[ste15]

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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[ste15]

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.
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[ste15]

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!

[ste15]

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.
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[ste15]

Hi 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!
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[ste15]

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.

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[ste15]

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.

[ste15]

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

[ste15]

Woohoo! Results are all clear, it was just a harmless tumor that young dogs get, I still cant pronounce it. Stitches are out and he is healing nicely.
We’re really pleased and the little sod is bound to be spoiled by everybody now.
Thanks again everybody for all your good wishes, we really appreciate it.

[ste15]

No, not lipoma I dont think, it began with a ‘m’. But I would say its probably the same harmless sort of thing. . . . I hope so anyway.
Tucks checkup went fine, everything seems to be healing alright and he doesn’t seem bothered at all by the whole thing.
Just have to wait for results now, the vet says he will definitely have them for when the stitches are coming out.

[ste15]

Thankyou everybody for your good wishes. The anaestethic finally wore off this morning and Tuck got some more life again. Luckily, so far he hasn’t really been bothered by the stitches, I just had him out for his usual evening walk and he never even limped on the bad paw.
His check up will be monday, and then stitches out in 2 weeks, hopefully the lab results dont take too long.
Our vet Liam said the tests are just precaution really, he told us the technical term for the ‘lump’ but I couldn’t pronounce it so I cant remember it
He did say if it was what he thought it was everything would be fine. Hopefully he is right!

[ste15]

I have put up this album of some pictures of tuck.
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[ste15]

Hi all, well its been almost a year since tuck came into our lives and it has been absolutely fantastic! We are so glad we adopted him, and as usual with restricted breeds, we do get the odd ill educated people cowering in fear when we’re walking him, but in general, everybody loves him.
Tuck had lost the hair on his ears from stress when we got him but all that has grown back and his confidence has grown daily. We have a routine of walks twice a day, for 45 minutes at a time, so he has also lost his little tubby belly.
Some bad news though , we found a small lump on his hind paw, he went in to our vet 2day for a biopsy and to have it removed, so as I type, he is lying beside us absolutely wasted from the anaestethic. We have never seen him so quiet! We havent had to put the lampshade on his head yet but I am sure, like the muzzle, he wont like it much.
Hopefully we get good results back from the lab. Fingers crossed! Also, thank Christ for pet insurance! I would advise all pet owners to get it, you never know.

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