Nelson – 11 month old male Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross Visla

Nelson is an 11 month old Staffie cross Visla looking for a home. Nelson was adopted from a rescue centre (who gave full permission for us to take him) as an 8 week old puppy. He had been allowed to grow up as another member of the family which was lovely for him, but not so lovely for the family who were then struggling with a dog who thought was a little person.

It all came to a head when a 13 year old boy tried to dominate him using techniques most probably used by his old fashioned parents (once again learnt behaviour by the child) and he snapped at him. The boy was far too rough and spitef with Nelson and this was admitted by the owner and it was human error that this occured.

We are pulling him back into line here by treating him as a dog, not as a human by going right back to basics. Strictly no access to beds, sofas and chairs has be implemented, no rough games (he is used to rough and tumble which is not acceptable anymore as he is getting into such a zone that he cannot cope with such excitement), no more ragging games allowed (never recommended for any breed of dog), working for any food he gets – including dinner/breakfast – and learning that time out means quiet time (such as when visitors arrive in the home, that he cannot launch himself at them) and (from us) most definately no pinning or ‘people must dominate’ behaviour.

Because he has shown dominant tendancies in the past we will not be homing him with children, but I must make it clear that he has never shown any aggression or dominance with anybody here. However, he must go to an adult only household. Nelson is great with other dogs and has absolutely no aggression with any dog. He could live with another spayed bitch, but she must be fairly robust as he may squash a little dog (not deliberately but he is very clumsy!) Nelson would like a home where there is lots of land to run on. Ideally a home in the countryside would suit.

Nelson had a very bad habit of tail chasing when he arrived. He tends to do it in times of extreme excitement – walkies time, if dogs are playing in the other room or (for some reason) when the hoover is switched on. We are training him not to do it with the water squirter and since this has been started he has become much easier to live with. He is learning to control himself with the aid of the water squirter. Once he see’s it he calms right down and settles quickly. His new owner will have to carry this training on with lots of patience.

Nelson is an extremely affectionate boy both with men and women. He adores playing with his toys – squeaky toys are his favourite. His recall is really good and he is easily trained with food.

Nelson cannot live with cats. Nelson has been castrated, fully vaccinated, microchipped and his worming and flea treatment have been bought up to date.

A homecheck will be carried out and minimum adoption fee of £150 applies.

Toby – 9 year old male West Highland White Terrier

This is Toby, he is a 9 year old Westie who came into rescue after being discovered in a vets about to be put to sleep. His owner is in hospital and is terminally ill and sadly will not be coming home again. The vets were looking after him, but when the news came regarding his owner, they had nowhere to send him.

On the whole Toby is a nice little dog, but he can sometimes get a bit dominant if you try and make him do something – such as make him move if he doesn’t want to. Handled correctly then he will move after command, but this has to be done by an adult, so we looking for an adult home only for Toby. Toby gets on very well with other dogs and would like to find a home with a spayed female.

Toby does react quite badly to smaller caged animals (such as rabbits) so we will not be homing him with resident bunnies or similar in the home. Toby cannot be homed with cats. His recall is a bit hit and miss so we are currently walking him on a long lead when out for walks. He will need a secure garden to play in with fence height of at least five foot all the way round. We would like to see that there is nothing he can clamber onto and potentially get out the garden as he is a bright little dog and has worked out that climbing upwards makes fences much shorter!

He is clean in the home and is not destructive but is not too keen on being left for long periods of time. Toby will be castrated, fully vaccinated and microchipped, plus wormed and defleaed before he leaves us. A homecheck will be carried out and minimum adoption fee of £150 applies.

Buster – 6 month old male Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross American Bulldog.

Buster is a 6 month old Staffordshire Bull Terrier cross American Bulldog. Buster arrived into rescue a few weeks back due to the parents worrying about him when they picked their new baby up. He had a habit of barking at them when they did that so we agreed to take him here. Buster does not have any aggression in him and he was doing this for attention we have found out. He is only 6 months old and at the moment is just interested in everything going on around him.

Buster is a dog with a lovely nature. He can bark for attention but he gets ignored here when he does that.

Buster is fantastic with other dogs – males and females – and very playful. He is currently sharing with Ruby (also looking for a home) and she is very happy with this arrangement. He is also learning some manners from Roxy the Rottweiler when he is too over the top and has settled down here into a well behaved, if bouncy puppy.

Buster was only getting walked twice a week in his previous home because they found him too strong to be able to cope with. He is a robust dog and I have no doubt managing a pram and Buster would have been difficult. He loves his walks and really enjoys meeting other dogs that he can make friends with plus (if he is homed with another dog for company) will enjoy playing with his new friend whenever he can.

Buster lives happily with my five cats and has shown no reaction to small caged animals (such as ferrets, rats and hamsters). My cats are very dog savvy though so cats that are used to dogs are necessary. He has been swiped by a cat whilst out the house and he ran off screaming in fear.

Buster will need an adult handler who understands Staffies and their nutty ways. He can be homed with children over 12 years old, but dog savvy children as he can be bouncy.

Please consider that Buster is not fully grown yet and will be a big dog as an adult.

He will need a fully enclosed garden with a minimum fence height of at least five foot fencing.

He can be left for short periods of time on his own and has not been destructive when on his own here.

Buster is castrated and microchipped and has been fully vaccinated.

A homecheck will be carried out and minimum adoption fee of £150 applies.

Roxy – 3-5 year old female Rottweiler

Roxy originally came into rescue last November after becoming an unwanted pet. She was quite overweight on arrival last year and her spay was a difficult one because she had fat wrapped round her womb. I am pleased to say that she was spayed just in time as it is possible that the fat around the womb could have strangulated it causing death.

