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Hi again all, I just uploaded some pictures from my phone, the most recent ones are the ones where tuck has the chain link collar on. His leather collar and nilon collars smell when it rains so thats 90% of the time in Ireland.
I have some more pictures on the camera from when it was snowing to add when I find the wire to connect it
So delighted to hear Tucks good news I am sure you are both relieved.
He is very lucky to have found such good caring parents.
I am delighted for him as he deserves it after his inital experience of being unwanted and I am delighted for both of you as he is clearly an important family member, much loved and cared for.
Please dont leave it so long again before an update as lots of people on the site would love to keep up with his progress.
Happy endings keep us going. Sorry it took so long to update, we have had a mad year, between short time working, pay cuts, organising our wedding, and making sure Tuck gets all the attention he so deserves we havn’t had a minute to scratch ourselves. We still regularly look at the DID website and recommend adoption as a much better alternative to buying puppy’s.
Tuck was my best pal while I was on short time, he kept me company on my days off, we were constantly in the park, Sinead was actually jealous of how much time I had with Tuck! It was good for Tuck too though because it gave him more time with me to get settled in.
Our only problem to date has been other peoples ill advised attitudes towards ‘restricted breeds’. We have had people cross the street when walking him. When tuck has the muzzle on he looks like hanibal lecter, so people instantly think he must have bit someone, without the muzzle, everybody loves him.
My da was a bit cautious of Tuck because of the breed when we first got him, but now he comes up to the house to take him off for long walks because my ma wont go with him. All of the family have taken really well to him, and him to them. Sineads grandparents used to ask ‘hows Stephen’ when they rang, now it’s ‘hows Tuck’!
Anyway, I’m waffling, we will try and keep updating more regularly, and we hope to see everyone again at the next fun day. Hi all, just a little update on our best pal and housemate Tuck. He’s doing really well, happy and healthy!
We had to put him into a kennels for a couple of nights recently because all of his usual babysitters were at our wedding. We were a little worried about leaving him in case he suffered any stress, but he was fine, if anything, I think it might have strengthened his trust in us because he knows we’ll be back.
The kennels is Hollygrove kennels in Newcastle, recommended by our vet and we were very pleased with the service, really clean place and they also do grooming aswel now.
I’m going to try and upload some pictures, hope it works.woohoo 074.JPGwoohoo 075.JPGour wedding 103.JPGHi again everybody, Tuck has had 2 little problems this year.
He got a cut on his eye which turned into an ulser. This soon cleared up with some drops. Shortly after he did exactly the same thing again. This time it was a bit more stubborn, it took 2 surgeries to clear up. Our vet sent us to an eye specialist in Dun laoghaire, Mike Woods, a realy realy fantastic vet. He explained everything realy clearly and gave us exceptional service, even arranging times around our schedules for drop off and collection of tuck.
All clear now, happy and healthy again with big thanks to all the staff at my local vet in lucan and in dun laoghaire.
Just found a good picture of Tuck here doing security at a party in the house. He let everyone in, and never asked for ID or anything. Such a bad bouncer! Licked everyone on arrival, and even slept on the job!ferrari 355.JPGferrari 360.JPGHi Steve n Sinead n Tuck! Delighted to see that Tuck finally got the loving caring home that he deserves. I am sure he will not be one of the many thousands that end up cast aside on the scrap heap by the newly weds once the "real" baby comealong…..
Its just fantastic to see him getting the medical / vet attention as well as all the love and cuddles he needs. He looks stunning and is a credit to you both (as does the other cutie in the photo). As Marie says, its the happy endings that keep us going so its nice to hear how he’s been doing. I wish you all many many happy years together!Finally, one last point on the uneducated fools crossing the road to avoid Tuck, I get this regularly with one of our dalmatians (who isnt even on the restricted breeds list) purely because she’s a large girl – I find the best way to deal with the situation is with light hearted humour (there’s just waaay too much aggression out there already!), I usually quip something like "Oh its lovely to see you SO understanding of my dog’s needs – she’s rescue and very nervous due to an awful start in life, having been beaten by humans so thank you for crossing the road to avoid us before we had to do likewise"! I usually find this does the trick, leads to embarrassment on their part and the ice is broken and they then want to chat and find out about the dog’s story. Just a thought thats all, it works for me!
