stressful trying to brush out the knots and matted hair so we decided to clip him instead.   One thing we had noticed is because of the condition of Ben's coat he couldn't actually stretch.   He does nothing but stretch all the time, morning noon and night.   The first evening he spent with us, Rob was lying on the settee having a glass of wine.   Ben was lying on the floor and suddenly he jumped up and lunged towards Rob, my instinct was oh no he was about to attack Rob.   He landed on his chest put one paw on one shoulder the other on the other and laid his head on Rob's chest.   We knew then he'd found his forever home.

The first few weeks were difficult, Ben didn't know how to play, we gave him a ball and other toys and he would stare blankly at them, there were quite a few toilet accidents, but slowly we taught him where to go to the toilet by using the words wee wee and a treat.   Those first few weeks Ben would steal food from anywhere, now he knows that he gets regular meals and no longer steals.   One of the saddest times Ben was upstairs with Rob and as we have roof windows Rob was closing one with a stick.   Ben saw the stick and in absolute fear he ran downstairs and shaking uncontrollably tried to climb under the settee.   Whilst we don't know what happened to Ben, he was clearly suffering from stress and a lack of confidence which included and intense dislike of small animals and dangerous lunging at 4x4 vehicles.   Any strange noises and he would cower in the corner.   We took our time showing Ben that he would never be hit with a stick in this home, now that same stick is used for tickling his tummy and it is fabulous to see the laughter in Ben's eyes.   We have also managed to get Ben to play with toys, we used a ball with Bells and a treat inside and gradually he has learnt that play can be fun - a bit too much fun sometimes

We discussed at length how to improve Ben's confidence and reduce his stress and we decided to take him to obedience classes.   At first we had individual lessons and gradually Carol introduced her dogs.   Then he took his bronze test and passed.   Then we joined a class and guess what his best friend is a West Highland terrier called Lucy.   He has now passed his silver and working his way to gold - he's nearly there the problem we are having is he wont stop playing with his toy.   An added bonus is the dog walkers son was very nervous of dogs, but now whenever he is on school holidays he insists his mum takes him when she is walking Ben.   He's gained such confidence with Ben and regularly plays with him in Bluebell Wood.   His coat is now an abundance of golden curls and he's still stretching.  We're going to continue with dog classes after he gets his gold, he loves  it and so do we.     He's not perfect but to think how far he has come on in 14 months when he didn't know how to play never mind sit, down, to the mat,  stay etc, we know he'll get his gold soon but he's our golden boy already.'

Rob and Paula Gill

UPDATE - July 2009

Aunty Debs, I hope you are well and I am sending cuddles through the internet and next week I get presented with my certificate - dad will take a photo.   I have now changed classes and will be doing retrieving work and heel work to music.

Thank you for finding my forever home - love from your favourite nephew BEN"