Having made up my mind I would have a Stafford of my own when I was older I then had to wait a very long time as I lived in shared houses until my early thirties.Then I decided enough was enough and secured a relatively well paid job and rented a house to myself. This I decided was the moment and I set about looking for a Stafford puppy!
I was told about rescue and spoke to Pat Pritchard and eventually was put in touch with Joanna Mason who just happened to have a bitch with four pups at Bellmead kennels, Battersea Old Windsor.
Josh was the third smallest and the last one not to have found a home. I did receive a home check and saw the pups once, picking him up a week later. I am tremendously grateful to Joanna for allowing me to have him, I question if I was able to provide a suitable home at that time, and if I would home a dog to my past self now. I think I probably wouldn't!
I was working full time in shifts and had to sleep over several nights a week.
Fortunately for Joshua my life was about to change dramatically and at Christmas Dave proposed!
Before we were married Dave adopted a Jack Russell from Dogs in Need to keep Joshua company.
So we began married life with the two of them and have a photo of them both with us on our wedding day.
However, all that was a few months ahead you need to hear more about Joshua as a pup.
Just as children vary in temperament so I believe, do dogs, and Joshua was no ordinary dog!
Once I got him home it was almost impossible to walk across the room as he would chase your feet!
He hated the car to start with and you would have to hold him very tight else he would try to hide under the seat! I owned a Morris 1000 at that time and the first time I drove up toWarwickshire to show him to my parents was horrendous! Someone leant me a cat carrier for him to travel in ( he was tiny) but he barked continually. I tried everything even reaching the point where I felt like leaving the carrier at the side of the road and driving off! Eventually letting him sit on my lap and finishing the journey like that. The normal three hour journey took me over five hours.
However, once we arrived and he and my father met each other, my Dad kept saying,"He's a proper Staff he is, a proper Staff, Ali," I am not sure what he feared I had brought home, but anyway the feeling was mutual and they loved each other instantly. Josh seemed to think his whole life so far had been preparing him for this moment, he tore round the house and found a porcelain pot pourri pig which he carried around leaving a trail of pot pourri all over the house.
Eventually he settled to carrying flower pots from one place in the garden to another back and forth until he was exhausted.
He used to fall asleep on his back with all four feet in the air in a gap between the cushions of the sofa.
Whenever we visited my parents for years after that he would dash in and find the pig until my mother, fed up of the mess it made when all the pot pourri fell out, threw it away, but he still ran in and looked for it the second he was out of the car.
He was a terrible thief, jumping on the table to steal food especially when someone knocked on the door.
While staying with my mother in law, he stole a very rich cake she had just made and left to cool, bringing it all back a few minutes later, something she has never forgotten or forgiven him for.
He was grumpy and unreliable with other dogs but fine with our three children who came along after him.
On our wedding day when I said the words "All that I have, I give to you" one of our friends whispered to his wife "Joshua!"
Perhaps Dave should have known then the direction our life might take.
He was nearly sixteen when he died and was "old" for a very long time his body becoming more and more frail yet keeping going by spirit alone.
Near the end of his life we had just finished a walk and he was sitting in the front seat of the car, my other dogs a lurcher and a Patterdale were in the back behind the dog guard. When a young man arrived with a stunning young male Staff. I ushered him over to see Joshua who looked as if he was about to breathe his last when to our horror the young Staff jumped into the back of my car! There were some tense moments with the Patterdale going bolistic in the back and the young Staff not sure what his next move should be thankfully listening to his master and jumping out. At this point, Josh, who had been oblivious with his failing senses, saw the dog and leapt from the car grabbing the young dog's neck! Fortunately the young male was so surprised he didn't react but I was bright red with embarrasment, his body had all but given up but that indomitable spirit remained.
No comments:
Post a Comment