Roxy went to a new home where she has been very happy, but sadly recently her owners have split up and they could not keep her. In this home she was an only dog, but she has lived with other dogs and could live with a sociable neutered male as long as he is not a dominant dog.

Roxy is quite a vocal girl. Not through barking, but does the typical Rotti chit-chat known to anyone who is familiar with the breed. She has not shown aggression, but will charge at other dogs which can worry some people…it is actually her way of playing and my own crowd are very used to this behaviour and take little notice of her being that she has been staying here during the day five days a week whilst her adoptive owners were at full time work.

Roxy is a large girl and vocal challenges may worry children so we are looking for an adult only household and someone who is familiar with larger dogs. Roxy can be left for periods of time on her own – she just goes to sleep, but as is our policy, no longer than four hours maximum. Roxy cannot live with cats.

Roxy has no known health problems and is spayed and microchipped. Her vaccinations will be bought up to date before she leaves rescue.

A homecheck will be carried out and minimum adoption fee of £150 applies.

Poppy – 6 year old female Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Poppy is a 6 year old Cavalier King Charles. She came into rescue due to a family break up and is very confused about losing the only home she can remember. Poppy is a very good house dog – she is clean and non destructive. Poppy has a fairly basic heart complaint in the world of Cavaliers. It is called Endocardiosis and this is bordering with poor systolic function. It didn’t mean a lot to me so I asked them to break it down into an understandable explanation!

The heart should have a smooth valve that shuts to allow the blood to flow properly through the heart. With Poppy her heart valve is knobbly so the valve does not shut properly meaning a back up of blood into the heart. After a heart scan yesterday the vet has confirmed that her heart is now on the brink of failing. This is expected to happen between 3-6 months time.

When she does go into heart failure then medication would need to be given. Signs of heart failure is a change in breathing (when resting) which can go wither way, either very slow or rapid. The vet has asked that the new owner should measure her breath rate daily when she is resting. This is very simple using a stop watch for 1 minute and counting the amount of breaths she has. A normal dog has around about 30 breaths per minute (just over or under is fine too). These readings should be kept in a diary and then you have a good idea of if her condition is getting worse.

Other symptoms include a deep chesty heart cough and not wanting to exercise so much (getting out of breath quicker). When heart failure starts then a period of 2-3 years would be her life expectancy. Medication that she would need initially would be Vetmedin and then Fortekor would need to be added as it progressed. These take the pressure off the heart and help to support her system. When her lungs start to fill with fluid diaretics (Frusemide) would be needed which keeps the fluid off her lungs. That is pretty much it. There is really no other medication that will help her and after that it would be a waiting game.

Poppy’s other medical issue is that she has signs of SM (Syringomyelia) which is a fluid on the brain problem. This is not so much of an issue apart from her having annoying habits (such as rubbing her head on the floor as if she has an ear infection and it is more physical habits than anything else). Although a dog with this condition would be a worry, because of her heart problem, the vet is not worried at all about that. At the rate it has progressed so far he says that she will not suffer from the SM as the heart problem is so advanced. We have been advised to put a tiny pinch of Tumeric on her food once a day by quite a few Cavalier experts who have had dogs with this condition before. Steroids are the normal course of action, but she could not have steroids because of her heart problem and this is the only medication that vets advise for SM (but not for dog with a dodgy heart). Not only do they affect the heart, but they also cause rapid weight gain (which will also affect the heart). The Tumeric is a tried and tested method used by Cav people and nobody seems to be able to explain why it works, just that it does!

I have had a good chat with the vet regarding her spaying and at this stage of her heart problem, the worry is that an anaesthetic will tip her heart over the edge prematurely. Our main reason for spaying is so that people cannot breed off of our dogs. The second reason is so that they do not develop Pyometra (infection of the womb which is common in entire dogs). The way we are looking at it is that we know that she is definately going to go into heart failure at some stage. We do not know that she will definately get a Pyometra and if an operation starts her heart failure off, we have effectively stolen up to 6 months from her and for the sake of a spay, it is not advisable. The other issue is of course, that with a life expectancy of approx 10 years old, the chances of a Pyometra developing is greatly reduced.

Great care will have to be taken when she comes into season. No ‘accidents’ can happen because not only would any potential puppies born with the same heart and SM issues, but the stress of labour would definately send her into heart failure. We will not home Poppy with any entire male dogs in the home (either permanent of regular visiting).

Starting medication at this stage will not prevent Poppy going into heart failure any later – this is also something I asked! If there was a magic cure then I would be trying it!

So, we have done as much as we can for Poppy. We have had the heart scans done (which can be passed onto any vet along with her medical history so these will not have to be done again), had her fully vaccinated and had her microchipped plus bought her up to date with her flea treatment and worming.

Any potential owner will need to consider setting themselves up for heartache. Poppy is an extremely sweet natured and loving dog and initially was completely confused as to what was going on. She has finally started to settle and although she initially chased Vincent (the cat) she has settled with him and got used to him. I feel that she is a cat that settles with her own cat (she lived with one since a puppy) but is a cheeky girl with strange ones…not aggressive at all, but more ‘…this is FUN!’
When out in the woods she has no chase instinct with wildlife, has a great recall and loves to play with other dogs that she meets. She is everybody’s friend and will even try to convince dog aggressive dogs that they REALLY DO want to be her friend (we take her away from them pretty quickly!!!)
Poppy is a dog that will completely steal your heart and when we got the news of her issues we felt totally bereft. Its not the fact that she has the heart issues, but that she has been abandoned when she needed her owners the most.

It is not the money with Poppy but the emotional strain and if you can take on what will soon be a terminal dog. She is full of life at the moment and also full of beans. She loves to roll in the grass, explore the woods and is a completely normal dog and without the vet report you would not think that anything is wrong. But one day it will all start to happen. :/

A homecheck will be carried out and an adoption fee applies.