8th February

On the Saturday of the snow I took Rosie to meet a family who were wanting to adopt a Staffie. We knew she would probably not be right for them but felt they should meet her.
It went a lot better than I expected and she showed them how 'people friendly,' Staffies are, as they had owned Rottweillers previously and were not familiar with the true Staffie character.
However, she was very excitable and with a busy household themselves they decided she was not the right dog for them.

They let us know of their decision and kept in touch and this week told us about the dog they have adopted from the RSPCA at Millbrook.
She is two years old and was a cruelty case. She was found at 6 months old totally emaciated and tied to a gas cylinder. She has never been in a house before but looks as if she has settled in now.

7th February

Apologies for yesterdays blog which was a technical mess!
It was meant to be a link to the BBC News report on microchipping and Battersea's response which was a media release but came to me as an email. I overstretched myself technically and it did not work. Our webmaster, Mark has offered to tidy it up.

Back on safe ground today; Lexus!

I have been driving Lexus up to the Football field for a walk to avoid the mud (our garden still has puddles.)
Lex has two things going on, his arthritic hip and a deformed nail. He has already had one operation to cauterize the nail but in very wet weather, and not helped by him licking it, he is prone to nail bed infections and has just finished a course of antibiotics to get over one.
He enjoys the football field, cantering around, having a sniff in the woods that border it and cocking his leg on the goal post, though he has coerced me into a game of football which he really should not be doing.

Last night I did some TTouch on him and noticed he is really beginning to lose muscle tone in his hind legs, so today I decided he should walk there rather than being driven.
He was a bit erratic on the way up but settled to his jaunty trot, carrying his ball in his mouth on the way back.
The children were coming out of school. We passed a Dad carrying one little boy on his shoulders while the older one walked beside him. He moved behind his father to pass us, giving us a wide berth, while the younger lad asked his father why the dog was carrying a ball in his mouth.
We crossed the road and there was a little tot, Nathaniel, and his sister coming towards us, though Nathaniel, who has just mastered the art of walking, kept making detours down driveways, shepherded back by his big sister. Mum was a little way behind with their new brother in his pram.
 They own a Spaniel so were undaunted by Lexus, walking right up to him, Nathaniel was snacking on a piece of carrot, I thought Lexus might think it was for him but he just deposited his ball at their feet expectantly!

On the way up the drive to the ponies I saw an older lady with a brindle Staffie, I have never seen them before.
 There is not room for a car to pass and they had to move over to the side. The lady spoke to her dog, then gestured with her hand before moving onto the grass. The Staff ambled over to her and sat down while I drove past.
 I pass a lot of dogs and their owners along there, I have never seen such a well behaved dog or owner and dog so in harmony with each other. It was a delight, a Stafford at its best!

6th February

The news of compulsory microchipping of dogs by April 2016 is good news.

It is a start as it does need back up. Most of the dogs we now deal with are chipped and chipped dogs still end up in pounds with their chip details out of date or an owner who will not turn up to claim them but eventually it will impact on back street breeders.

Here is a link to the BBC News article.

Below is the response from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home (which can also be viewed here).

5th February

Sorry it's me today folks!
Alison is have a rest after a very exhausting day. I am sure she will have recharged her batteries for the next blog.

            Alison mention in her previous blog Staffie with Responsible Owner a Facebook Group.

 Ali Taylor, of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home and The Paul O'Grady show For the Love Of  Dogs fame, started this group 2 years ago. It now has 1,790 members, it is an open group of which I am happy to say I am part of the administration team along with 6 others.

Sit nicely for the camera!

The group is about responsible Staffordshire Bull Terrier owners, Promoting education and the positive side of the breed.
It is also about having fun with our dogs and each week there are different fun competitions that are free to enter on the page.Supporting one another and promoting this breed positively. We pride ourselves on keeping this page a friendly one.

Support is given in many ways, behavioural issues, which Ali Taylor often deals with. Dogs urgently needing re homing.
One such case was a 6 year old Staffie who needed re homing as his owner had died. A lady was  interested, she had been home checked and already had an elderly Staffie, but the lady had no transport to get to see the dog. Someone kindly volunteered to pick the lady up and take her there and drop her home again. Success, the Staffie is now in a new home!  
Help comes in many forms and members are all over the U.K stretching as far as Australia, S.Africa and America.
 Why not take a look? I think you would be pleasantly surprised and who knows you may decide to become a member. 

