The life of a four-year-old collie called Mossie has been completely transformed by owners Susan and Malcolm Proud, who adopted him after he faced years of abuse.
Susan adopted Mossie after he was rescued by the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA).
When Susan first met Mossie, while she was “instantly in love”, she noticed he was “petrified” and “scared of everything”.
Mossie was left with “no hair in places around his body”, according to Susan.
Abuse
Mossie’s hair is still slowly growing back, with many patches over his body where the skin was badly damaged.
“It makes me so upset to think about the abuse, there’s absolutely no excuse.
“He’s not the prettiest site, he won’t attract all of the girls, but we love him and everybody who meets him loves him too,” Susan told Agriland.
After passing the inspection process from the ISPCA, Susan drove to Mallow where she met and brought Mossie home.
She keeps in contact with the association to communicate with photos of Mossie.
Part of the family
Susan said that from the first day, Mossie was brought into their home, she was “his person”.
It took Mossie a while to build a relationship with her husband, Malcolm as he was “scared of men”.
It’s still a work in progress relationship, but as you can see from the photos, the two are slowly working on building a great friendship.
Susan said over time he also formed a relationship with her daughter’s dogs, who act as “companion dogs” for Mossie.
After building trust between the dogs, Mossie now regularly goes on walks with the other dogs.
“He is such an intelligent dog. He would have made a great working dog. The minute you call him, he’s by your side and incredibly obedient too,” Susan said.
“When he goes for walks, he doesn’t really know how to play. The other dogs will all go chasing the frisbee or ball and he never really does that.
“But what he does is, he’s herding all of the time. So, he runs around in circles, making sure that the other dogs are not getting out of his circle,” Susan said.