Marley&me

Location:

puglia,italy,essex,uk

Occupation:

equine

Name:

nikki

Breeds owned:

boxer,staffies

Has owned dogs for:

More than 20 years!

Dogs Owned:

3

Number of dogs owned over the years.:

4 - 6

I have trained dogs to:

An intermediate level (10 commands or more)

Believe in using positive training methods?:

Yes - but I will raise my voice if I have to

Have you ever shown any of your dogs?:

No but am considering it

Have you ever bred your dog?:

no - but plan to

Other Animals I own:

• Horse/s
• Fish
• Other

Marital Status:

in LTR

Children / Grandchildren:

Drives:

freelander

My Story:

well, i was born and raised in essex, uk and now i live in italy with my boyfriend. we have just got a puppy called marley, he is 3 months. I am in the process of getting him registured. In my life time ive had a boy staffie (taz) from the age of 7 weeks he was a dark brindle. such a stud!! brillent dog. he covered a bitch when he was 2 and they produced stunning pups. growing up in my family we had a bitch staf who gave us many memoriable years. but sadly we put her to sleep at the age of 16 as she starting having fits and we knew it was time to say goodbuy. her bladder was very weak and she walked about confused from being deff and the cateracks was getting bad. she lived a very healty life up untill 15. lady was a all black staf with a little white star on her chest. now my parents have 2 boxers, harry & lucy. harry is a old boy now 11 and lucy is 3 so she runs circules around him. they r brillent dogs, i love em dearly. befor lucy we had taz at home with harry. they were best friends for years and then one day harry turned on taz and mum was down the vets with harry with puncher holls. from that day we could never put them bk together. harry just hattded taz. this was so sad as 1 of them had to go otherwize we would of had a dead dog, and as harry came into the family 1st and taz was still young we re-located him to a good friend of ours. he is now living a happy life. but we miss him loads. well on to the new addition, marley.
He is very adorable, and yes i think he is going to grow into a beautiful dog. We have had him now since the 12th sept and he has developed so much.
We are in Puglia and drove 5 hours up north to Roam to get him. 1st we went arround to rescue centres and it was so hard as they all looked so sad. Because of having staffies before i fill they are (for me) a ideal dog to bring up a family with. But in south Italy they cost so much, arround 8-1000 euros. But, through persistant seaching the web i found an advert for adoption for 2 month old staffies. We saw pics and decided to make the jurney knowing we was coming bk with 1 (bed, water, blankets etc in the back of the car). When we arrived at the location it was a beautiful house, big garden, puppys playing, so we were quite relived. The mum and dad were in a big cage pen together and the puppys playing outside in the garden. There were 4 females and 2 boys, although 1 of the boys (a blonde and white pached with a pink nose. pic attached) was on of his own walk about and not found. Mum was a all tan with black skin and Dad was black with a big white chest patch and white socks. Im trying to recive pics of them but had no reply yet. To my knoledge they looked like staffies but dad was slightly grander. Im doughting myself on recognizing the breads, but was told by the guy they are staffordshire bull terriers. Our intention was to get a boy, so when we was there there was oviously only 1 to chose from. The females were all so friendly and marley was so timid. Which in the back of my mind i have read you should pick the liveiest one. Well there we were traveling back with little petrified marley as far up in the foot well as pos. This was concerning me lots as i expeceted him to fill a bit unsure but i was sceared we had picked up a sick pup. For the 1st 2 hours i left him be and then i began to stroke and befriend him. As we were arriving back home he was a little car sick (my boyfriend then relised the responsibilites of puppy hod, on the side of the road wiping up puppy sick. Bless!
Since then he has been home he has inproved so much. The 1st night we set up in the frount room with newspaper everywhere. He didnt really move from his bed. We decided to sleep on the sofa that night as he seemed so fragile. When i woke in the morning i went straight to him and i had the 1st waggie tail as he streached in his bed. From there we have had many playfull times, and seen him really enjoy his teddy. We stayed on the sofa the second night but on the 3rd we slept up stairs. He started wining and howling straight away but i knew we had to let him see it out. After half hour and still no peace i went down very stern and gave him a tap on the bottom, said no! then walked away. I dont think he was ready for that as he was wagging his tail as soon as he saw me. From that we didnt hear a peap for about 1 hour and then it started again. but it only took a stern word and we had peace. Well untill 6, so i had a early coffee. The toilet training hes been perfect up till today. From him being in the frount room we have transfered him to the conservatry. He changed over nicely then we had a few slip ups under the table. Ive always been told to try to catch them in the act and gently put there nose near it, tap there bottom and then put them on the news paper. so far he has learnt sit, paw, and the other paw, both paws, lay and bk up to sit.
He did not come with any papers or vaccinations. On mon we went to the local vets and he had a wormer ans check up. On monday coming he has his 1st jab. Then in 2 weeks he has a chip, and then process with registering him. As my family are in England i would really like to take him over sometomes when i go to visit and meet my parents boxers.