Sadly on another note......We all have at sometime known or heard of the public's perception of our beloved breed, through newspaper article's. Experiencing pedestrians crossing the road as we walk our dogs, to comments such as they are demon dogs, those dogs bite etc. ..
Well,  I visited a well known rescue last week. Here they strip all dogs of their collars and leads, for health and safety reasons and issue them with new ones. They are the same for every dog with no distinction on breed or sex, except for their registration number tag. I was shown a collar and lead that was taken off of a dog that was bought in. As you can see from the picture the size of the collar. The lead has been re modelled with a chain and fasteners to attach to the original handle and clasp. The chain is such a large gauge that it could pull an articulated lorry and would not break! The collar would break away long before the chain. The rescue informed me that they have even had dogs with these type of collars on and the collar had been padlocked!
What type of society do we have today that feels justified in placing such a barbaric thing around a dogs neck???? 

On a happier note...

Honey and Tara

 Tara is doing well and has settled in with all of our 4, she will now cuddle up next to them instead of sleeping separate or jumping off the sofa when they get on.
 She loved the snow and ran around with Oscar, it was beautiful to watch, amazingly she can out run him!
I now have three alarm clocks to tell me it's their dinner time Daisy, Nugget and Tara. It is not until the food bowls come out Honey and Oscar show their heads. Tara is fed last and she does not attempt to go to any of the others bowl but waits patiently for hers.


Lastly Honey and Nugget, will be going to Crufts on Thursday the 7th March, Terrier Day to be in the Temptation Alley team. Honey I am hopeful will succeed, she has never let me down before but there is always the first time. While Nugget will probably pick up all the treats, the little tubs,  see someone or another dog and decides she wants to say hello! Which no doubt will bring roars of laughter from the crowd.
If this gets someone to reconsider a staffie then I am all for it!







 Author Valerie

4th February

Apologies for late and brief blog. The dogs are taking a back seat whilst we prepare for the annual inspection of the Riding School. Jessie and I worked our socks off today. Inspection is 10am Tuesday so early start for us. Rosie and Angel accompanied us today and will be in attendance tomorrow too, Rosie had great fun skipping around while we swept and shovelled.

Received an email from someone we met with their Staffie outside Pets At Home before one of our walks.
They adopted her from K9 Rescue which homes all the strays from the local councils.
I think she is stunning!

Also a picture of Ali Taylors new foster, Ernie, with Ali's dog Squirt.
Ali works at Battersea and appeared in the Paul O'Grady programmes For The Love Of Dogs.
 She also runs a Facebook group Staffy With  Responsible Owner SWRO.

2nd February

Val tells me that Oscar is back to his normal self today (whatever that is!) Her words not mine. It is good to hear that he is o.k. though, apparently getting fed up with lead walks already so that is going to be difficult for them.

Oscar being 'normal.'

Lexus' hole in the sofa has been expertly repaired with duct tape by my son.

Chloe came to see us today and she is looking fabulous and a lot less pink. She has hair on her tummy and on her legs and paws, I wish I had had my camera handy but we have been promised some more photos soon.

Tiny Chloe when she first came to us.

1st Feb

Today was very eventful but I will stick to the dog related incidents.
Oscar, Val's dog went out into the garden, something caught his eye and he took off only to slip and lose his back end, which twisted under him. He screamed and screamed and was unable to stand up. Val rushed out and gathered him up and carried him into the house. Gradually he was able to stand. They took him immediately to the vet where he had a thorough check over but they found nothing seriously wrong, he has some grazing down the inside of one leg. He has been given pain relief and must stay on lead walks for a week or so and be monitored.
It was a nasty shock for Val, what worries our dogs give us! We hope Oscar makes a speedy recovery.

Oscar posing for a special photo for 'Staffies are softer than you think.'

I walked Khan and Spryte with Steven today. It was unbelievably muddy after yet more rain in the night and water is lying on the fields.
Lexus stayed at home with the run of the living room and two sofas at his disposal. I have been taking him up to the village football field and giving him a run round there so as to avoid getting his paws too wet as that is what causes his nail bed infections. It is impossible at the moment to go down our garden without getting their paws very wet and muddy.
On our return I found he had chewed a hole in the leather (well plastic) sofa and pulled all the stuffing out!
Dave was not impressed.

The damaged sofa.

The hole.

Tonight he pushed his way between Sara and Tom on the undamaged sofa, I think that is what's called, 'Playing Gooseberry!'