KOBI
Kim Evans
Hill Rise Field, Old Woodstock
70 x 45 cm
Kobi was eight months old when he joined us; we don’t know much about his history other than he had more than one home, no training, no idea of a harness or what a garden was for. He was scared of everyone initially, mostly men, but would run in
the opposite direction to pretty much everyone we came across. We walked Kobi on the long training lead to work on his recall but he would go as far into the field as he could when we met another walker as he was petrified of them, so incredibly fast at zoomies. However, the transformation with Kobi over the last year has been incredibly rewarding; it seems he just needed some love and reassurance and once he received that, his confidence around dogs and people went from strength to strength.
About two weeks after Kobi joined our family, I asked a friend to visit Kobi mid-morning to let him outside into the garden. Unfortunately, the side gate had been left open that morning by a delivery courier and off Kobi ran, straight up the A44! Thankfully, thanks to our wonderful neighbours the message got out and a search party gathered within minutes who began searching for him before I had made it home from work. No one could find him and we were close to calling it quits, not sure where else to look when we pulled up to a gate and on the horizon of a freshly ploughed field was Kobi. After only having him for a couple of weeks and with a new name, this could have gone either way! Calling his name from the gate, I could see his gorgeous little head tilt towards me and I knew I had his attention. Now, how could I convince him to come towards me? Hmmm! It took us a while and he would run towards me and then run in the opposite direction, I would run towards him and then stop the minute he looked at me; it was a tricky 20 minutes of back and forth and in the end, I’d like to say he choose me but I think it was the huge bunch of sausages I had in my hand for bribery!
Dogs are always there to welcome you home with a wagging tail as you walk through the door; they forgive you for being late home or for sleeping in and they ignore the chaos and messy house. They have unconditional love for their family members and are a shoulder to cry on and a warm ball of fur to cuddle up with.
Kim Evans