Sasha's Story

Me having birthday fun

Hello again everyone.

Did I tell you it was my birthday last week? Yes, I was 8 years old on the 14th April and got some lovely treats for my special day. Aren't I a lucky little girl?

As I promised last time, it's now time for me to tell you all about Sasha, one of the bravest little dogs it has ever been my privilege to know. She's now around 14 months old and as fit and healthy as can be, (apart from a slight limp), but things weren't always so good for our beautiful little girl.

It was January 2011 and Harry and Mom paid one of their regular visits to their friends at the local dog pound. Imagine their surprise when Louise at the pound said, "Come and see what we've got." She led them into the private office area and there, in a small cage, was a very tiny, but very pretty, Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy. Now, the pound normally don't deal with puppies as they usually handle strays and cast off dogs that are almost always grown up or at least a few months old. The little dog was so cute and the people at the pound asked Harry if he would like her, as they didn't really have facilities for caring for a tiny puppy who had been picked up in the street by a dog warden. She was only the size of a small rabbit and estimated to be around 6 weeks old. She shouldn't even have been separated from her mother at that age.

Baby Sasha

So, the decision was made and the puppy, who Harry and Mom named Sasha, was soon at home with us and everyone fell in love with her at first sight. Over the first two days, Harry noticed that Sasha's breathing was a bit irregular and her nose wouldn't stop running, and a visit to the vet revealed that she had a really serious lung and chest infection. It was so serious that Harry was warned she might not pull through. Harry spent the next 2 weeks, taking it in turns with Mom, to make sure Sasha received her medication 3 times every day and they kept her warm and gave her lots of love and thankfully, the infection slowly receded and Sasha was cured. We were all so pleased for our new baby sister but little did we know that terrible times were just around the corner for little Sasha, who the family had already nicknamed 'Mrs Wrigglebottom' because her tail never stopped wagging from morning to night, even when she was ill, and when it wagged, it seemed to wag her whole body from back to front along with it.

What d'you mean, I'm standing on my food?

A few days after recovering from her infection, little Sasha was playing on the upstairs landing with Dinky, and suddenly fell down the stairs, landed badly and broke the elbow joint in her left front leg. The vet was marvellous and Sasha underwent a very difficult operation, (remember, she was very tiny), and had a plate, screws and a pin inserted into the joint. Poor baby then had to spend 6 weeks in a crate to keep her as immobile as possible, only being allowed out to go to the toilet and be fed. After 2 months and many visits to the vet, Sasha got the all clear and we thought she could at last begin to live as a puppy should, and she loved running and playing with the other dogs. Then, just 2 weeks after getting the all clear, she tried to jump the baby gate we use to keep the dogs out of the kitchen, and somehow she managed to get over it but landed badly on the newly healed leg, and guess what?

Cuddled up with Dinky

Yes, she broke it again in exactly the same place. Another very difficult operation followed with all the previous pins etc being removed and a new, bigger, flexible plate and new screws and pins being inserted in the joint, followed by another 6 weeks n her crate while she healed again.During all this time, that tail of hers continued to wag non stop. She was and still is the happiest little dog we've ever known. Eventually, Sasha got the all clear from the vet (again), and was able to resume her much delayed puppy hood. The total cost of all the vet bills for her treatment came to over £4,000, or around $7,000, but of course, she was worth it! Thankfully we had her insured so the majority of the costs were borne by the insurers, which just goes to prove the value of pet insurance, which is expensive in itself, but not nearly so expensive as the cost of treatment for something as serious as Sasha suffered.

Poor Sasha!

Anyway, Sasha has now reached the age of 14 months and though she will always have a slight limp as a result of her leg breaks, she is still 'Mrs Wrigglebottom', and since the arrival of Chudleigh, our new puppy, she has taken on the role of surrogate mother, and spends loads of time with him, loving him, playing with him and sleeping with him cuddled up to her at night.

We all love her so much and  I hope you all like Sasha, too.

Aaaaw!

