The Blitz story so far:
Many of you will already know the story of BLITZ and how we have gotten to this part of his life.
Blitz was a happy go lucky, boisterous typical 18-month-old dog found as a stray and taken to the local stray kennels, where he was suspected of being a banned breed and was seized by the police because of his looks not because of anything he did. This started a journey that many dogs and owners have travelled but very few for the sheer length of time involved.
I would look after Blitz during his stay at the kennels and right from day one he stole a piece of my heart, he was always a cheeky chappy looking for an angle to escape, always weighing up his next move. Blitz did have some dark days during his stay:
- Suspected stress fractures to legs caused by repetitive bouncing behaviours,
- He once caught his paw on the wire mesh front and partially ripped of a pad from his foot.
- Broken teeth
- Sores to front leg joints caused from licking and biting through boredom.
- An operation to remove parts of a digested kong toy.
- He was very destructive whilst in the kennels, destroying beds and bedding.
As we know dogs are social animals, Blitz’s incarceration inflicted undeserved stress and removed his ability to display normal behaviours. We would implement a kennel wide enrichment program, ensure that all dogs were exercised appropriately, and extra attention was given to dogs displaying unnatural behaviours. Blitz was one of the lucky ones that could be trusted to run off lead in the secure area whilst we were eating our lunch.
Blitz is one of the lucky ones, he had a loyal band of followers that would keep pressuring for his release, a petition for his release had over 152,000 supporters but to no avail. To my knowledge Blitz was listed for euthanasia at least twice and both times his owner and her legal team averted the situation in the final moments. After about three years I approached the police force and offered the possibility of Blitz being released to me and my wife, who also worked alongside Blitz in the kennels for a while, the response I got was that it would be a conflict of interest with the job I was in and that the costs would be over£10,000 and rising.
Leaving the kennels must be one of the lowest days of my life, I had always promised Blitz that I would be there at the end for him no matter what the outcome (as I also promised every other dog I looked after). After saying my goodbyes, I could not even talk to my colleagues I just had to leave.
We never forgot him, not for a single day.
Then out of the blue there was an opportunity for us to try again, having moved to a new house, a different county, and a new job, we now also had 4 rescued dogs to consider but, how could we not try. On contacting the legal team, they believed that this was his last hope.
I was in a university lecture when I received a call from a sergeant that I worked with previously and he wanted to come and interview us on the request of the chief constable. He knew our background, abilities, and the bond we had with Blitz. I like to tell ourselves that he believed in us and approved our suitability.
Court is a daunting place if you have not had the pleasure before, I would never normally wear a suit, but I did for this, being able to shake the hands of the legal team that had fought behind the scenes for him was a privilege
And then we won,
a victory for humanity,
The judge overturned a destruction order and advised that I should be allowed to be his “Keeper at the time”, and his guardian for rest the rest of his years. As is proving inevitable when working with this inhumane law there were hiccups and discussions between DEFRA, the courts and his legal team before an acceptably worded order was received and his release date was agreed.
On his release to us it was a huge relief that he recognised us immediately and within minutes we were rolling around free and unrestrained again as we had previously.
Blitz has proved himself to be a credit to his breed (whatever that may be).
He has accepted all our rescue dogs (Even though he apparently dislikes other dogs).
He has had to adapt to a house environment, and the COVID-19 lockdown which many people say was stressful and adversely affected their mental health, imagine how they would feel if they were locked down for 1768 days almost 5 years.
Blitz will never be the dog that he should have become, that has been taken from him by a law that unjustly victimises a dog because of what he looks like, Blitz is calm, loving, accepting, and forgiving but scratch the surface and he is nervous, anxious, unsure of what is acceptable behaviour. We are lucky that he always makes the right decisions, to be honest I could understand it if he didn’t given what he has had to endure.
We never gave up.
His supporters never gave up.
And
Most importantly Blitz never gave up.
Imprisoned for 1768 days before being released and free, although even then he is restricted to on lead walks only, always wearing a muzzle whilst in public(which crazily even includes inside his own van)and ensuring that he has valid third-party insurance. This victimises him again for his looks not his actions, unfortunately he will always be categorised as dangerous and banned regardless of his temperament.
We now live a quiet simple life since leaving the kennels, as the new owners were unethically euthanising strays after 8 days if they remotely resembled bull breeds or opened their mouths to speak, after all that we have been through it was not something we could be a party too. So now in these troubled times we are dog walking, offering training advice and developing an online sales platform, in which we can offer products that we have used and tried on or gang of dogs and give an insight into how it can help you.
We will always answer questions and give advice on our experiences along the way. As well as giving updates to all Blitz’s supporters, without whom we would not be where we are now, living each day with a smile and a knowing that if we strive to do the right thing every time, together we can make a difference not just for one dog at a time but for all dogs persecuted by ill-conceived and ineffectual laws.
Never stop believing!
