new addition to our family x

So my OH works near to the Bristol RSPCA centre and fell in love at first sight with a female staffy he saw being walked by a volunteer, he went to see her on his lunch break to play with her as no time for a walk. Turns out shes been there for several months and we are the first to show any interest in her. We took Calvin for an introduction walk with her yesterday and they got on amazingly. The centre allowed us to bring her home for the day today to see if they get along ok in the home before making a commitment.

They got on like a house on fire, they absolutely loved tearing round a large quiet field together, she seems to already have a good recall and knows sit and paw. She also didn't have any accidents in the house. Calvin was very chilled with her being in his territory when we took them into the garden post walk, they had separate water bowls but decided to share the same one. They had a slight handbags at dawn moment when it came to sitting with me on the sofa, Calvin was alittle jealous, he was completely fine with sharing my OHs attention with her but he is a mamas boy. That soon settled by fussing them both equally and giving them treats simultaneously. Eventually they both had a little nap curled up on my lap.

We are going to bring her home for keeps on Thursday so excited :-)

Aww fantastic news.. Sounds like you found the perfect companion for Maya   

Congratulations! How exciting

Oh that's really amazing! Well done on the rescue. We will of course need lots of pics please

Congrats on the new furbaby such a nice story with a lovely happy ending

Ah what's her name? I worked there until last year

Brilliant, congratulations   xx

Sounds ideal   

Thanks guys,

We took lots of pics and a few vids today, just need to upload them Will take hundreds more once shes actually home. Her name is Maya, she is on the 3rd page of the rehoming section of their website, not the best pic of her but she is a wriggle butt! Calvin was also from there, I think they had him from August last year until Jan 4th when we adopted him. Both of them are dark brindles, I thought Maya was all black with a small white patch until today when we found a few brindle patches on her. It's tricky to tell them apart from a distance so his gear will all be blue and hers red. Both were strays. I think she will end up being the boss dog because Calvin is very chilled and not much seems to faze him whereas shes abit more energetic and looney, that could just be pent up energy from being in Kennels though. They mostly played by running around with a few body slams, they did have a few play fights/wrestles but it was obviously play despite the noise.

She was abit stressed when we picked her up and put her in the car but much more relaxed going into the car on the way back. They wont be having a shared car ride for a while though, not until shes more used to travelling in cars and they have sorted their pecking order out.

Looks forward to pics and videos   

Calvin and Maya





Maya rolling on the floor




Calvin falling asleep having a belly rub


kisses

Congratulations and so happy for you all. Maya looks so lovely and so happy she's found a forever home

Great story, made my day!   

Great pics. That girl has landed on her feet.

LOVE the first day out of the dogs home. Wonderful photo's

What lovely pics and congrats on the rescue   

Aww the look so content together congrats on giving your girlie a furever home

Great pics and well done on the rescue   

They look as though they are going to have a life full of fun and frolics. So lovely to see   

Can see what you mean about telling them apart.

Pictures are stunning, they look so happy together   

Thanks everyone, those are from her test day to see of they would get on well enough to live with each other. She is going to be picked up tomorrow at around 2pm (Im on nights tonight). They said no long lasting treats/chews or toys for awhile to prevent fights, how do I know when it would be safe to start introducing toys and chews? Iv got 2 weeks off to settle her in but eventually they would have to be left alone for a few hours when I have day shifts and we usually leave Calvin with a kong and a few balls to stop him from getting bored. My plan is not be with them constantly for the first couple of days but then to leave them in a room together with me on the other side of the door and build this up, then leave the house with them alone for a few mins and build this up. This is what I did with Calvin when we got him to prepare him for me going back to work. Is this ok or would you advise something else? Im hoping they will be ok to be left together after 2 weeks, but if not we could leave one of them in the hallway (which is long) and one in the kitchen, would they go crazy if we did this as they will be able to see each other through the door?. Muzzle training them could also be a solution but one that may be difficult as Calvin has an aversion to having things placed over his face.

sorry that should say my plan is to be with them constantly for the first couple of days

Congrats! What a lovely looking pair of pooches. Great job on the rescue. Something special when you have a rescue. As far as toys and chews go, you are going to have to monitor to see how each of them are. Sometimes there is no competition and therefore risk is minimal. My two don't fight over toys and even though Frosty is much stronger than Piggy, he will let her take toys away and even win a tug. However, we feed separately and never together. It isn't worth the risk even though I don't think anything bad would happen. Treats have never been an issue for them either. It is a watch and see type of thing once they are settled. I think your plan of getting ready to go back to work will work as well.

