My DogsBlog.com

I would like to share the story so far of Chubbs - My Staffie Cross who I rescued a couple of months ago. I will start at the begining

 Following the sad death of my whippet Lola, my other dog, a loyal Border Collie named Ben, became noticeably sadend / quiet. He was used to having another dog about the place and so I decided to look for a pal for him and indeed for me! I wanted to rescue a dog as I felt guilty about buying one from a breeder when there are thousands of dogs in rescue centres across the country. I paid a couple of visits to the RSPCA / County Police rescue centre, Deerness Kennels in Durham. I wanted to make sure I had the right dog, the one who a. got on with Ben and b. needed the most help.

Chubbs was at the kennels with the help of the Dogs Trust. Abandoned by his previous owner (still with his ID tag on can you believe) he was brought in with a broken rear right leg. It is unclear if it was broken before or after he was abandoned, but it was unfortunately too late to save it and it had to be amputated. The first time I saw Chubbs I didnt even realise! I think it took me about five minutes to notice, the rate he was running about and jumping up it just was not noticeable!

I walked Ben while the handler walked Chubbs the other side - they got on really well! This was a suprise as Ben is very picky with who he makes friends withm but the reaction was great. Chubbs went back to his kennel and I took Ben home to consider the options. It was an easy decision to make, Chubbs was so friendly, he just wanted to play, even after being in the kennels unwanted by anyone else since before Christmas 2006- thats three months and no one wanted him! Bearing in mind this is the police / dog warden / stray centre for the ENTIRE COUNTY OF DURHAM and it has hundereds of people visit, I was shocked.

And so Chubbs became part of the family. He even knew how to shake hands, sit and lie down already - the handlers at the kennel had been teaching him.

Chubbs settled in nicely. It was clear he had not been house trained as he had some accidents - this can be expected of any dog and he soon learnt that outdoors was the place to do his business with a little training - he even lets me know now that he needs to go out by sitting at the door and giving me a couple of little barks.

Chubbs is such a happy dog, he doesnt let the fact he has three legs change his personality in the slightest. I cant for the life of me work out why anyone would want to abandon him or why so many people did not want him. Im proud to be his owner and am pleased to be able to give him the quality of life that such a loving, funny, charismatic dog deserves.

I have taken the liberty of enclosing some photos - one of Chubbs and Ben together on my bed (cheeky dogs!) and one of Chubbs with myself today. Also, a link to Chubbs’s very own page on the strayaction.co.uk website - me picking him up with some of the people from the centre > http://strayaction.co.uk/viewpage.php?page_id=6 Deerness do a lot of good work and I highly recommend them - and if you are thinking of getting a dog, think how much more rewarding it will be, knowing that you have given an otherwise homeless dog a chance to have a decent life.

More to come on Chubbs as he progresses - I have just brought him a new dog house to live in during the day, so news on that to come.

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When you book your holidays you will need to think of your canine companion.

Make sure you have tried and tested accomodation either kennels or friends that are able to care for your canine family member. The best thing to do is to try a day at the kennel / home without you, then a night, then a weekend. This gives you a break, but being able to coe to the place if required, before you fly off to a dog in a place they hate or a person that has no idea of what they have taken on.

We have a friend who is going to trial looking after Max soon and she is already a doggie person and looks after othe dogs of friends as well. We are going on walks together and will aim to do an overnight stay soon.

Another friend is booking a lady to stay in her house when they go away. This means no upheaval to the dog. The lady is a house sitter / dog sitter so there is a charge, but it works for a lot of people. I would say always find and follow up references and do the introductions to ensure your dog is happy with their temporary auntie / uncle.

We have a few friends that use a local kennels… different kennels but all have good reputations. They have done the overnight stay, a weekend stay and 1 family is due to go on holiday and have booked their doggy family member in for the week plus the night before and the night following. Every day the dog is in a kennel has a charge, also there is collection times, drop off times and what each kennel does for exercising, kennel time and play time varies. So, always visit the recommended kennels in the area and see what you like, the people maketh the place…

The other suggestion is to get a pet passport and go on the tunnel to France. The passports cost about £150 + to do all the bits to gain the certificate, last a year and can take 9 months to go through the proceedure to get… so maybe try next year’s holiday.

How about a UK based holiday… try maybe a B+B farm house - www.farmstay.co.uk or one of the cottage holiday sites that allow dogs. We have done both and we all enjoyed it and will be doing more holidays like this over the next few years.

Just remember, your dogs need to be ok in a house, you can not leave them at the cottage or farm house and you must have them under control at all times… furniture and fittings are not for dogs to lay on or stand on, etc. Treat it as you would a new home and a fun place to explore.

There are lots of things you can do with your dog…
walk along the cliffs in Dorset
go to the Isle of Wight for a day trip / weekend
explore the New Forest
explore the wilds of Devon or Cornwall
the list is endless….

Have Fun,

Vx

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