Happy Birthday Bo Boy

buddyboy · May 1, 2012

My little Bo is officially 5 today!

Picked up on the streets in Manchester in December 2008 and thought to be around 8 months old.... rehomed in January 2009 to a couple who then split up. The woman had signed for him but the man took him, possibly out of spite as he obviously did not want him and turned him out onto the streets in Wales. He served his days and was then taken into the rescue. The chip went back to Manchester Dogs Home who did not want him back (thank goodness, being a hyper staffie x he may not have gone anywhere else), the woman could not have him back, the man did not want him back..... so he spent the next few months bouncing into and then out of homes because he is so over the top.

I first met him on one of my househunting forays down here - Jed came from the rescue and I used to call in to say hello and have a coffee on the way home. I managed to persuade myself I did not need another dog as I had Lucy Greyhound, Toastie Terrier and Jed. Then just after I bought this place I called in there and said how glad I was that Bo had been rehomed as I had been very tempted by him..... turned out that he had literally that day come back AGAIN.... this time it was one of the dogwalkers who had fallen in love with him, but found him far too much of a handful when it came to living with him! Soooooooo after about 0.025 seconds thinking time I asked for him to be brought out to meet the other dogs. Lucy had just been diagnosed with what turned out to be her terminal illness and Toastie was in his teens, so Jed no longer had anyone to play loons with. Jed and Bo had a good run round, Toastie had a good sniff and waggy tail, Lucy looked down her nose pretending to be aloof...... and then we went into the conservatory for coffee. All was calm for a couple of minutes then Bo decided he had to race around at high speed snogging everyone so I just automatically reached out and grabbed him and told him to sit still.... which he managed for about 5 minutes then set off again! I grabbed him again and told him off then made him lie down with me holding him - while making arrangements to call in and pick him up the following Wednesday night when I was coming down for a long weekend working on the house - just for a trial to see how he gets on. We all knew he would be staying!

For the next couple of months we spent weekends down here working on the house, the boys had a big garden to thug around in. During the week we were back in the Midlands with a small courtyard garden. Jed had just got out of the destructive stage (he was 19 months old then) and Bo managed to get him back into it.

We had several mind battles until I persuaded him that I am Top Bitch in this house, but I would not swap my boy for the world. He loves everyone and everything and last year calmed down enough to make the grade as a Pets As Therapy dog. His only flaw is that he is USELESS at self defense and I have been bitten a few times when coming to his rescue when he is pinned down getting holes in his neck and chest!