Another one I have to say that annoys me is people who have a dog of "restricted breed" dressing them inappropriately, ie, if your dogs reputation (purely by breed) already preceeds them, dont do your gentle, loving family dog a huge disservice by putting them in something like a black leather studded collar or something with chains on – unless you absolutely must for the dogs safety or security, it just winds up making your dog vicious looking! If this isnt the case, as with Tuck, its how people will unfortunately PERCEIVE your dog to be. It isnt fair I know, but thats how it seems to work…….. Just thought I would get that one in there whilst the subject came up!
Anyways, best of luck with Tuck – he is a lucky little man, as are his proud mammy and daddy!Hi dogsbestfriend, thanks for the well wishes. Sinéad is actually 6 months pregnant now and we have absolutely no intention of changing Tucks routine. We have been already reading up on how to bring a new baby into your home when you have a dog. Tuck will also remain a house dog, definitly not turfed outside. I read that its actualy good for a baby to have a dog around because it makes their immune system stronger, and when they get older it teaches children how to cope with loss when their pet dies. (I have been reading allot).
Tuck is a massive part of all our family and he’s going nowhere! Sure I was told I wud be gone before him.
Fully agree with you on the studded leather collars too, they look like village people members or pets of thugs. We do use a chain link collar for walks in the rain though. Every other collar ends up stinking when damp. Also, it wouldn’t realy matter what kind of collar we put on Tuck, first thing people see is the muzzle, I hate putting it on him, he doesn’t mind it though, and most people around my route say hello now though because they would see me regularly walking tuck.
I cannot stress how important pet insurance is, it has meant that Tuck has gotten the best of attention every time he has been ill. Its less than €200 a year, our bills for Tuck would be into thousands since we got him.
Tucks pal in the picture is also a rescue dog, a friend of mine rescued Freddie from ISPCA. He has several other pals including a jackrussell puppy who wears Tuck out regularly.
Picture here of Tuck worn out after a session with Jack.ferrari 436.JPGCongrats to Sinead, yourself and Tuck!!!!! Totally agree with you on all the baby related points – pets are fantastic for teaching kids a sense of responsibility and compassion / empathy towards animals also, as well of course as exposing them to harmless germs! There are also CD’s available on line to desensitise your dog – basically they are babies crying and the idea is that you play them regularly so that the sound is not alien to your dog when the baby arrives. Also, when you visit Sinead in hospital, bring something from baby (with baby’s scent on it) home to Tuck and let him have a good ould sniff before baby comes home so that he / she will not be entirely alien to him. Also if you try to involve him in the baby’s routine, i.e., talking to him and involving him when feeding / changing baby so that he doesnt feel left out. Common cop on should prevail though in never leaving any baby / child unattended with any pet. I feel though that the main thing in introducing another member to the household (baby or otherwise) is to keep Tuck’s routine as normal as possible so that he doesnt feel unsettled or aggrieved by baby’s arrival.
I laughed at your description of the studded collar – village people is right! (And if you have a stick out walking Tuck, you could be the policeman of the group! )………
As for the leads, after the rain / dip in the river, I usually just handwash all three leads in dog shampoo and then hang them on the line to dry out as they do stink if not…..
Cheers for the rescue dogs!!!!! Tuck looks so funny in that last pic – like he’s laughing to himself recounting his walking experiences! (There are a few pics of our three up on the Happy Endings forum I think it is, under Calista the dalmatian, now renamed Roxy if you want to see what our three look like! The two girls (dals) were rescues from Ashton and the other lad (bearded collie cross) we found as a pup in a black plastic bag covered in cigarette burns They defo make the best pets!
