[Mistymillar]

So last night after work and dinner, my husband takes Alfie to the park, which is just across the street from us. (At this time of night the park which is quite big is closed, there are 4 gates and all but one which is the furthest one away from us are locked, however we have a key for the gate nearest us, which we shouldn't have, but that is a complete other story)

Anyhoohow, when he comes back he tells me about throwing the ball for Alfie as normal, when all of a sudden a quite big Staffie comes out of nowhere and steals Alfie's ball, bear in mind we have a key to the park and there are hardly any other people or dogs likely to be there. So Big hard, fears nothing Alfie, faces up to the Staffie and before my husband can get to them, the StAffie has grabbed Alfie by the back of the neck and pinned him to the ground. Luckily, happily, by the grace of some deity or by amazing design, the Staffie was not intending to hurt Alfie, or I would be posting in a much different thread.

So hubby picks Alfie up and huge Mastiff as he thinks he is, is twisting and chomping to get back on the ground to face up the Staffie again, so right back home he goes.

When I hear the story, while finishing making dinner I immediately worry about the poor Staffie, lost and on its own, so post the limited info on our local lost and found. Soon after when on my Facebook saw a stream from our local buy and sell, if you see this Staffie in (several areas that are right beside me) please let me know.

So instantly, like this was less than twenty minutes since I posted on lost and found, I posted to let this person know that it was almost certain her dog was in Woodvale Park.

I was only a little worried now as I was pretty sure dog and own wept would soon be reunited. But following this, the lost and found site contacted me to tell me to leave a message with the dog warden, I was a. BIt loath to do this as it was likely the owner would be fined so said ok but didn't call the warden.

By this time, which is still only about an hour after the dog had been posted as missing (on the buy and sell site not the lost and found) I am waiting on the news that the Staffie has been brought home, easy, it was right in the park with limited ability to get out of the park, job done, everybody happy and safe......

Ya think? No so all sorts of people including the lost and found pets admin were talking to this girl, and it became clear to me that, she wasn't doing an effing thing. I asked her (this is all on Facebook through a different thread) was she at the park yet, she said she couldn't get out of the house cos her baby son was in bed, I am getting alarmed now so I asked if someone else was going to go look for her dog or if she could get someone else to watch her son so she could go get her dog. She said no her partner had to go to work and she was on her own so nobody was going to be looking for her dog.

So right then I called the dog warden. But about an hour later cos of our dog warden operating hours, it being a Friday night and it being cold and me worried sick, I tramped over to the park, with treats, a ball and. Lead in my pocket to try to find this poor pet, who I know now was a female about 18 months old. Didn't find her.

During this time I have been able to access this girls profile, she and her friends look like my grandsons age, ( he is 15) I can only hope she is older, she has a very new baby, I would estimate less than 3months.

I learn from her profile and posts about the missing dog that it is an 18 month old bitch that she has had for a week. While I am asking her how she is planning to get her dog back she is saying I can't get out to look for her and am just hoping she will find her way home. Jeeeeeeeeez the poor baby doesn't even know where home is.

Happy? Ending, dog warden reunited the wee woman with her family this morning. Do I feel better? No, who buys an 18 month old Staffie when you have recently given birth? Who thinks it is ok to post a missing pet and then do almost nothing to find it, even when you have been told exactly where it is. Does she know never to leave any dog, no matter how beautiful a temperament alone with a small child, infant, newborn?

That's not including the s**t my husband got for not being close enough to Alfie to sve him from the unexpected, if she had been aggressively attacking, Alfie would have been dead.