Stan’s Story

Stan

Just before Mum and Dad met, Mum picked up two, fluffy bundles - cats. Dad was ok about them when he moved in, but really, he wanted someone to go for walks, hang out at the pub or play football with him. Living in Richmond, London, there was no shortage of outside, beautiful parks and space, but the same couldn’t be said about the houses, and so Dad started to research dog breeds to see which might suit a small backyard.

One weekend, Mum and Dad went and visited a farm to view a puppy, Mum wanted to rescue her, but Dad could see the signs that might have lead to some health issues and steered her clear. That was good for me - the next morning, Mum and Dad walked into my home and when the breeder picked me up and placed me in Dad’s hand, it was love at first sight.

I went home with Mum and Dad 4 weeks later at age 9 weeks. I ws so small, I could fit in Dad’s hand and only weight 1.15kg. When I met my cat brothers, they laughed - they’d been told they were getting a dog brother, but they hadn’t really envisioned me coming home! It was a relief for them I think, they were 3 times my size and still had the run of the house - except when I joined them on their cat pole.

We did move to a bigger house with a huge backyard when I was one and I met Lola, my best friend. We used to have so much fun on the local common - I will never forget catching her scent when Mum and I first started a walk, and taking off. I distinctly recall the sound of Mum shouting my name and stomping across the middle of the field where you weren’t meant to go, but I couldn’t get Lola out of my thoughts and was determined to find her. I did also have a moment where I thought I should let Mum know about the snake I saw crawling into a hole, but I didn’t have time. She seemed ok anyway, when she eventually caught me.

When I was 3, Mum and Dad started moving all of our things around in the house and talking about planes. One day, a van came and put me in a huge crate with Will and Harry, and we watched as Mum and Dad said goodbye. It was all a bit confusing, but eventually we were loaded onto a plane where we stayed for what felt like forever. It was such a long trip, but I am very good at sleeping so it was fine for me. When we finally got off the plane, we had another road trip to some sort of kennel, and loads of people all wearing the same clothes played with us. One day, I don’t know how long later, I smelled something familiar and noticed the two people who had come to the kennel weren’t wearing the same uniforms - it was Mum and Dad!! The three of us were so excited, I may have peed myself, but then we had another long trip in the car before we finally got to our new home.

Now, I am officially a British Australian Boston Terrier, aged 10, I’ve lived in 5 houses, 2 countries and have so many friends, I think I’m one of the luckiest dogs around.