As she filled out she took on the grace and beauty of the Bullmastiff breed. Though
she is not actually a good specimen of the Bullmastiff breed physically, as she is
has a crank tail, a dreadfully undershot jaw and is poor in bone, her skinny little
legs give her a dainty ladylike quality and her fabulous nature has made her a pleasure
to know.
Unfortunately not long after coming to live with us, we noticed some inflammation
of her eyes, and discovered that she had inherited her mother’s disorder of entropian.
The vet tried diathermy to destroy the hair follicles of her eyelashes, but that
was not successful. So we took her to The Willows in Shirley Birmingham where she
had an operation to loosen the muscles around her eyes and stop the lids curling
in. I am happy to report that the operation was a complete success and Martha now
has no trouble with her eyes.
Martha’s lack of early socialising did however cause us some headaches! And some
aspects were more difficult to correct than her weight and her nervousness.
Having only ever lived in a kennel, she began to view our home and garden as one
large kennel. Teaching Boz that certain areas of our home were no go areas, was relatively
easy, where as Martha adopted the attitude “if she could get to it, it was hers”.
Toilet training was a long slow process, and Martha was a compulsive licker and chewer.
Nothing was sacred and she particularly liked anything I had touched. Newly planted
plants, remote controls and my shoes being her particular favourites!! We learnt
to be much more diligent about keeping things out of reach!
Persistence, patience and time has paid off, and Martha is now a very good girl.
She has gained her Bronze in the Good Citizens Kennel Club Awards.
She is only skitsy when there are fireworks, and each year we have seen an improvement,
and now her reaction is mild, though she chooses to lie in the study, she does so
quite calmly.
The recent introduction of our two new puppies, has given Martha great pleasure and
brought our her maternal qualities. All Martha wanted was someone to love and to
be loved in return, and now she has that in abundance.