Lots of love to you all, and do watch out for my next post when I'll tell you all about another of my little pack mates.

Now just look at her run!

Snoozing with Dinky and little Chudleigh

Lots of love from Sasha!  XXX

Tilly XXX

Sheba's Story

Practicing my agility

Hi everyone,
It's me, little old Tilly again. As I promised last time, I'm here to tell you the story of Sheba, one of my doggie pals, and the survivor of some really horrendous treatment in her puppyhood.
Just over 2 years ago, Harry and the family went to the local dog pound on a cold December day. They had taken a big box of chocolates for the staff at the pound, to thank them for all the hard work they do every year, trying to find new homes for the many strays and unwanted dogs who pass through their doors. It was the 29th December, and the pound was so full of dogs received over the holiday period that they had resorted to using their overflow accommodation and even their stables to house the many dogs who had arrived in just over  a week.
Harry and our Mum were appalled when they say a little grey blob, lying under a heat lamp, in a small pen in a corner of the stables. Thin and skeletal, the poor thing barely looked like a dog and when the family enquired about it, they were told it was a tiny Staffordshire Bull Terrier that had obviously been used as bait for the training of fighting dogs. The people at the pound didn't think there was much that could be done for her and they offered her to Harry for free, if her thought he could help her. 5 minutes later the dog was in the back of the car on the way to our home.
On the way home, Harry and Mum decided to give her a 'posh' name, despite her looks, and they named her Sheba, our own little 'Queen'.

Skeletal Sheba, soon after joining us

A dog or a frog? Poor little girl, legs could hardly support her

When they got her home, you should have seen her! She weighed less than 7 kilograms, about the weight of a Yorkie, (The pound had estimated her to be around a year old). She had barely any fur, just lots of grey skin covered in red sores. It was then Harry discovered that her tail was bleeding and it became obvious to all that she'd been starved so much she'd tried to twist around and eat her own tail. Her neck was a mass of ligature marks where she'd been tied with rope while the fighters had tried to bite and attack her. She looked more like a rather ungainly frog than a dog!
A visit to the vet was made and Harry was given a cream that had to be applied to her tail four times a day. Every time he applied it, she winced and shut her eyes so it must have hurt a lot. The alternative was to let the vet amputate half her tail, but Harry was determined to try and save her tail intact for her. Two months later, the tail had healed and now, she loves nothing more than wagging that tail at everyone she meets!

Getting some much needed love

It took some time to get Sheba to trust people, but she now loves everyone she meets and greets them with a big 'Staffy smile'. She soon began to put on weight and one day, Harry met the dog warden who had taken her to the pound. It transpired that she'd been thrown on to a rubbish tip and left to die and the wardens had got an anonymous phone call to tell them about her and had only just got to her in time. She'd been in the pound nearly a month when Harry found her, so we could only imagine how bad she must have looked before they'd fed her and given her some basic medical care. Now she was with us, though, and the family lavished her with all the love and care she deserved, and gradually, she began to put on weight and the beautiful brindle colouring of her coat began to appear.

A picture that says a thousand words?

 Harry took her to some training classes and she gradually got used to being around other dogs, although she was still very nervous around strange dogs and would get rather aggressive if they came too close, because she was afraid they were going to attack her, of course. Eventually she could be allowed to be loose, under close control, near some of the others at the training class, a really big step for Sheba.

A good game with Sophie

 She put on more weight as the months progressed and then Harry entered a photo of her in a contest on an internet site, with entries from around the world. Believe it or not, Sheba won the 'Rescue Dog of the Month' award and you can see that picture here along with the others that show Sheba's progress from skeletal waif to beautiful dog.
In order to keep her safe, and not put other dogs at risk, (just in case she gets too scared and tries to bite them), Harry and Victoria usually exercise her with one of our other Staffies, Muttley, on a nearby field, where they love to run and play together. She is so happy, and loves all humans, something of a surprise when you think what some humans did to her in her youngest days.
She now weighs over 16 kilograms, and her coat shines so much that Harry and Victoria made up a little tongue twister based on the way her coat gleams in the sun. Here
 it is, why not try it yourself? (Glad I'm a dog and don't have to talk...hehe)
"Shiny Sheba shimmers in the summer sunshine."