The insurance issue has been discussed so many times before – we are all in agreement thank god for it! As Marie says, "If you cant afford the vet, you cant afford the pet!"Hi again dogsbestfriend, thanks for the congrats, looking forward to the new arrival now, I will look up those cd’s you were talking about with the baby noises on. Just looked at your pics of in the happy endings forum, beautiful looking dogs, all three! Your dead right about people not researching the breeds they want to have as pets. My favourite breed has always been the doberman. When we finally got our first house and could get a dog, I researched the requirements of the breed and realised, we didn’t have the space or the time for the massive amount of excercise that they require. So we knew we had to go for a smaller dog so we could fulfill their needs. Now, I admire the dobeys and their owners and not long to have one.
Love the dalmations! Like dobeys its rare you see them out and about. Its a treat to see them though. I saw a great dane down the war memorial park in islandbridge during the summer, off lead and bounding around like a big puppy. He came right up to me, absolutely huge dog, like a little horse, what a treat! Just annoys me a bit that I can’t let Tuck off lead because of the restricted breeds law. Well, I just have to be careful there are no onlookers.
Rescue dogs are the best dogs!
How you found your bearded collie cross is appauling, . It really grinds my gears, anyone has it in them to abuse a defenseless animal is definitely a sandwich short of a picnic and deserves the same done to them!Hello again, on the 7th of december our little baby girl Aoife arrived at 2.30 in the morning and we havn’t slept since! Absolutely chuffed to bits. Tuck was definitely not himself for the first 2 weeks and still now he behaves out of character sometimes, but we still keep his routine going with feeding, excercise and attention. They are getting along very well so far. Cant wait to see how their relationship develops as she starts crawling, walking, poking and proding poor Tuckles.
Full memory card from honeymoon to baby aoife 358.JPGHey Steve, Sinead (and master Tuck!), huge congratulations from all of us here – humans and dogs alike! Thats wonderful news and so glad that baby Aoife (such a cutie) is healthy! Make sure that y’all get plenty of r n r to cope with your new arrival!
Only to be expected that Tuck is a wee bit out of sorts – any change or disruption to the family circle is always upsetting for our canine pals, though some handle change better than others…. Its great that you are still sticking to his routine insofar as you can as this will help greatly. Also, if you can, try to involve him with baby whereever safe and appropriate, i.e., even just talking to him and involving him somewhat as you are changing baby’s nappy, or feeding baby etc., just so as to limit any possible jealousy. This sounds a bit daft but it does help, just explaining to him what you are doing and let him sniff at the wipes, cream, etc (in the wrapping obviously, doh! ). Hope you all have many happy years together! There are WAY too many stories of people abandoning their family pet when the "real thing" ie baby comes along so this is another nice happy ending………Hi again everybody, I have proof that dispells all restricted breed doubters. Aoife will be 1 year old on friday and Tuck is guest of honour at the party! They have become really close, Tuck follows Aoife around (haven’t worked out if thats because he likes her, or in case she drops a biscuit or something). Tuck is doing really well, still no sign of him slowing down with age, loves his walks and food still. He lays so still and lets Aoife climb all over him. He has still got the usual staffie problem, he’s a clumbsy git and occasionally bumps into Aoife, she gets her own back though.
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I have some more pictures on the camera from when it was snowing to add when I find the wire to connect it 
All of the family have taken really well to him, and him to them. Sineads grandparents used to ask ‘hows Stephen’ when they rang, now it’s ‘hows Tuck’! 
woohoo 074.JPG
woohoo 075.JPG
our wedding 103.JPG
He got a cut on his eye which turned into an ulser. This soon cleared up with some drops. Shortly after he did exactly the same thing again. 
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Tuck is a massive part of all our family and he’s going nowhere! Sure I was told I wud be gone before him. 
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. It really grinds my gears, anyone has it in them to abuse a defenseless animal is definitely a sandwich short of a picnic and deserves the same done to them!
Full memory card from honeymoon to baby aoife 358.JPG
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