Oscar's Story
Oscar was rehomed from the Wood Green Animal Shelter, Cambridge, in February 1999, he was approximately 2 years old. Sadly Oscar had been treated badly in his former home, beaten and scarred and covered in cigarette scar burns he was very worried about life. It was love at first sight for both of us though, I had never seen such a beautiful looking dog in my life.
Given how timid Oscar was initially it helped that I already had a very confident Lurcher, Jack, who helped him considerably in re-building his confidence.
Oscar would run like crazy when he was out it was as if he had never seen the outside world before and he enjoyed every minute of his walks. He didnt know how to play initially and he would watch Jack playing with all his toys but never join in. One day I caught him through the crack in a door playing very gently with a toy he had taken from the toy box. 
When I entered the room he immediately dropped the toy and looked like he thought he'd done something wrong. It was a slow process but eventually he realised the toys in the toy box were for playing with regardless of who was around. Now he really enjoys it when all the toys are put away, so he can systematically remove each one back from the toy box and pile them back up in the middle of the room again.
Apart from his walks, his other favourite pastime is laying on the sofa. On days when he knows it is raining it is almost like he is welded to it if you suggest going out for a walk. If you try and lift him he suspiciously loses all power in his legs and flops back down again. On days when caught out in the rain, he adopts the 'sucking a lemon' look and makes it very clear that he is needs to get back to his sofa asap.
Despite all he has been through Oscar is a real joker, he makes me laugh on a daily basis. He has the most gentle of souls and after regaining his health and confidence he, in turn, taught the new addition to the family - a lurcher Jake - who had also had a tough start how to 'be a dog'. Oscar has been a pure delight to live with over the years and also my inspiration for setting up this website, the rescue forum and help the other rescue Sloughis, who Oscar is related to. He really is the most special of dogs.
Oscar was immortalised in two fantastic life-sized portraits by London based artist Viv Levy who is one of Oscar's biggest fans.
Written by Caroline Mathews
For more photos of Oscar click here
Oscar's First Show
The Secretary of the SFAA, Ellen Brady, approached me earlier in 2007 and asked if I would enter Oscar into the annual SFAA Virtual Show. She said she wanted to open up a new Rescue category for him. We were honoured to be asked and of course said yes. All you need, she said, is a head shot, front, back, side and gaiting shot. Easy I thought........So the next time my sister visited (who has all the photography skills in our family!) I asked if she minded taking a few shots for us. Head, front, back, side - all taken within a few minutes. Oscar is a real poser so taking his photo is pretty easy. Then came the gaiting shot. I told my sister that I would just trot him up and down in front of her while she took some photos.......Hmmmmm. Oscar had other ideas. He thought it would be fun to bounce rather than trot on the lead beside me. We went one way, he bounced. 'I'll slow him down' I said to my sister, he managed a slow bounce instead. By this time we were both laughing at his enthusiasm which of course just further fuelled his desire to make us happy!
I told her that I'd take him off his lead, make him wait about 20 yards from me and then call him to me enabling him to trot sedately towards me.
The accompanying shots show quite how quickly this dog can accelerate over a very short distance. He bombed backwards and forwards like a complete lunatic by which time my sister and I were both so hysterical with laughter the photography just got steadily worse!
Shouting 'Steady' at him made him speed up further and he was absolutely delighted with how much attention and fun he was creating! We did eventually get some half decent shots of him when I finally put him back on the lead as free running clearly wasnt going to work!
All in all our first 'Show' provided us with much laughter and hilarity, Oscar loved being in the spotlight for his 'shoot' and reminded us again why we love him so dearly!
With thanks to my sister Liz for the photographs and the SFAA for creating a category in their show for my special boy!
To see Oscar's final shots you can visit him here at the SFAA Virtual Show 2007. Please take some time to view all of the wonderful entries and winners at this years show.
I was also awarded the SFAA Spirit of Rescue Award 2007. I share this award with my beloved Oscar, who has been my inspiration for all of the Sloughi Rescue Work.
Written by Caroline Mathews - 12 December 2007
Short Oscar Update - July 2008
Oscar has had a few silly photo shoots recently with my sister. Edie has really given him a spring in his step since her arrival and it is a joy for me to see him behaving like a puppy again despite his 11 years! I created another montage to share his comical behaviour in the last couple of months which you can see here.
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