Playing Tug of War with Dexter

Sheba gets on fine with all the rest of the pack here at Harry's place, and Harry will gradually try introducing her to more and more dogs outside the home until she eventually loses her fears and can one day be fully integrated into the local dog community. For now, though we are all just glad to have her with us and are so happy that she has overcome the terrible start\she had in life. Can you imagine how scared she must have been as a puppy? Imagine spending each day tied up and being attacked by dogs who were trained to do nothing but fight and who tried to rip her to bits. Sheba is a miracle dog. It was a miracle she survived in the first place, and it's surely a bit of a miracle that she has turned into such a beautiful and loving girl, and oh yes, the cheeky madam actually sleeps with  Victoria in her bedroom at night. Who ever said Staffies are vicious? Harry has a very good phrase actually and has a T- Shirt that says "Punish the deed, not the breed".

Best friends!

So there we are, that's Sheba's story in a nutshell. I could tell you a lot more, but I don't want to bore everybody, so will leave you to look at the pictures of Sheba and hope you enjoyed reading about her.
Next time I'll tell you about our youngest Staffy, little Sasha, who has so far survived a life threatening lung and chest infection and TWO broken legs in the first 6 months f her young life.

Wanna play ball?

For now though, love to you all, and here's a preview pic of little Sasha

Sasha

Tilly XX (And Sheba of course)

I'm back!

Hello everyone,

For those of you who remember me from my previous blog, it's a big Tilly welcome back to you all, and for those of you finding me for the first time, it's lovely to see you all here, and I hope you'll come back and see me and my friends again in the future.

Previous readers might wonder why my blog disappeared. Well, you see, I started to receive some nasty messages and peple were saying some horrible things about me and the other dogs, and Harry too. Well, as the children were the ones who spent most time on my blog, Harry didn't think it appropriate for them to be seeing some of the things that were being written on my blog so he reluctantly deleted the whole blog in order to shield the children from such things.

Anyway, time has marched on and Harry has now decided that me and my four legged friends can have a new blog so we all hope you'll enjoy reading about us and our lives as rescuedogs here with Harry and his lovely family.

Now, one thing that people have asked many times is exactly what kind of dog I am. As my profile says, I'm half Bedlington Terrier and half Glen of Imaal Terrier and it seems a lot of people are unsure of what both those breeds look like, so I thought I'd post a couple of pics, (with Harry's help), which will show my heritage a bit clearer for everyone.

The Bedlington Terrier is easy of course, as we have our very own 'Beddie' here in our pack of rescue dogs, so here is a picture of our beautiful Dylan, who joined Harry's pack just a couple of months after me.  Here is a lovely action pic of Dylan, running at high speed, together with a pic of a Glen of Imaal Terrier, and if you look closely at them both, and then at the picture of me, you might be able to see where I get my own rather unique look from.

So:

Dylan (Bedlington Terrier)

(+ Glen of Imaal Terrier, (courtesy Wikipedia)

= ME!

Hope you all enjoyed that little bit if breed information. Over the next few weeks I thought it would be nice to introduce to some of the other members of our little rescue pack, so I'll try and feature one dog at a time, and try and tell you a bit of their histories and how they were either abused and neglected, or simply rescued from lives you wouldn't believe some of them were forced to endure. I'll be starting with Sheba, so look out for her story, coming soon, and here is a picture of her when she was first brought to our home. Please bear in mind she had already made some recovery by the time this picture was taken, having been thrown and left to die on a rubbish tip before being rescued, close to death. More of her story soon...

Meanwhile, love to you all,

Tilly

Sheba 2 years 3 months ago, little more than a skeleton!

Sheba barely able to stand on her own four legs.