Busta

People said we mad to get a dog we had never met and only ever seen on the internet, (perhaps they thought he might turn out to be a serial killer) but we had seen Tony’s Sloughis (Leo, Vicky and Streaky) in our local park and had met Troy so we had a pretty good idea of what he might be like and thought he would suit us perfectly. We don’t know much of Busta Rhymes’ history except that he was rescued in South Wales, was about five years old, and fostered in Liverpool by Hilda, on behalf of Lurcher Link, who did sterling work with him.

He came to us early in 2007. He can’t tell us what has happened to him but it is written all over his body with what looks like cigarette burns in various places and scars that could be the result of being used in dog fighting to get more aggressive dogs pumped up.

What look like barbed wire scars could be an indication that he was used for rabbiting. Poor boy – he is such a gentle soul. E-mails went back and forth between us and Hilda and I began to dream of him at night. I think I fell in love with him before I’d even met him.

Hilda was worried that he might attack our cat but we knew Oscar Kokoschka better. Hilda decided that she would like to bring Busta (or Barnaby as he then was) to us herself so that if he turned out to be unreliable with cats she could take him back. In the event, Oscar took one look at Busta, gave a tremendous hiss that terrified Busta, and to this day Busta is too scared to walk past Oscar on the stairs or in the hall. He was the same with our chickens. If he had to walk past them he just put his head down and pretended he wasn’t there.

However, his relationship with our other dog, Molly, is one that was made in heaven. They adored each other from the moment they met and lie together on the sofa with their paws round each other. Molly has taught him how to play. About a month after he came to us he found a windfall apple and began throwing it and chasing it around the lawn like he had seen her do with tennis balls. If he knew we could see him he stopped immediately.

His latest trick is to play with paper. He’s a bit like McCavity the Mystery Cat – because when you get to the scene of the crime McCavity’s not there and Busta is sitting look like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth and a newspaper has been torn to shreds and littered round the room. He has now turned his attention to important letters from Inland Revenue so we can’t leave any papers lying around anymore.

Soon after he came to us we had a Sloughi reunion in some fields nearby and everyone got to see what a handsome boy he is. Then came the parade in the Bath Cats and Dogs Home Open Day. He looked so dapper and rakish with his red bandana and behaved impeccably. That was the day a new dog came into his life – Mogwai the mini Yorkie – dog my daughter rescued but couldn’t look after herself. They rub along together but don’t have the same mutual fan club relationship that he and Molly have but nonetheless the three of them have turned themselves into a pack and look out for each other when out for walks.

We couldn’t have wished for a more lovely dog to join us than Mr Busta Rhymes!

Written by Wren Sidhe Oct 2007

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