Chance found himself, like so many Staffords these days, as a stray in the pound kennels.
Luckily for him he caught the eye of Rebecca who works there
. She sent us several emails asking if we could help. As we were full we tried not to look but when we unexpectedly homed Peppa during our week of fundraising at Pets at Home in October, I emailed Rebecca to say we had a place, (whether this was strictly true is debatable, and certainly my family would not agree!)
Having spent all day at Pets at Home I got in to pick up call after desperate call from Rebecca asking me to confirm if I could take him as the dogs were being transferred to Battersea that afternoon, and one final call saying I was too late, they had gone.
After lots of calls and emails and the help of modern technology we had a plan in place for the next day with our friend Ali Taylor who works at Battersea.
Ali explained she was at Battersea Old Windsor the next day but she would see what she could do.
The next morning however I had a call from her saying, 'They are here!'
It was all very exciting as we tried to establish which one he was and confirm it with his number by text as I navigated my way to the kennels.
Rebecca sent a text saying,'He is black brindle, stressed and when you stroke him he licks his lips.' I forwarded it to Ali who sent a photo back and said this must be him. She had separated him from the others and put him in an office. I sent the picture to Rebecca who sent a text back saying, 'That's him! Yahoo!'
It was dramatic stuff.
The last time I had been to BOW was when I adopted my first Stafford, Joshua, as a nine week old puppy. It felt like a lifetime ago.
Ali showed me the recent intake and why it was so hard to establish which one he was from my description, 'Brindle, staffie, entire male.' There were half a dozen fitting that description!
However, when I walked into the building there was the most terrible noise. 'Oh,' I innocently remarked, 'I hope that's not who I've come to collect?' The receptionist smiled sympathetically ......it was!
We popped him in the car whilst Ali showed me around and he was quiet, but I began to feel worried.
Once home my fears were realised.
With our system the one thing we need is for dogs to settle quietly in their crates.
Once in his crate Chance went mad, clearly stressed he made THE most terrible noise.
I rang David Egan in tears, he could not hear me above the noise but managed to give me enough advice.
He advised sitting with my back to the crate until he calmed down. Immediately I could feel him calming.
I ate my dinner there and even wrote the blog there that night!
BUT I did wonder what I had taken on.
Having got through the first night, I did manage to get to bed, Chance did settle though he was very insecure and stuck to me like glue for weeks.
He has now grown in confidence.
He has been neutered and vaccinated, we think he is quite young, 12 to 18 months
He is a stunning looking dog and my vet thinks he is one of the nicest dogs we have ever had.
He is very responsive and easy to train.
Chance needs a home where he can bond with one person and ideally accompany them to work, he would be happy pottering around whilst they worked out of doors. He could live with another dog but needs plenty of attention, he does not 'read' other dogs very well at the moment.
He has lots of energy and would need a home where he could have off lead runs.
It is a sign of the times that he has not yet found a home.
No comments:
Post a Comment