My DogsBlog.com

As a child i had grown up with dogs, in the whole of my life there have only been 2 weeks of having no dogs in the house. We have had a Springer Spaniel (Tess, a rescue, who lived to 18),  a Cavalier King Charles x (Kelly, a rescue, who lived to 17), a Greyhound (Sophie, currently 8, a rescue) and a Border Collie (Bart, currently 7, not a rescue). I was desperate for my own dog though as these were family pets. Having convinced my parents that i would in fact be leaving home and moving in with my partner in the very near future (1 year later it eventually happened!) they agreed that i could bring a 3rd dog into the house! I had gone up to the RSPCA in Leicester to the pet shop there as i needed a few bits for my Chinchilla, whilst there i decided to have a look at the dogs. A male was out of the question as our Border Collie, whilst submissive in every way possible to our female Greyhound, would not tolerate another male. As i walked through the kennels i could have taken everyone of them home. All the dogs stand looking at you with begging eyes, wagging their tails. Then i came across a small black and white dog, leaping up at the cage door, licking frantically through it, crying, tail going mad - an absolute nutter. Reading her information sheet she was found as a stray, was messy, wasn’t housetrained, had seperation anxiety, hadn’t been tested with other dogs, crazy on the lead and not a good traveller. Everything was wrong about this dog, EVERYTHING! Yet when i put my hand through to stroke her she wrapped her front paws around me to love me and that was it, that was the dog i had to have! Things didn’t improve there though. Having registered my details with the reception i was allowed to meet Zoe. It turned out that Zoe had been found near to a travellers site with no fur left on her body and covered in petrol, her fur was just growing back which is why it looked so scraggy. I called my Dad to come and walk her with me and we took her together. It was pooring with rain and this dog had absolutely no control. On the lead she jumped madly in the air, she wrapped my legs in knots with the lead and when she stopped for breathe she tried to eat the lead. Her hair had parted right down the middle of her back where it had rained on her and she looked so cute, even so i was convinced my Dad was going to turn around and ask what on earth i was thinking of we made our way back to the kennels. I was completely gobsmacked when we walked into the kennels and my Dad asked where we went from here. It turns out Zoe’s magical charm had got him hooked too!! We had to arrange for our 2 dogs to come and meet Zoe and see how they got on, we would also need to have a home check and Zoe would need to be spayed before being released. We bought Bart and Sophie to meet her and she loved them, although Sophie had to tell her a few times when she leaped on her!! the ladies at the RSPCA were happy with this so now Zoe was booked in for her op and we were booked in for our home check. That night i went to B&Q and spent £90 on trellis to make one of the garden fences high enough (as Zoe was an acrobatic Lurcher it needed to be 6ft). The next day a lady came to do the home check. I hadn’t slept the night before, cleaning, tidying and worrying about what it would involve. When she turned up she took a look at the garden and the crate, saw our other 2 dogs and was quite happy, she signed the release form and that was that. I picked my partner up from Uni at 3pm and we went straight to the RSPCA to pick her up. When they bought her into recpetion she was as mad as before and Lee looked at me as if to say - are you mad?! But when we got in the car, he sat on the back seat with her and she curled up with her head on his knee and didn’t move until we got home. She worked her magic on him and my Mum & Sister too when they got in. She was mad and wrong in so many ways, but that was it, we all loved her!

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This is the story so far of a dog called Alfie…

I had been daydreaming about getting a dog for over a year, since my flatmate moved out and took his dog with him. However, my work commitments prevented me from considering it seriously as was out of the house all day.

Recently however, my partner has changed jobs and is now working shifts. This meant that we could realistically look at getting a dog because someone was almost always in the house.

Last Saturday (21/07/07) we decided to go and look round our local kennels and rescue centre, Deerness kennels in Langley Moor, Durham. I must say, it was a heart rending experience, at one point I was in floods of tears but I am so glad I went!

We looked around for about 45 mins, took a few dogs for a walk and were quite taken by a few, though the ones I was taken by weren’t the same ones my boyfriend Ant liked!

We went and looked around again and I happened to notice a lovely friendly looking young dog that I hadn’t seen before, just sitting quietly at the door, watching us intently. I went up to the door to say hello and he just started wagging and trying to lick me through the wire. I fell in love with him instantly and thankfully so did Ant! He was a medium sized, predominantly tan wirey haired lurcher, probably greyhound x some type of terrier.

He had been brought in as a stray, found working the fields, looking for rabbits etc but was in good condition (so he must have found some!)

 Unfortunately he had to stay at the kennels til the Tuesday as he had only come in the previous Monday, so Tuesday eventually came round and we collected him and (unfortunately!) had to pose for a photo, where our new friend decided to give the kennel owner an eyeful by catching my vest top with his paw and pulling it down while I was knelt down next to him! How embarrassing!

We decided to call him Alfie.

 When we got him home he had a good look round, checked everything out and decided the best place for him was the bed! Totally chilled, just lying there looking at us (photo to follow!) and even got down whenI told him to!

He has had a steady stream of visiters since he arrived, and he has charmed the socks of every one (even my mother!) He is such a loving dog, just wants to climb all over everyone and lick them to death! He has stolen 3 cuddly toys, a tin out of the rubbish, my feather duster which he invaribley had mistaken for a green and black pheasant and plucked all the feathers out and ate half of Ant’s beans on toast! Ant had, in his wisdom, left the beans on toast on the coffee table when he went to answer the phone! Well what do you expect!!

Alfie has been sleeping on my bed (yes, I know, bad girl!!) and would get in the bed given the chance and on Tues night I woke to find his paw in my ear!

He is just such an amazing dog, he even made my mother follow him downstairs because she had left the front door of my flat open and he kept going backward and forward til she came to look and thats what he was showing her. He could have easily walked out the door but he seems to have decided that he is at home with us. We are so lucky to have found him, he is just perfect for us. He even gets on with my horses!

Hopefully I will manage to add some pics and will update this with details of his training soon!

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The annual Dumfriesshire and Cumbria Greyhound Rescue President’s garden party.

Please see www.dgrescue.org.uk for more information on the charity.

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