bongo

Bongo

Bongo came to us on 4th February 2005 aged 9 weeks via Amanda at Endangered Dogs. He was one of a litter of GSD/Rottweiller pups that they were having difficulty finding homes for after they became their responsibility having rescued them from a travellers site in Dorset. Seen here curled up in a garden planter it was hard to picture him growing up to be the 50 kg hunk that he is now.

From day one he became the favourite playmate for Bonnie and Kane, and soon learned to take the rough and tumble of the continuous play with a puppy a year older than himself (Bonnie) and fully grown Kane who was/is rough but still quite gentle in his playing with the two youngsters.

Bongo now out weighs every member of our pack and uses his size to his advantage whenever he is jumped on when the others tune in to play mode.

Bongo has been a loveable liability from his chewing stage onwards, having devoured all manner of household items. On many occasions he has caused us concern with the items he has devoured, times like the day he consumed a days worth of my medication. My vet contacted the poisons unit and one of the tablets in particular was expected to cause him serious problems. He was treated with de-activated charcoal, and we were warned that he may fit, have difficulty breathing, and was expected to be out for the count for a number of days. NOT Bongo he came home from the vets played in the garden and showed no ill effects at all. Another time he decided to eat a cat food tin, once again he was rushed in to the vets where he lay there quite the thing while they x-rayed his tummy. The fragments showed clearly on the x-ray, and being reluctant to carry out the surgery required to remove them he was given high fibre Science Plan Diet food in the hope that the shards of metal would pass through the system. Once again we were warned he may wretch and if this did occur he should be hurriedly returned to the veterinary clinic to under go surgery to remove the offending fragments. NOT Bongo, once again he returned home and carried on his playful antics as usual with no ill effects.

Since this time he has eaten brick, slate, wood, magazines, cardboard boxes, another tin can, not forgetting to mention the leg of the breakfast bar. NONE of the above items have caused any ill effects leaving us to believe this dog has the constitution of an ox.

There is not a door, window, or dog gate that can contain this dog, and we have even had to raise our garden fencing to the height of 61/2 feet to ensure this athletic lump remains on our property. Even then we have been out and returned home to be greeted at the front gate by Bongo who had decided to jump out of the second storey bedroom window. Once again we were concerned he may have injured himself having taken such a leap, but NOT Bongo. He showed no signs of any injury or strain from his escape, just very pleased with himself that he was the first to be able to great us upon our return.

He has found that he gets away with murder as we cannot help ourselves from raising a smile when we return home to find Bongo with the remnants of his latest destruction in his mouth, wagging his tail offering it to you all be it of no further use to man nor beast.

We have to say that after recent outings we have returned to find nothing out of place, and we are hoping that this phase is now at an end. But not wanting to take anything for granted we secure all doors and windows and clear any tables and work tops of any items that we feel we would rather keep intact.

Bongo is a well loved character at our veterinary practice even though he has wrecked computer key boards and cleared their reception counter of all manner of items they may have on display at the time. The amusement on the faces of the receptionists as they see Val being dragged around the reception area as she tries to contain his excitement at being greeted by friendly faces and the inevitable Bonio or similar treats he knows he will receive on arrival. We have been told on many occasions that there are at least half a dozen of the veterinary nurses that would adopt him in a flash, but despite his antics we would not part with him for the world.

He has the appearance of a Rottweiler but has the intelligence of the GSD and everyone that meets him immediately falls in love with this outgoing loveable rogue.

It is with thanks to Amanda and his first foster mum that we have the pleasure of sharing our lives with this chap, and look forward to a very entertaining future.

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bongolarge

Bongo has now passed his Bronze Good Citizen Award and is now all set to work towards the Silver. We feel that keeping up the training with Bongo is most important given recent bad press to such breeds. We are hoping that Bongo will serve to impress on negative thinking locals that such breeds do not impose the threats portrayed in recent news reports.