10th November

Congratulations to two of our Fundraisers John Ayres and Lynne Carver and their dog Sky who has been accepted as a Pets As Therapy (PAT) dog. Excellent news!  












Jesse pup's neuter went well, as with all the Staffies Jane operates on, it is as if they have had nothing done. We didn't even get a quiet evening as he seemed unaffected by the anaesthetic  but he has had a bad cough today, I presume where he had the tube down his throat. I have given him honey which helps.

Rosie continues to settle in. She had a long day at the ponies today whilst I was teaching. She likes the car, she is very anxious and shows some bizarre behaviour at times.                                    

9th November

Next Stafford Walk    Sunday 18th Novewmber   10.30am  Start

                                               from

           Godalmimg  Pets At Home store  GU7 1DR

Join us and walk your Stafford with pride.

7th November

I am pleased to tell you that Lexus is much improved!
 On walks he carries his leg some of the time, or walks or canters powering off his good leg. I was going to write this yesterday and say that he could no longer manage his jaunty trot but today he even managed a few steps of that, as well as standing on his left leg and cocking his right, which he certainly couldn't do last week.
So the anti-inflammatorys are working, he is almost half way through the course. We may still x ray to see what is going on, I will discuss it with Jane.

His naughtiness however remains unabated, if not worse, he has traumatised Rose because she left 'food' in her crate and he barks throughout his meal preparations (now quite lengthy due to getting tiny pill out of packet then hiding it in his food)  whatever we do to stop him has no effect whatsoever!


Rose came on Sunday. She is just over six months old and quite a big girl. She was living in a third floor flat with just a balcony for toileting, having said that she is perfectly house trained. They couldn't keep her because owning a dog was in breach of their tenancy agreement. Val went round to assess her and said she needed some input which is proving about right.
As well as finding out about Rose's little ways it is yet another adjustment. At first we put her in Chance's old crate under the kitchen table but it proved to be too exposed so now we have put her in the hall next to Angel. The crate however was not very strong so this evening we swapped them around, resulting in some radical cleaning taking place! During said cleaning I became aware of odd noise in the kitchen, it turns out we have a leak from the valve into the boiler in the   cupboard which is dripping through the kitchen ceiling.
 First available appointment 28th November!

Rose.

Getting back to Rose,or any other new dog, it is always an exacting time. Is the dog behaving like this because it is stressed by the new environment, or is there a serious behavioural problem. As they begin to settle and respond, is it your magic touch or had they really been well trained in their former home?
And working out who gets on with who and who you can double up for a walk and which walk is best etc
It all takes a while and, depending on the dog, sometimes more dogs are easier than one tricky one.
I have been a bit tired, hence the lack of blogs this week.

4th November

A lovely email from Christine letting us know about one very happy Boycie! I can't believe it is only two weeks since I took him over there, it feels as if he has been there for ever and certainly looks like he has!
Thank you Christine and Malc for giving Boycie a home of his own.



Hi Alison
 
Well, I was hoping to get some lovely photos of boycie running in the fields this weekend but this morning is just a wash out!  He has played ball as usual with me mucking out and him bringing me his tennis ball to throw and he never tires!! but he's now laying flat out by the log stove with hubby as usual, looking very happy and hot.
 
Photo attached and excuse the washing drying.

 
I was very proud of Boycie at dog obedience, although at the beginning, he did act as though he would like to eat the other two dogs in the class; one a lovely puppy and the other a newly adopted mongrel from a local rescue centre.  He was very stressed to start with, and did leave a big parcel in the middle of the hall just to prove his stress.  However, half way through the class, he was much calmer and did pay attention to me and less to the other dogs.  He was very obedient walking to heal and as you know he is a very bright boy and sits and gives his paw on command  and he learned to lie down towards the end.  He jumps in the car with enthusiasm and has not been sick once I am pleased to say.
 
We wouldn't part with him for anything now and I think he is very happy being the only dog and getting lots and lots of attention!

3rd November

We recently heard from Nathalie with an update on Dolly :-

Sorry not to have been in contact for a while. I thought you might
enjoy a quick update on Dolly. She continues, as always, to be a
delight! She comes to school with me every day to drop the kids off
and pick them up. She waits patiently by the school gates and has
become something of a mascot with all the other children. If for some
reason she can't come with me, I regularly find disappointed children
in tears looking for her!

Here are some photos of her enjoying her most recent holiday in Wales!

2nd November

There was a half dead pigeon down the garden this morning, I had to put it out of its misery. The next dog to go out afterwards was Angel. She sniffed the spade I had used, followed my scent down the garden, sniffed where the deed was done, came back up sniffed the bottom of the spade and then sniffed the top so she knew I had held it. A complete recall of events told in doggy language! She should definitely work for the police, as a detective!

Rhea and her best friend Senna.

I saw Saffy this evening with Jude and Adam. She was like a different dog, pleased to see me but so calm with no jumping up. The furniture has been re-arranged to accommodate her bed and she just ignores the cat. She has adopted the bean bag, has her own sofa upstairs and sleeps flat out on whatever piece of furniture takes her fancy when no-one is there!
It is lovely to see her so happy.
 They are going to continue fostering for a few more weeks to really let her settle in and make sure it is going to work for everyone.
Adam wants us to know he does get properly dressed and is not always to be found in his pyjama trousers which appear in most of the photos.

Here is a pic to prove it.

1st November

Things are moving so fast I think I had better publish this quickly. This is the link for the story on Kos the Staffie sniffer dog which our webmaster Mark looked up for us.
Gareth says there is a part on the website where you can nominate a dog.(We are sending Angel's details shortly!)

I will add to this later as we almost had our own news story to top it!

http://www.avonandsomerset.police.uk/LocalPages/NewsDetails.aspx?nsid=26320&t=1&lid=1


At lunchtime today I was just driving to Homebase when I heard on the radio the sad story of a 71 year old lady who was believed to be attacked by her daughter's five dogs when she went to feed them and suffered a fatal heart attack. At the time not many other details were known. The dogs were big Bull breeds (Dogue De Bordeaux) and it happened at Morden (very close to Val) I then received a text from Val as they were listening on the way to take the dogs to the beach. Jeremy Vine the presenter (obviously not a dog lover himself) was asking why anyone would want to keep five or more dogs! I sat in Homebase carpark listening, convinced that at any moment I would hear Val telling Jeremy she not only owned five SBT's but she was, at that time, on holiday with them and they all slept in bed with her and hubby!
 It didn't happen but only because Val did not get through in time!

Having a drink, hasn't she grown?

I saw little Chloe today. She is really looking fantastic. Now five months old.  Abi will treat her mange again in the next few days.

With her young owner Evie- paying attention!

News from Kerry about Rhea our agility star. Last weekend she had a seven year old girl run her. All was going brilliantly, a really fast round. when the little girl got flustered and Rhea responded by jumping head height and trying to kiss her!

Jesse (now 6 months) is off a week tomorrow Friday 9th November to be 'snipped and chipped.'

We have a new dog 7 month old Rose coming in on Sunday.