I wonder whats down there

one of our favourite walks

Oh the indignity of it all!!

As you have probably noticed Luke is probably crossed with a staffy somewhere along the line, which is great because thats probably where his super friendly nature comes from, although all our canine friends are wonderful staffies are known as the nanny dog because of the gentle caring character. unfortunately they can sometimes, like other Bull breeds suffer from little irritating health problems, and Poor Luke has one of them , he is allergic to certain types of grasses and just lately has been very miserable and sorry for himself because his tummy and lets just say delicate areas ahem ! have been very sore indeed. I tried everything from flannels soaked in cold water applied to his tummy to vaseline rubbed on to try and stop his skin coming into contact with the grass nothing worked, and after a couple of days Luke realised what was going on and thought it was great fun every time he saw the flannel or jar it was a case of chase me chase me!! untill I tried sudocrem, its a cream used for nappy rash in babies, and it was like a miracle, his skin really healed overnight, so we were very happy, untill!! Luke started limping, he did have a sore foot when he first arrived here but got better fairly quickly, but Luke naughty boy has been chewing it and made it very sore, the vet says its dermatitis that is connected to the allergy so now he is on medicine to take the itch away and has a head collar on to stop his biting antics through the night, he isnt a happy dog at the moment and I have to say his big sad eyes are working overtime every time he looks at us, Lynne very kindly loaned us a dog boot for when he goes for walks and it is very entertaining, we put the boot on when he gets out of the car to start his walk and he waves at all the birdies before he sets off, very funny.

His foot is so much better allready so all being well he wont have to put up with the indignity of it all for much longer.

take care all

Love from Linda and Luke x

Come and play

Teaching an old dog new tricks

Luke is really intelligent, he is very quick to learn and is very keen especially if there is food involved as a reward.
He sits beautifully , fetches and leaves his ball or toy, and can now lie down and also roll onto his back . His walking on the lead is much better too, he really is a good boy.
he does most of his commands now to just hand signals, he really is a joy to teach and always looks so happy , look at his face on the photo !
yesterday while we were out shopping we came upon a stand with volunteers from he north east springer spaniel rescue, they do brilliant work too and were selling home made dog treats all different flavours, like peanut butter and banana , tuna and many others, well I bought some for Luke and wow he thought they were delicious, so if anyone has any recipies for these I'd be very grateful, then I can make him some.
Enjoy the good weather everyone and remember our animals need protection in the sun just like us, so its sun block on noses time :)
Linda x

Lukes friend Shane

This is Shane Lukes little yorkie friend, I tried to get a photo of them both together today but they werent still long enough and raced around like a couple of whirlwinds, He is a gorgeous little chap and greets me with the most wonderful smile at first I thought he was growling but he isnt, its so funny to see.The strangest thing is that we lost our own little yorkshire terrier last october, Georgie was 14 years old and was a treasured member of our family untill heart failure took her from us, little shane is very much like her and it is a bit wierd to see him running in our garden like Georgie did, maybe Georgie has sent him to keep an eye on us, its a nice thought.

When we collected Luke from the kennels, even though we were glad to see him, he really needed a bath, usually the first thing we do when we get a new foster dog is bathe them mainly to treat them with a flea repellent but also it does seem to settle them really quickly.

This time though Luke wasnt having any of it and no matter how much I persuaded , cajoled and bribed him into the bathroom, he seemed really scared so we didnt pursue it. It has been a bit of a problem though because when he goes out he loves to roll in the earth and wade in the mud, so as you can imagine cleaning a dog that is scared of water is difficult. I manage to clean him with a sponge and wet wipes although he thinks this a great game and its a case of catch me if you can when he sees the sponge arriving. It was suggested we try a paddling pool in the garden and we thought this was a great idea, so after digging in the shed we found one we had bought for the kids a few years before, we pumped it up and filled it with water, Dave thought I was crazy because I was adding hot water as I didnt want it to be too cold for him, (as if he was going to get straight in? YEAH RIGHT !)

I threw his ball in , thinking he would jump in to get it, NO ! I splashed about hoping he might think it was fun NO ! I blew bubbles over the top of it , nothing worked, so after a week of it on the grass we have decided that the only purpose the paddling pool is serving is to actually kill the grass underneath, so tomorrow it is being emptied and returned to the shed.

So, It is back to the drawing board, Luke isnt really so smelly anymore, I grab him when i can and rub tea tree oil lotion into him, which makes him smell lovely and is really good for his skin, and he quite likes that because anything that involves us stroking him is fine by him as long as no water or spray is involved.

I took a short video of him prancing around the pool , bless him he is such a happy dog

Linda x