Saffi came to me via a training friend. She'd been asked to help find a home for this dog following a relationship breakdown. We went round to meet her, and were greeted with a full body wiggle on a skinny dog. She came home with me within half an hour as a foster, and never left.
I know she's a show line girl; two owners and a rescue inbetween failed to spot the ear tattoo that I found within minutes of her being here, which led me to a breeder affix and I contacted her that evening. They were furious and upset that one of their pups had gone through what she had - in a rescue at 4yrs old, when she should have gone back to them; to a new home to have pups at 5yrs old, delivered by C-section and then rehomed again from those people at 6. I suspect there is more to the story than the break-up; for one thing, she was not housetrained - it took me three years to achieve that - and besides that, her left knee was already in a horrendous state from arthritis, she was lacking in confidence and, bless her heart, she is nothing short of utterly thick! I say that with the greatest affection though - she was a very hard dog to train because she struggled to grasp even the most basic of ideas, but a sweeter, more loving dog you could not ask for.
In 2014 Saffi began slowing down quite suddenly and me being me, I did not just assume she was getting old and took her to the vet to be checked. She had developed IMHA - immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia - in which the body's immune system attacks and destroys the red blood cells. In the majority of cases, IMHA kills very quickly and destroys both the adult cells and the body's ability to produce more - Saffi, thankfully, beat the odds and not only survived, but recovered quickly and never stopped producing more blood cells to replace what was lost. She remained on steroids for the duration but I was able to reduce the dose quite significantly.
In 2015 though, she suffered a relapse and went downhill very quickly. I lost her in the July after a blood check had showed her levels had dropped so low that only a transfusion could have saved her but she was fading too fast, and would never have reached a specialist.
I know she's a show line girl; two owners and a rescue inbetween failed to spot the ear tattoo that I found within minutes of her being here, which led me to a breeder affix and I contacted her that evening. They were furious and upset that one of their pups had gone through what she had - in a rescue at 4yrs old, when she should have gone back to them; to a new home to have pups at 5yrs old, delivered by C-section and then rehomed again from those people at 6. I suspect there is more to the story than the break-up; for one thing, she was not housetrained - it took me three years to achieve that - and besides that, her left knee was already in a horrendous state from arthritis, she was lacking in confidence and, bless her heart, she is nothing short of utterly thick! I say that with the greatest affection though - she was a very hard dog to train because she struggled to grasp even the most basic of ideas, but a sweeter, more loving dog you could not ask for.
In 2014 Saffi began slowing down quite suddenly and me being me, I did not just assume she was getting old and took her to the vet to be checked. She had developed IMHA - immune-mediated haemolytic anaemia - in which the body's immune system attacks and destroys the red blood cells. In the majority of cases, IMHA kills very quickly and destroys both the adult cells and the body's ability to produce more - Saffi, thankfully, beat the odds and not only survived, but recovered quickly and never stopped producing more blood cells to replace what was lost. She remained on steroids for the duration but I was able to reduce the dose quite significantly.
In 2015 though, she suffered a relapse and went downhill very quickly. I lost her in the July after a blood check had showed her levels had dropped so low that only a transfusion could have saved her but she was fading too fast, and would never have reached a specialist.