Poochie Freak Pet Photography ~ Where love shines through

Dec 02 2010

Blakey Baby ~ Dude, where’s my home? ~ Pet Photography UK

15 July 2011 ~ Blake is back at Bath Cats & Dogs Home and still looking for his forever home …

Hello. It’s Staffie Week here at Poochie Freak. Following my recent Why Save a Staffie? blog, I have been photographing a couple of lovely Staffies who are being rehomed by Bath Cats and Dogs Home.

Firstly we have Blake, a five year old male Staffie (Staffordshire Bull Terrier) who is looking for a home where any children must be aged eight plus and where he will be the only pet. Blake is a very handsome chap, has a lovely Staffie personality and is a bit of a cool Dude I thinkHe has been waiting over a year for a special home of his own

Blake has a party trick – he’s a chatty Staffie! If you tempt him with the smell of a yummy treat, he will talk to you (please scroll down for cute talking video!). He has some arthritis so doesn’t need/manage long walks but is happy to walk for around 20-30 minutes at a time and can stay out for longer if he’s just having a good sniff around. He did some posing for some treatsMy home made tuna cake is now Blake-approved

Such a handsome profile …

It was a rather cold day so Blake was wearing his cute little coat, which I think makes him look a little like a SCE (Staffie Christmas Elf :wink:).

PF BCDH Blake 30 November 2010 024-1 800

Blake’s cute Staffie smile

What gorgeous eyes he has!

Love the way his tongue makes an almost heart shape in this one:

I believe he was mid chat when I took this one (see video below!)

Blake is indeed a handsome fellow and he would like a home of his very own …

Blakey Baby tells you what he would like in a new home …

(a little imagination required here)

If you are seriously interested in offering Blake a home, please contact Bath Cats & Dogs Home on 01225 787 321 or complete the Home’s online rehoming form, which can be found here. And let them know that you saw Blake’s details at Poochie Freak.

Tags: Angela Chapman, Bath Cats & Dogs Home, Christmas Elf, dog photography Wiltshire, dog rescue, dogs, HeARTs Speak, pet photography, pet photography Wiltshire, pet portraits, Poochie Freak, rescue dog, Staffie, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Wiltshire

5 comments

Nov 28 2010

Why Save a Staffie?

Helen, a friend of mine, made this lovely and enlightening video about her rescue Staffie (Staffordshire Bull Terrier), Billy, recently, and kindly gave me permission to share it here.

Why save a staffie? I have just been crying over six very good reasons – six photos of gorgeous little Staffie faces peering out at me from my computer screen. Six dogs who are due to die tomorrow, here in the UK, because they have done their 7 days at the pound and there is nowhere for them to go. Feel free to share this blog link – the Staffies of the world need our help.

Staffies are such lovely little dogs but so many are in a very desperate situation right now – and some of them, will not be alive by the end of tomorrow.

Some bullbreeds are bred/sold/owned and abandoned by the “wrong sort”, the sort of person any decent dog owner would wish to see kept away from animals for life. The media has sadly demonised this breed/type too and as a result, the rescues are full of Staffies waiting for a forever home of their own, like the gorgeous Flumpy, featured recently on this blog.

If you are thinking of getting a dog, please look at rescue. Please consider adopting one of the many Staffies sat waiting patiently in rescues across the UK, right now. If you are thinking about breeding from your Staffie, please think about the other Staffies that will be killed tomorrow, because there are not enough good homes for the ones already in existence.

If you already have a dog and are looking for a dog-friendly Staffie, I have posted a few links to some dogs who can live with another dog. Please note these are just a few examples of the MANY Staffies and other bullbreeds currently in rescues throughout the UK.

Update January 2014 – these links are old now, but there are still about a zillion Staffie sorts looking for a forever home. Please go and find your new friend

Sophie - a kind and loyal little girl with the most beautiful face, who is sad in kennels, but good with other dogs. Offers of a foster home welcome too.

Bruce- a sweet little Staffie boy who gets on well with other dogs.

Tia - beautiful little girl who loves children and is good with other dogs.

Nicholas – very handsome boy who loves children, loves snuggles and could live with another mature dog.

Amba, Cassie & Nells – three lovely girls who are looking separately for their forever homes and can live with a male dog.

Tizer & Smiler – two lovely boys who are looking separately for their forever homes and can live with a female dog.

Polly – who was saved very recently after being taken to a vet to be put down.

And not forgetting dear Flumpy, who is still looking for a home without other dogs, but will make a great companion for the right person.

Have you adopted a Staffie from rescue? Leave a comment to tell me about them below

If you would like to help but are not able to take on another dog permanently right now, think about offering to foster a Staffie (or other dog) for a rescue, or volunteer your services in another way (dog walking, home checking, transporting, fundraising etc.). There are so many ways to help.

Tags: Angela Chapman, Bath Cats & Dogs Home, dog photography Wiltshire, dog rescue, dogs, foster, HeARTs Speak, Oldies Club, pet photography, pet photography Wiltshire, pet portraits, Poochie Freak, rescue dog, Staffie, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Wiltshire

5 comments

Nov 22 2010

Adopted Flumpy ~ waiting six years for his forever home

Update January 2014 – I am so thrilled to be able to update various posts about the lovely Upton, with the wonderful news that he found a forever home at the end of last year. Fantastic!

