17th February

Ooh! It has been another lovely day. We keep getting these hopeful days amongst the bleak, cold, wet ones.

Due to the way the day went I did not walk Sandy and Spryte until after 4pm. It was still lovely and light! In fact I saw the sun sink from the Kale field and by the time we got  home the birdsong filled the dusk.

Early Spring and I love it.

 Not so pleasant for the next few days I believe.

There is lots going on with the dogs but we are not always able to share it with you for one reason or the other.

We had an email from a lad wondering if his dog, whom he had bought at 9 weeks as a Stafford, was a Stafford as his vet had said it was a Pitbull and refused to see it. He enclosed lots of photos which we forwarded to John Laker chairman of SBT Welfare. John replied that in his opinion it was a Stafford, although bigger than the breed standard which should be no more than 16 ins to the shoulder, this chap was a good 18ins at 8 months.

It is very hard to tell a Pitbull from a Stafford and it is a lot more complicated than just height.

I recently heard of a vet telling someone who had a rescue Stafford that it was not a Stafford but a Pitbull because it was too tall for a Stafford. I have not seen this dog but apparently it is calm and well behaved, good with other dogs and in a home with children, so for a vet to say that seems to me very un-helpful.

I know my horse vet seems to spend considerable time debating this topic with his pals at the pub, concluding that it is just a question of height, I ought to put him right on this but we are always pre-occupied with something else so unless I join them at the pub.............no, they deserve to relax and probably would not listen to my opinion anyway!

Last night Lexus did join me on the bed where we both then fell asleep and were found by a very angry Daddy on his return home! Tut, tut!