Just Joey

Of course our own pet dog, 'Joey' will feature from time to time as we share our adventures - or perhaps mis-adventures - with Joey and also the joys of being a dog owner! These posts are labeled 'Just Joey' and now we will tell you a little about Joey's story...

On our rare days off from our busy work schedule we would travel 40 minutes to an animal sanctuary called Bleakholt where we would volunteer as dog walkers for as many hours as we could fit in per visit. Usually we would just offer to walk any dogs which needed it instead of requesting specific animals, big or small, naughty or nice! On one occasion though we walked past the kennel runs where we met the gaze of a sad looking soul, who was sat quietly on a bed of blankets at the back of the kennel - whilst every other dog in the run bounced around making a lot of noise at us to take them out for a walk. We looked at his information board and saw that he was only 18 months old, a Labrador crossed with a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and his name was Rocky. Oh how those big brown eyes gazed into ours and how could we not stop and say hello? That was it, we requested to take him out for a walk despite the sanctuary staff informing us that he was as mad as a box of frogs and mouths a lot...

During this walk we met a kind natured, bouncy young boy who despite dying to just run around and release some energy - he would pause, look up and squint at us as if saying 'Thank You' and then proceed to sit on our feet to have a cuddle. He really was a little piece of sunshine and on returning him to his kennel we made more enquires about him and how he had come to be at Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary.

We learnt that at his young age of just 18 moths old, Rocky had been removed from the care of a woman at around 8 months old - for reasons we didn't know but we were told that she had 3 dogs who were all removed as according to the local council she wasn't allowed pets. He was then taken in at Bleakholt & adopted by a family who after just 10 months returned him to Bleakholt again for boisterous behaviour. After another 4 months at the sanctuary, Rocky was finding kennels hard and having had so much upheaval in his short life, he was really in need of a loving home and family who would devote the time to him that he needed for his training which would enable him to become the wonderful dog that he is today.

Today his name is Joey, leaving behind his past and what it may have held and he is definitely our little ray of sunshine every day! His training, good nature and socialization has come on in leaps and bounds! He is a wonderful pet and we don't quite know what we did before the arrival of Joey in our lives! He is a cuddley boy and given any and every opportunity he will snuggle by you for as long as you'll let him...