Roscoe in Orkney - part one!

Just a very quick update as Roscoe is on his holidays :-)

Right now he is probably the most northerly Any Staffie'll Do rescue doggie as we are on Orkney

He travelled very well considering he is not a huge fan of the car and settled down after about an hour and decided he wanted to lie in the back passenger footwells and there he stayed for the rest of the journey, and today went back there when we were driving about!

There will be an overload of photos when we get home but for now here he is enjoying his 1st morning walk on Orkney Mainland

We have visited an ancient stone-age burial site today at The Tomb Of The Eagles which was very interesting and Roscoe got to actually go inside the tomb, he found it far easier to get in and out than I did (and yes there are photos!!)

So a very quick update but wanted to keep you up to date on Roving Roscoe!!!

No joy at Scrufts but Best Rescue at the Companion Show

Well Saturday was a beautiful sunny day for the Scottish heat of Scrufts and the associated Companion Dog Show. It was, if anything too warm so we took shelter from the sun's heat inside a covered tent area.

First up was Scrufts (which is the equivalent of Crufts for crossbreeds) and we entered best rescue and most handsome dog aged 3 - 7) Sadly we weren't even selected for the shortlist although the dog that won most handsome was a lovely collie cross who was really handsome. However as this was only Roscoe's 2nd show he was wonderful and seemed happier than last week with his tail wagging and an almost staffy smile.

We met up with Roscoe's new best friend Caesar another rescue dog, they are both male and both rescues and only met for the 1st time 7 days ago and here thy are doing their very best best friend seal impersonations

Later in the afternoon and we had a picnic lunch (when we did sit out in the sun) we headed to the companion show we entered Most Handsome Dog, Best Rescue, Most adorable eyes and Judge the dog would like to take home.  Neither Caesar nor Roscoe were picked for short list in Most Handsome Dog....they were robbed LOL

Both were in best rescue and to our amazement Roscoe was picked to be 1st place, the judge spent  bit of time asking the story of each dog and how long the owners had owned them for etc, it was nice to see a judge who seemed genuinely interested in the dogs. Here he is with his 1st prize rosette he also got a frisbee with a ball in the middle (photos to follow in next update!)

The adorable eyes and the dog the judge would most like to take home also resulted in no short listing for Roscoe but Caesar was placed in the dog the Judge would most like to take home.  The judge may have not noticed the adorable eyes but here is Roscoe clearly adoring his dad

Hopefully this week we will start classes with Roscoe although he is very very obedient there are some things he is very unsure of like the commands wait and stay he looks genuinely worried that he will be left when we try these commands so hoping to build a strong bond so he knows he is here with us for keeps. Also think he will enjoy the social aspect as he is fabulous with dogs and people so hoping he will enjoy the classes. The 1st one will be on Tuesday night if I can get in touch with the lady who runs it as quite rightly she wants to see vaccination cards but Roscoe's is in his old name of Harry! He suits Roscoe much better :-)

"Preparation" for Scrufts and a new family member!

Well after our "success" at the Arbroath funday we aim to go to Scrufts fun show this weekend. Scrufts is a dog show for non pedigree dogs and is basically the cross breed Crufts. There are a few classes and we will be entering The Best Rescue category and also the Best Veteran. It's all a bit of a fun and to be honest we are entering more to show the soft side of Staffies and how soft and dopey they can be. We have been practicing sit and stand as last week all Roscoe wanted to do was to lie down. If the weather holds we may well try to bath Roscoe - that will definitely necessitate a post!! As he is not very good with rain and his foster carers tried to bath him with very little success. Pictures will follow this weekend!

We have a "new family member" or more of a lovely reminder of an old family member. An online friend Pamela Duthie who makes Feltie models of dogs sent us a lovely model of Ben our late dog and the dog who 1st introduced us to Staffies

here is Toots inspecting "Ben"

Pam's details can be found HERE on the Etsy Website and you can buy items and see her work and contact her to request your very own Feltie, the detail is amazing. "Ben" has now been put out of reach of both Roscoe and Toots and he is standing proudly on the shelf in the living room.

Now it is time to go and enjoy some of that rare Scottish sunshine and take Roscoe for his morning wander to the park.

A lovely weekend and 1st shot at agility

Well finally summer has arrived along with some glorious sunshine on what was arguably the best weekend of the year so far. Saturday however found me working all day whilst Roscoe and his dad "enjoyed" a day of  watching Sky Sports interrupted only for  walk in the park.

The preceding week had seen Roscoe's touch of conjunctivitis clear up with the help of the antibiotic treatment from the vets so his eyes were looking good again (it will become apparent later why this is an important point!)

So Sunday was off to Angus Dog Activity club's open day in conjunction with Angus college. This was a fun day with a try your hand at agility/terrier racing and a fun dog show. It was a beautiful day. We arrived and met up with Kirsty and Caesar from Any Staffie'll do rescue and also Rosie with Boo, Dylan and Whitney (4 weeks ago Whitney an elderly lady had been handed in to a vets down south to be put to sleep but ASDR rescued her)

Stuart took Roscoe round the agility, he was fine with the jumps, hated the tunnels, was wary of the A-frame and leapt off the top of the high walk and could see no point in weave!! But his tail never stopped!!

We entered the best veteran class and we were robbed LOL Didn't even get placed but lovely Whitney came 1st and very well deserved it was too. Next up was most handsome dog and again we was robbed!! no place but Caesar got a well deserved 2nd. Then we had most appealing eyes and thanks to the antibiotic drops Roscoe got his 1st rosette with us and he came 2nd in the most appealing eyes class. Then we had dog the judge would most like to take home, again no places but a gorgeous Rottie got 1st place.

All in all it was fun and a great chance to socialise and mix with dogs people and children, some in face paints and carrying large objects like inflatable hammers and of course plenty of ice-cream and Roscoe behaved impeccably.

After the classes I tried the agility and this ime was a bit better, again his tail wagged the whole time and he was much happier with the A frame, managed 1 tunnel(with the help of a tennis ball) and after a few attempts did the high walk

If you look closely you can see Roscoe on the high walk!

We then had a go at terrier racing and Roscoe saw as much point in that as he did the weave poles. He was more interested in running to anyone who would speak to him than chasing the lure!!

But all in all it was as it said on the tin, a fun day out with a rosette to boot

Then on the way home we stopped for a walk at Roscoe's favourite beach, and enjoyed the last of the late sunshine.

All in all a lovely weekend with lovely weather and lots of fun.