LULU (Jalasco's Box Of Delights)
30.4.1997 - 16.12.2006
Click here to see her pedigree
We bought our next Stafford in 1997. We had really got into showing, but Oliver was becoming very nervous and would not really show well at all, so we decided to get a puppy. We were looking for a little *typy* black brindle bitch .. as most of the winning at this time seemed to be with this type of dog. We tried around, but could not really find anything, until one day we were phoned by Jo Priestley who told us of a really nice red bitch in a litter that her dog (Donnellas Ready Steady Go at Jostaff) had sired. The dam was Fire of Desire. We went over to Manchester to look at the litter and on the advice of Jo we decided to take this red bitch with the black mask .... Lulu.
We first showed her at The East Midlands Champ show under Anne Goddard where she was third in minor puppy in a class of 33. Her next show was The Parent Club champ show where she was first in minor puppy in a class of 38 under Fred Gadd. She has done quite well since then and now at four and a half years old we will not be showing her much more. She has got her stud book number, second in open bitch at Crufts 2001 and one reserve C.C. and I think that if she was going to do more she would have done it by now !!
Once we were settled in Spain we planned to have another litter with Oliver and Lulu, but as time went on, Lulu became increasingly unwell with her compulsive disorder of tail chasing. Whilst still in the UK we had spent hundreds of pounds at the vets trying to sort the problem out. We tried all sorts of tablets, but nothing seemed to work and now her condition was getting worse. We then decided to take her to the vet here in Spain to see if he could suggest any different treatment ... he prescribed Prozac tablets which we gave to her. They seemed to slow her down a bit, but the problem wasn't cured. We felt that with her problem she would not be capable of looking after a litter so we decided to have her spayed. This was done and everything went OK, she was a bit off colour for a couple of days but recovered well. Things continued as normal ... lulu still chasing her tail ... this she would do for half an hour to an hour at one time without stopping, having a glazed look on her eyes and not responding to voice commands, only stopping when she was totally exhausted.
Then we noticed that her fur was starting to come off and look a little threadbare in places ... we thought that this could be due to her rubbing on the wall whilst chasing, but on a routine visit to the vet he noticed it and said it could be a hormone problem as the fur was coming off the inside of her back legs as well. He suggested a blood test to find out if there was a problem, which was done and the results said that she had Cushings Syndrome. He told us that this could be treated with tablets, but that they had to be imported from the UK as they were not licensed to be sold in Spain ..... these were the same tablets that are prescribed to humans for Cushing's Syndrome. There was also a small problem with the price, they worked out at around 2 euros each and Lulu would need one a day for the rest of her life .... so it cost a fortune, but they did the trick, all her fur grew back and she looked beautiful again.
Things went on as normal, then we got Sophie. When we introduced her to Lulu, the first thing she did was give Sophie a nip on the neck (drawing blood) .... I think this was just to let Sophie know who was boss. I think Sophie respected this and didn't bother her too much ... she had her best friend in Oliver. They all got on OK and we have lots of photos of them snuggled up together on the sofa.
Unfortunately we lost Lulu in 2006 to the same thing as Oliver ... a tumor in the throat. The vet couldn't do anything for her, so we had to have her put to sleep. She is now resting under the orange trees with her pal Oliver.
home about us our staffords puppies our amstaffs photo gallery contact us guest book links
Site content © Siglostaffords designed by Costa Computers 2010
