Basty |

Grand Ch Ourgang Hell For Leather – 1996 > 2011
– Litter 4 –

Basty as he was known, short from Sebastian or Basty the Bastard if he was being bad, didn’t really have the nicknames of the girls, he got Basty Boo or Boodle Bundle unless one of the girls were in season & then we would call him Spasty Basty or at shows in Newcastle he was called “the Wombat”.

I was never actually meant to keep Basty, he was promised to a young man in Newcastle but I just couldn’t let him go. Right from birth Basty stood out as being a promising puppy and when it came to the crunch I just couldn’t do it, so he stayed. I had wanted a bitch from the litter but there was only one and she was not the quality of Basty. It was also apparent right from the start that Basty was not, the brightest spark. He really was a bit slow but so loveable and teddy bear like that you had to love anyway, just don’t expect him to go far in the genius stakes. The girls always ran rings around him there, you’d only have to blow on him and he fell over for a tummy rub.

Basty was the star of the household when it came to showing and why wouldn’t he be, being the only Stafford boy I have bred so far who has achieved Grand Champion status (though his great – great niece Onyx surpassed him now). He won at every age group, every level and in everything he tried. Not many Staffords can claim to have won at least 6 class in groups at every age (over 80 total), at least one age in show at every age, multiple Best and Runner Up in Groups (more Runner Ups than Bests mainly due to his slack handler). He has also won Best in Show and Runner Up in Shows as well.

Boo did well under international, local and interstate judges. He won the NSW Social Club’s Pointscore twice and won every age group in the Pointscore also. Always placed at Specialties, he unfortunately did not star as much at the Specialties as I think he deserved, but to each his own, we thought he was wonderful. At Lure Days Basty proved to be King – winning Fastest Dog twice, winning his age a couple more times and best of all, loving every minute of it.

As a stud dog Basty was not exactly the best, bit of a lazy bugger and it doesn’t help when one of your previous girlfriends does the flip on you and breaks your doodle! Didn’t help Mum’s health either (or bank account) when it took us 5 weeks to work out what he had done to himself, this was when I really wished dogs could talk.

One thing that I am glad improved with age was Basty’s bark. As a young lad, big & strong he would let out this tremendous mew, I call it a mew as it wasn’t a bark it sounded like a tiny kitten mewing. Luckily his voice broke and his bark matched his stature as it was previously very embarrassing for him & me!

The reason that Basty was called ‘Wombat’ in Newcastle is that we were up there for an overnight show and me being me, had my dogs wandering around the campsite, Basty had wandered off a bit, sniffing out smells, into the darkness. One of our group (in a bit of an inebriated state mind you) had gone to the loo and was on her way back when suddenly she screamed like all blazes and ran towards screaming “Wombat” “Wombat” “There’s a wombat out there!” We, of course, all looked and there is Basty just trotting towards us, not fussed at all about all the screaming that was going on. Needless to say we all fell on the floor laughing, Basty of course nonplussed about what all the fuss was about but the name stuck.

He loved retirement – the open spaces at Bathurst, running and swimming after the ducks for hours (never to catch them mind you). Being the main boy in the household he got all the privileges as he knew he could just squash or bully everyone into doing what he wanted – the best spot in front of the fire, the most food, the best bone …