Tzumit

Fabulous pics, great looking dogs. Lets hope England play with as much enthusiasm on Saturday (some hope!)

Fantastic! You must be so proud of her what a star you are as well. Hope she liked her birthday treats Pwease can we see more pics

Don't be daft, you are not alone feeling like you do - she will be fine and waiting for a cuddle when you get home x

That is very sad news, but at least Pippa had your love for those few weeks and you were quite wonderful for helping her. Thank you for what you did it was a very special thing - thinking of you x Run free sweet Pippa and meet lots of doggie friends at Rainbow Bridge

to both of you

This is a photo of Ollie 11 years old (ex racer) had 8 pups when she was 6 then dumped, spent 2 years in kennels until we rescued her - had no idea how to behave like a doggie and yet is the most wonderful doggie and the best thing we ever did. She too spends almost 23 hours lying down and its rare to get one of her standing up. We rescued a Staffie last November (Cash aged 15) and they loved each other to bits. Ollie and Cash helped two small children overcome their fear of dogs (inherited from their mother) last Christmas and it was a wonderful moment to participate in.

This is very sad for all thinking of you. Safe at the Bridge Nancy running free knowing you were loved and well cared for x

Wow you are amazing! Got up, went to Devon, had a fab time on the beach with the doglets, came home and posted pics! That's what I call packing in a whole days worth of fun. Pleased you had a good time - bet you all sleep well tonight

Absolutely B wunderful, well done Hubby. What a happy home they have you must be so proud. I am also glad to see I am not the only one who puts knickers and pants on the dogs for a laugh Well done

I dunno what is is about that doggie Tricks, but everytime I see him I get a warm glow he is truly wonderful and now to see his video is luvly, you must be so proud of him as we all are of you for giving him a special home

ooooooops I nearly swore there...... been with Greyhounds since I was 12 years old and no they can't sit and won't sit it certainly does not come natural to them. Yes there could be an exception to the rule, I have no doubt, but you are right. However they do lay around like a box of b*****ks.

Oeer 'ere we go........ Linda's Champion and Sand Man are Ollie's Gt Grandparents. The similarity obviously goes backwards, but nothing else forwards. By my reckoning that makes them at least cousins probably twice or three times removed, but I have never understood that really. Ollie was born in 1996. Small world ain't it?

I did not intend to make this post personal and I mentioned no names when I posted trying to abide by the forum rules and it is yourself who has made the assumption for all to see that it could have been you, therefore I feel obliged to also reply here with the answer I sent. From your statement above I can only imagine that you did not receive my reply to your colleague who wished to contact us further by email and phone in which my response was:- Thank you for your email. I was advised to PM Coryn direct the other night after I had sent the enquiry via the website. I received a reply from Coryn saying that we were too far away and the vet fees were too expensive down South. When we offered Stella a place here I explained that we had not actually fostered before only adopted and we just assumed that if we took on the job of fostering her we would be obliged to foot any vets bills for her aftercare and any future problems, which my husband and I had discussed previously and agreed was not a problem knowing that we have the best vet (our opinion) coupled with the fact that I used to be a Vet Nurse. However, I understand that this obviously is not the case and we have been turned down on this occasion. Thank you anyway for your nice reply and once again we wish you and Stella all the best wishes for a speedy recovery from the op. Kind regards, Sandi If that is not offering anything other than to foster I do not know what is and am sorry that I was not eloquent enough for you to understand just how high a commitement we intended to give or I am also sorry that you did not receive the reply we made to you on PM and email. Thus said we are still very much over the moon that you have cared for her (which we knew you would) and that Stella has made a brilliant recovery and is in a very loving foster home at the moment and we continue to keep our fingers crossed for her complete recovery.

