A big thank you to Johnnie. He arrived home from a meeting in Coventry with a Mastiff cross in his boot that he picked up en route. Sharon has decided to call this big strong boy Duke, and he really is going to take some work. He only arrived at 9pm, and is very stressed and very nervous.  It is going to take a while for him to realise that no one is going to hurt him, but I am sure it is a hurdle we can cross. Hopefully I will get some pictures soon, and of course you can follow his progress on here

Well done John for working so hard with this guy, and thanks for helping getting him up here.

I'm sure Duke will settle down quickly with you.  He is a nervous lad but once he gets to know you his true personality shines through.  Like me, all the regular walkers at the pound fell in love with him, its such a shame that he ended up there.  I'm glad he is with you now, he deserves a chance - thank you all for helping him.

Shaz x

Heres a little background for you on Duke, this poor dog was holed up for a few weeks in brambles between a train line and dual carriageway.  It took many days of perservering by the dogwarden Maurice Jones....who spent a few hours a day, feeding in a bid to gain his trust.  On the day he finally gave up, he had to endure further torment when a group of yobbos tried to attack the dogwarden and a member of the public for taking the dog.  Scared stiff, Duke tried to pull himself under the dogwardens van that was parked on a busy dual carriageway.  Police arrived and escorted the wardens van away, but some of the officers recognised Duke as belonging to a local asian man, the police had apparently attended this house of several occasions, the dog apparently lay in a very small garden with nothing more than concrete as a friend and would quiver in fear when they entered the garden and tried to acknowledge him.

Good luck Duke and thanks again Shak for your help.

My lovely boy now known as Duke, one of my faves down the kennels, and i used to walk him a lot, will miss him.
When he first came in he was very scared, but after a while gained confidence.
He is very food motivated but not very polite taking it.
He never seemed bothered by other dogs down there, and is not too bad to walk.
Just needs some training, he is in the best place.

Thank you all. We'll do all we can to sort him out.

Forgot to add, Johnnie and I took him for a walk last night when he arrived with another dog. Picked somthing very calm and well behaved, so to set Duke an example..... yep you got it. He went out with Scooby      

this big lad has been to hell and back too many times now he is in heven, this lad made tears streem down my face in sorrow and hapiness, he is loyal when he trusts you i remember trying to asses him and it was so hard as all he wanted to do was get to me but we did one in an around about way this lad is big and dopey but lovable he does like other dogs alot,
this big boy reminds me of a wale shark as he has all ways got his mouth open for food lol,

good look my baby boy il never forget you and you never know may see you again.

thank you again to steven shak and johnnie, oh and tell your wife sorry bout the scratch on the car lol.

you look after him scooby.

I can't wait to meet this gut tomorrow he sounds absolutely lush! Deffo my kind of dog!x

lol we were wondering if you would change his name.  he came in during the food name phase. skinny and all legs so the name suited him.

As you can see, Duke is a lot more relaxed today, and Gregg has already started his training. I'll let you guess the pictures where food was involved.

Thanks for the explanation on his name, I did wonder.....

aaaaawwwwwwwww look at my boy he is getting loads more gentle taking treats now i got a few tears in my eyes now. oh look gregs got my food treets lol wright's lol,
oh look at that face.

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