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Buttons—One Year On

Buttons in September 2003

Buttons has now been with us for a whole year. In that time we have moved from England to Switzerland, and I have given up work and am at home full time with the dogs. We live in a much nicer house now, and are out in the middle of the Swiss countryside as opposed to living in suburban England. So for a dog like Buttons who had spent the previous eight and half years of his life living in the same kennels it has been a year filled with some fairly big changes.

Buttons when I first met him at kennels in October 2002 refusing to be bribed with food

But despite all of the change and challenges in his life Buttons has blossomed. It is hard to describe how much his personality has emerged, and how much he has contributed to our household. When I first saw Buttons on the Internet I wanted to go and meet him because I felt sorry for him. Everyone at the kennels tried to warn me that he was a very nervous dog who would not be bribed with food or affection, and to begin with they were right. I visited Buttons several times and he was never pleased to see me! When I asked to take Buttons home for a few days to see how he would manage away from kennels I don't think anyone believed he would cope (I will admit that even I had doubts). Well, twelve months later, I think Buttons has astounded us all at how well he has not just coped, but thrived.

I think the best way to sum it all up would be to say that Buttons is now well and truly a dog. He loves to dig, and has several ongoing 'projects' in the back garden. His favourite foods are cheese and liver, but frankly he is a quiet and cunning thief. Anything left unattended is fair game, and will be taken back to his bed for further investigation. Needless to say that after he swiped the roast lamb leg we had set out for Sunday lunch one weekend we are now a lot more careful about what we leave lying around. Buttons loves bones, and will spend hours outside in the garden chewing a large beef knucklebone.

Buttons with his favourite toy rabbit

He is rather territorial about his home, and enjoys barking at the occasional car that comes up the track leading to our house. He will play with toys and has several favourites that he likes to place carefully in his bed and then lie on. In fact he is a keen 'nester' and missing objects are often found stashed away in his special corner. Socks and shoes are real favourites, but his repertoire has included tissues, an apron, coats, a dog harness, post, and even baubles off the Christmas tree.

He is very demanding when he thinks he deserves attention, and will lie in his bed and 'huff' noisily until someone comes over to fuss him. He is a deeply affectionate dog who frequently gets up just so he can come and place his head in your lap (if his huffing hasn't got you out of your seat first).

He has become very vocal and if he wants something he will always come and tell me. He is very food motivated and if dinner is even a few minutes late he will stand behind me in the kitchen the entire time I am preparing it and make quiet wuffing noises. If that doesn't get the desired effect (i.e. dinner immediately) then he has been known to come up behind me and gently nip me! He has also learnt the power of those big, brown, eyes, and uses them to full advantage at every opportunity!

Buttons does still find the outside world a very scary place, and when I am getting ready to take the other three dogs out for a walk he will usually go and lie on his bed. He prefers to stay at home alone (with a treat) rather than accompany us out on walks. But despite not coming for many walks he does love to run. We are fortunate in that our back gate opens out onto a large area of pastureland, which apart from the occasional cow is usually deserted.

When I return from a walk Buttons is always waiting at the back door for me (and will bark if he thinks I am too slow opening it for him). Once in the garden we play a little game whereby I hold his collar up for him and he runs away from me. The idea is that I have to chase him and put his collar on, and then once that is on he will come outside of the back gate for a run. Although the space available to him is almost limitless he rarely goes too far from the house and me. One day he did get a little carried away and ran right to the top of the hill. When he finally stopped and turned around he panicked when he saw how far he was from the house, and raced all the way back down, eventually colliding with my legs. After that he didn't go far for a long time!

If we have visitors Buttons rarely moves from his bed in the corner, and if the weather is nice he will actually just stay out in the garden. Many people are not aware we have four dogs until we mention it to them. And I think that this is probably the thing that makes having Buttons as part of our family special. Very few people will ever see the true Buttons because he is so shy and reserved. We feel privileged to have been able to see this wonderful dog emerge from his shyness, and we will always be grateful that we were the ones he choose to show his true character to.

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