They look great together and yes, hard to tell apart

aww thats great news,they look so happy together,wishing you all the best and keep us updated   

Well done for rescuing (again!)

They look like they've been separated at birth

They look great together

When we picked her up Thursday we were told that they had actually rehomed her once before to an older woman but she couldn't cope and brought her back. I am alittle annoyed that they didn't tell us this when we first asked about her just because I think they should have done. It hasn't changed how we feel about her, if anything it has made us more determined to get this to work as she has had atleast 3 homes in her short life so far. Im not surprised the older woman couldn't cope as she is quite a high energy dog. Her ad says she is 1-3 so we have gone with 2 for her age for insurance.

So far so good, they have been playing lots and Calvin is being less jealous when she comes to sit with me. He didn't try to push her off my lap yesterday and just sat by the side of me whilst I fussed her. They do a lot of play fighting, it is very noisey and sounds like they are killing each other at times but they start it with play bows, then run around mouthing each other and wrestling. No issues over feeding them they both stuck to their respective food bowls.

Calvin has tried to get her to chase and play with him with sticks whilst out walking but she isn't interested. We took some balls out with us and while Calvin goes nuts for a game of fetch Maya prefers to run around and sniff things. Don't know how she is around dogs other than him as we didn't come across any.

We went to the pub after the walk due to nice weather and some children wanted to stroke them so we told them how to properly approach dogs and both Calvin and Maya got lots of fuss and were good as gold.

She is a bit naughty as she snuck into our bed last night, she was under the sheets next to our feet when we woke up! The only issue we have at the moment is that she starts to mouth when shes getting belly rubs but hopefully we will be able to teach her not to do that eventually. Also one of her nipples is quite swollen and red looking, Im not sure if Calvin has nipped her there or not, should I be worried?

Pics to follow but we don't have loads because the battery died :-(

Might be an idea to pop her to the vets for a bit of a health check anyway, then they can have a look at the nipple xx

What a fantastic story, they look like twins so pleased they are getting along, please keep us up to date with progress, I would take her to the vet to get registered and have a once over

Bristol's matching of dog to owner is non existent unfortunately, and many dogs have lost their lives because of it! They should have told you that she was returned, but I'm glad she's landed with someone responsible!! Biscuit and my last foster took about 6 weeks to settle in together and play, and then they played constantly for weeks on end lol! Little monkey sneaking in, Biscuit used to do this when she slept in my room too. I'm sure the mouthing will be easily solved with a little consistency. Can you get a photo of the swelling if poss?

Good news is that her nipple is no longer swollen and red, it is a little larger than the others but I think Calvin must have nipped it for it to have gotten so large and red and then to go back to normal after a few days. She was registered with the vet day one, but hasn't been in for a general check yet, largely due to me having a few other big pay outs to make. She will be getting one though as Calvin had undiagnosed conjunctivitis when he came home.

Some other good news is that my family who originally shunned Calvin have come around to the idea and were going to visit with my nephew so long as I kept Calvin on a lead, they have changed their minds now I have two but only because Maya is new and needs time to settle. Hopefully in a month or so they will be happy enough to allow visits.

what a cracking pair well done

Wow, well done for the rescue. They look like they both get along so well together. I only wish I had more space here to have another   maybe one day.

Please keep up all the hard work you are already doing great idea for the car training, just gradually increase the time you are travelling for, I'm sure she will be fine.

Wow, they really do look very similar! The pics had me smiling from ear to ear, so cute.