Hello just thought we would post instead of disappearing without trace. We have been searching for a rescue Staffie for about 6 weeks now and have not had any success at all. We are constantly hearing how there are hundreds of these adorable doggies in need, either in kennels or foster homes and having owned two lovely staffs from 8 weeks to 16 years old, plus rescuing and old boy last November who had a shed load of problems, at the grand age of 16, (unfortunately he only had a short while with us, but we loved him to bits), we thought it would be a great idea to help these rescues Staffies and put something back for all the love and fun our two gave us all those years. Every single dog that we have asked about from the many many rescues around has been unavailable for one reason or another. We have had 3 individual home checks and been told constantly that we are a wonderful family and our home is brilliant, however there has always been something else – below are some of the reasons we have had:- Does not like other dogs (this is fair and naturally rules that dog out for us as we have a retired Greyhound). Dog cannot be left (again fair enough - one of us works part-time, but more and more from home, but a dog with separation anxiety needs more). Cannot/will not rehome a bitch with a bitch – this possibly narrows the search down by about 50% - I don’t understand this, but do respect that it is the policy of some rescues. Rescues unable to get in touch with the owners. Not answering the phone, not answering emails, not answering the front door. (This makes my blood boil because I know most if not all rescues have limited funds to go searching for people who were once in desperate need). Owners not now sure they want to part with said dog. Listing on website is incorrect it is not male it’s female and shows aggression to other dogs. Ex poundie not known if good with other dogs or whether he can be lef so no you can't have him. Can’t get owners to commit to a pick up time to arrange a meeting (been waiting for one for 6 weeks that was supposed to be removed as urgent). We live too far away. On the subject of fostering “your area is too expensive to pay for vet feesâ€. We offered to pay ourselves to help out and were still turned down. Two days later rescue is asking for funds to help with vet fees, three weeks later desperately seeking a home for the dog and posting that they have not received a single response. Dogs in kennels no idea on whether they get on with dogs or not as they are not socialised at the kennels – suck it and see. We went to see one dog on Saturday who was a “shy, timid little soul and would be fine with other dogs – “haven’t bothered to neuter him as at 7 he would be considered to old†Dog bounds out of kennels jumps on my greyhound and starts to imitate humping on her side. She did not like this and it is the first time we have seen her say NO! to anything or anyone. We could not take them for a walk and it was obvious he was going to be too in your face for Ollie so we walked away, me in tears because I never thought I would actually walk away from a dog in need. We were then told ‘you would probably be better off with a bitch!’ We went to see another one on Sunday who was wonderful, living with cats, left alone all day 9 hours with them, dog friendly, housetrained, etc. We arrived at destination and doggie saw us walking towards him and had his hackles up, teeth showing, growling, gargling, lunging and just was not gonna let us get close. We talked to him from a distance and he eventually calmed himself, we went for a little walkabout, he growled from time to time, but nothing too serious, but he was definitely not happy. The biggest Staffie I have ever seen must have weighed around 60+lb (huge) easily broader than a big English – yes overweight by far, but corrective with time. I know leads are not the ideal way for dogs to meet, but you can get a general idea and we did not like what we saw for Ollie's sake. Naturally they would have been separated when we went out and if someone was home all day then maybe we could have put some work in, but if anything kicked off (on either side) we could not have controlled him because of his size and it was pretty obvious to us that a home of his own would be best suited where he could be spoilt rotten with love instead of food. Again in tears we walked away and feel positively dreadful, but it just was not right. We both feel sick to the stomach that we have walked away from two rescue doggies, but know in our heart that other homes will be found for them and ones that will suit them better, but at the moment it is not hurting any less. I cried for 36 hours over the second doggie and I mean crying – I have huge puffy red eyes this morning to prove it. More to the point we feel sick about the way we have been treated by some although we have made good friends with others. We have decided that we will no longer continue to look as after looking and applying for 20 dogs now (having only met two in the flesh) we cannot stand the heartbreak and heartache that goes with it. Fickle as this may sound we have just about done ourselves in and it is time to stop, we are also leaving the Refuge because we do not feel that it is a good place for us to be right now, we have had loads of fun on here saying happy birthday and happy gotcha day on a regular basis always thinking/hoping it would be us next. On another post it asks if the Refuge is Cliquey – we don’t think so, it’s been a place of fun and sharing and we have learnt how to make liver cake, bought a crate for the car by recommendation, entered competitions, shared posts in Rainbow Bridge and spoken to some really nice people. This is not meant to be a dig at any rescues either – most of them do wonderful work up against some pretty miserable odds, but on the other hand some spoil it by not realising they are sometimes playing with peoples emotions too. We are off now to spend time with Ollie and appreciate what we have got instead of looking for something we haven't got. We wish you all well and hope you all have continuing successes with your wonderful canines of which we have seen many beautiful photographs and thank you for sharing those on here for all to see and smile at but we just can’t look anymore and get more and more upset at what might have been.

Ooooer hubby wants to know if he can come for tea?

There has been a lot of talk about dog food and various mixers and I was wondering what you all give as doggie treats and snacks? Do you still give old fashioned Bonios, Shapes, Jumbones, Hide Chews, Pigs Ears, etc., or what else do you give that they like?

Could be a bit of cramp - Ollie is a complete wimp and sometimes gets up and starts limping holding her hind leg off the floor, but it passes. It's as though she does not want to put her toes on the floor. However, she does not scream. It could be your girl has a bit of cramp from a dream she is having and she is screaming with her excitement at her dream, eg., racing/chasing and therefore tensing up as well. Only time I ever get cramp is in bed. This is only a suggestion I am no expert. Really pleased you have decided to keep her though - they are wonderful animals xx

Us too. Chicken poo in black bin liner and up the dump - will get a compost going one day as chick s*** is supposed to be the best thing to put on the garden.

You have a point there

Thinking of you x Sleep tight Jade x

Amazing pics really lovely x

Happy Birthday ickle lady - make sure you nudge Mum for some extra treats x

If only because it shows those wonderful slippers! Should have bought a pink pair!

A massive thanks to all who organised this competition and helped along the way with all the photos - you all done very well (as old Mr Grace would say). Congrats to all winners and runners up and it was lovely to see so many piccys - they are all beautiful.