The very gorgeous Flumpy, AKA Upton, has been waiting in rescue for six years and really, really needs and deserves to find a great home of his own.

I photographed him at Bath Cats & Dogs Home last week, ready for his appearance on the Oldies Club site as Old Dog of the Week!

Flumpy is looking for a special home and I am on a mission to help him find it! So please, please, please, tell your friends about this boy. I firmly believe there is a great home out there somewhere for EVERY dog in rescue, we just need to help find it – and that’s where you can all help, by sharing the link

Flumpy does need to go to a home without other dogs, or cats, and where children are aged 14+.

Although Flumpy has been in kennels for so long and can seem somewhat detached, this was the first time I had met him (though I have been aware of him for some time) and he was certainly responsive to me on our walk. The home-made tuna cake helped I’m sureI was able to get him to sit nicely and pose for some photos, as you can see. I really do believe he would be a great companion for the right person/family.

Bath will rehome out of their area, provided a homecheck can be arranged, but I imagine in Flumpy’s case, any potential adopter would have to be prepared to travel to the rescue a number of times to get to know Flumpy. I know his carer will offer support to a new owner – they very much want him to find the right home, for life.

He has a gorgeous nose …

Rather sweet little paws

and can pull a very cute little face

If you are seriously interested in offering Flumpy a home, please contact Bath Cats & Dogs Home on 01225 787 321 or complete the Home’s online rehoming form, which can be found here.

Flumpy has been in rescue for way too long – now it’s time for him to find his own home.

I bet I’m not the only person to have found tears in their eyes looking at this last photograph?

Tags: Angela Chapman, Bath Cats & Dogs Home, Bullbreed, dog photography Wiltshire, dog rescue, dogs, HeARTs Speak, Oldies Club, pet photography, pet photography Wiltshire, pet portraits, Poochie Freak, rescue dog, Staffie, Wiltshire

3 comments

Nov 18 2010

Adopted ~ Gentle Giant Seeks Soulmate

Update: 10 January 2011 ~ wonderful news! I went to Bath Cats & Dogs Home today and took a treat I’d bought up for Talik, to be told he’s been adopted! Fantastic news for the gorgeous boy. Be very happy, Talik, really glad I got to meet you for a short time as you’re a very special soul.

Earlier this week, I had the absolute privilege of meeting the very gorgeous Talik, who is being rehomed by Bath Cats and Dogs Home.

Talik is a five year old, white, male German Shepherd Dog (GSD) who has been at the Home for about two and a half years. He was part of a RSPCA cruelty case and is now up for rehoming. I am not going to apologise for the number of photos I’m posting of him because he is fabulous and very much needs to find a fantastic new home who will understand his sensitive nature and give him the wonderful life he deserves.

Having previously adopted a dog of a similar age to Talik, who had been in rescue kennels for a couple of years and was thought not to have lived in a home, I can confirm it is certainly possible to toilet train a dog fairly quickly, using only kind methods. While a dog with this sort of background may be wary of household noises at first, our boy certainly grew used to different noises over time and his confidence increased.

Talik had been for a walk before I photographed him, so we just went into a nearby field and sat in the sunshine. It’s hard to put into words just how sweet this boy is. I confess to not having always been entirely comfortable around GSDs, but he is a beautiful and oh so gentle boy and the moment I met him, I felt completely at ease. As I walked him out of the home, he completely ignored the little dogs who barked (from the safety of behind-bars!) as we passed. Talik is a BIG dog, but a true gentle giant.

Below is what one of the animal carers has told me about him …

Talik is what we like to call a Gentle Giant. Although a larger sized GSD, he has not one mean bone in his body! A real wimp – if something scares him he comes running for a cuddle with you! He comes without the usual GSD protective streak, instead preferring to make friends with all he meets! He really would try to be a lap dog if he could, very snuggly and loves any amount of fuss you would like to give him.

Talik enjoys his walks, though he can be stubborn about walking great distances if you are new to him. He is good both on and off lead and once knows you he is extremely loyal.

Talik has very sadly spent most of his in life in a crateso he has never lived in a house before. However, he went home with the one of the animals carers to see how he would cope. Although he was scared of house noises (eg TV, Hoover, washing machine etc.), he was completely housetrained and happily slept through the night.

Talik is good with dogs and while his cat status has not been tested, he is probably going to be scared of them! He is good with children aged 10+. He really will make a fab companion.

Talik’s carers are desperate to give this very loving a boy a new start in life. If you are interested in finding out more about Talik, or any other of the lovely animals at the Home, you can find the contact details you need here. There are SO many wonderful dogs, cats and other animals at Bath Cats and Dogs Home so do visit if you’re looking to offer a loving home.

Tags: Angela Chapman, Bath Cats & Dogs Home, dog photography Wiltshire, dog rescue, dogs, German Shepherd, HeARTs Speak, pet photography, pet photography Wiltshire, pet portraits, Poochie Freak, rescue dog, White GSD, Wiltshire

2 comments