OLIVER (Japam Amber Light)
20.12.1995 - 16.4.2006

 

 

click here to see his pedigree

 

 

Having lost Henry we wanted another dog, so we thought that the best approach was to go to look at Staffords at a dog show ... that was obviously the best place to buy a dog that is *right*. We were not looking for a dog to show, in fact that was the furthest thing from our minds, but to our minds these *show dogs* were about the same price to buy as one from the local paper.

 

When we bought our dog Oliver from Jim Dea, it was on the understanding that we would show him. This we were going to do. The only thing was we didn't know the first thing about dog showing, but were willing to give it a try.

The first step was to find out about where to show him, so we went to our local news agent and asked about dog papers, managed to get hold of a copy of 'Our Dogs' and decided to enter Oliver in ...wait for it .. AVNSC puppy ( dog & bitch together ) at the Longridge Agricultural Society general canine show ! We thought as this was near to us, it would be a good start so we sent off an entry.

 

We knew next to nothing about showing, we had only ever been to one show (as spectators) were not members of any Stafford club, nor had we attended any ringcraft or training classes. I was not sure how to stand him properly, let alone any other aspect of showing .... but, what the heck ! Our lack of knowledge of showing was even down to the fact that Victoria was worried that we hadn't received a catalogue and phoned the show secretary two days before the show only to be told "no, we don't post 'em luv, you pick 'em up at the entrance."

 

We arrived at the venue, a muddy field, at half past nine .... judging started at ten and we didn't want to be late ! We waited, walked around, waited some more, walked around ... had some lunch, walked around .. until the class started .... at about half past three.

 

Oliver and myself made our entrance to the ring in the company of ten or twelve other various shapes and sizes of dogs, Oliver was the only Stafford. We were ' first in ' but Oliver, fed up of the day's events only wanted to play with me and to try and kill the Afghan hound next to us. The judge (a Swiss lady) tried to go over him, but was only able to be licked by him before he decided it would be fun to sit down. I then tried to get him to walk but to no avail, several of the other owners with well behaved dogs looked snootily down on us as I tried to control him. He was not placed ... surprise surprise .. but at least he was now a 'show dog' with his name in a catalogue !!

 

Oliver has since done well at open and Champ show levels and made his debut at Crufts in the very next year (1997) Although I always remember with a chuckle our first show !

 

OLIVER'S FIRST SPANISH STUD

 

Oliver had his first stud over here .. it was a bit of a different experience though than the UK. We were contacted by the owners of a red and white bitch F-Sofi de Cariambra  (Rita) who wanted to use Oliver. They lived in Barcelona and wanted to send the dog to us by carrier ( a UPS type firm!) I said this was not usual in the UK, but they told me it was often done in Spain. I remember reading about bitches being sent in boxes by train in the *olden days* in the UK and suppose this was a similar thing .. no problem. Rita was sent to us on the Thursday and reached us on the Friday morning, the only thing was that the delivery man couldn't find our villa and didn't speak any English ... and at that time I found it very hard to deal with non English speaking Spanish people on the phone .. I can't use my hands. Anyway I went down to the town and met him at the petrol station where he proceeded to move boxes in the back of his van to reveal a Vari-kennel containing Rita which we popped in the back of my estate car. She came out of the box when I arrived home as if she had known us all her life ... she was such a little sweetie. Oliver in the meantime was recovering from a fight on the Thursday with Lulu (over a *barking at passing cars* incident!) she had bitten his leg quite badly and he was limping and feeling sorry for himself .. that was until he got the message that Rita was here, then he was miraculously better .... amazing what a bitch in season can do !! We tried them on the Friday, but she was more keen on biting him ... she was quite a feisty little thing ! On the Saturday the mating was done and the owner Pere drove all the way down from Barcelona (about 4 hours each way) to collect her. We were sorry to see her go, she was getting quite at home in our garage.

Rita is out of Jodel's Buddy and Bliza Dugar Baladar do Seixo and was placed first in Junior bitch and also best junior at the Stafford Club of Spain Champ show that year under Alec Waters. You can Click Here to see a picture of her.

 

 

Oliver was still in demand as a stud dog over here in Spain and was lined up for a mating with a bitch belonging to Stefan Haak from Holland who was going to bring his bitch here to Spain for the mating. We discovered what we thought was an inter digital cyst between the toes of his front leg. We took him to the vets who said he would remove the lump and send it to the lab for analysis. Oliver returned home running on 3 legs and with a green bandage halfway up his leg. He made a speedy recovery and even didn't bite the bandage off !! We received the results from the lab and were horrified to hear that Oliver had a tumor and was diagnosed with cancer. Our vet advised starting with chemotherapy at once which we decided to go ahead with as long as Oliver was OK in himself.

 

We told Stefan and another chap that was planning using Oliver the bad news and under the circumstances they decided not to go ahead, as we did not know what the future might hold.

 

Oliver had been on the chemo for 2 weeks and seemed to be OK in himself when we noticed a change in his breathing and his whole attitude. we took him back to the vet's who said it might be a reaction to the tablets he was on ... so he changed the dose. This was on Good Friday 2006. easter Monday we awoke to find Oliver struggling to breathe, so we rushed him to the vet's and on examination it was found that he had developed a tumor in his throat. He passed away on the examination table.

 

He was ten and a half years old, had been a wonderful dog and done us proud in the show ring.

 

He is at peace now and resting under one of the orange trees in our garden.

 

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