21st January

Today and tomorrow we are featuring Poppy.

Poppy was one of the first dogs I took in after I started Guildford Stafford Rescue in Oct 06.

Poppy came on the 1st Nov

She was brought in by a couple though she belonged to their son and daughter in law. Their son was in the Navy and away from home a lot. The daughter in law could not cope with Poppy as she had a young daughter and was expecting another baby. The family were experienced with Staffies but the lady explained she had never come across one like this! Poppy was a nightmare on the lead and the lady had a plaster on her wrist where she had fallen over whilst trying to train her! The son and his wife had bought her from an advert at approx 18months old and the lady was exasperated by Poppy's behaviour, concerned for her daughter in law and thought she would just be able to take Poppy to the RSPCA and leave her there!

She was 2 years old and already on at least her second home.

At this time I used kennels to board the dogs, so Poppy started her stay in kennels only being walked when I could take her.

She was a nightmare on the lead, running to the end of it and dashing around, so I could only walk her for short distances.She was very hyper and liked to tear a log apart in the paddock. I began to introduce some lead training and basic commands and she was very bright and quick to learn.

Then I homed her to a young couple who had just bought their first house.

She had recently had a season so we could not spay her but I discussed this with them and gave them the date when it should be done.

This was early days and I do things very differently now.

It was when I tried to contact them for the spay that alarm bells began to ring and I could not get hold of them.The man was supposed to work from home but I had always suspected she was being left for longer than they told me.Eventually I asked the local dog warden to call and she found all well but the girl was still ignoring my calls.

Then we received a call from a girl who said she was a friend of the owner and had been looking after Poppy but couldn't keep her any longer as she did not get on with her dogs so she was returning her to the kennels (I think she had rung the kennels, not even me) What a mess! Thank goodness we got her back.

It turned out the couple had split up and poor Poppy was the victim!

So she was back in kennels again. During this time we had her spayed and she had a stomach upset and became very thin. Incredibly she remembered everything from our training sessions picking up where we had left off.

Then I had a call from a lady giving a reference for her friend who wanted to adopt a dog. I home visited the lady in question and her flat was immaculate as her friend had said, though it was obvious she had some problems and had had her previous Staffie stolen! As I have said these were early days and I am a lot wiser now. I drove her to the kennels (as she had no transport) and she chose Poppy, I then drove them back to her flat some ten miles away. She could only give the donation in monthly installments. I told her she must not let Poppy off the lead to start with. She rang me later to say Poppy was wonderful,very quiet in the home and that she had already had her off the lead.

Then apparently she was in trouble with the dog warden because she had taken Poppy into town and tied her up whilst she went into a shop and someone had come out of a building opposite with a dog and Poppy had bitten it.

Then the dog warden had said she must keep Poppy on a lead but she said she needed to run and she was not prepared to.

Then I drove over with a muzzle for Poppy but a few days later she said that she couldn't have a dog with a muzzle where she lived as people assumed it was vicious. I drove over again this time to bring Poppy back.

She even asked for the donation money she had paid,  not the full amount, back, and several months later contacted me to adopt another dog! Needless to say she didn't get one.

So Poppy was back again, by now I was using another kennels where the dogs were walked twice a day by the staff. I would try and get over two or three times a week.She was starting to become really wound up by the other dogs and I used to take her out of her kennel by a back way so we didn't have to pass them. She found another log to tear apart but remarkably she remembered our training and despite everything was improving.

It was now nearly ten months since she had first come into rescue, she was on her third stay in kennels,she had had four homes and was beginning to get a reputation.Was there a future for her? Could she be rehomed?.................Not too far away a couple were looking for a Staffie to adopt........