Ch Borstaff All the Rage CD : 1991- 1995
– my foundation –
Rage certainly lived up to her name from the day I got her, I was living at a Veterinary practice and on the first day she went up to the Blood Donor Dog (a very large crossbred dog) and bit him on the ankle as that is as high as she could reach. She was as cocky as can be and as full of life as you can get always up to something and always living life to the max.
I was lucky enough to get Rage because an order that Linda had dropped out – boy, am I grateful. Rage is the foundation bitch of all the Ourgang dogs and was my first successful showdog (as much as Sproggy tried). I made some terrific friends through her – one being Terry & Di McGilvray (Staffmasta) who have her sister “Grumbles” and another very close friend (actually I consider them my family) – Stella & Steven Deacon plus their children Jason, Tim & Rebecca (Steaminstaff). From Rage I also made friends with a myriad of other people such as Annette & Wayne Pulford (Boldhart), Tracie Zerbst (Watsittoya) and all the people who have purchased pups from me – all of whom ultimately go back to Rage.
Rage gave me two wonderful litters (see Litter 1 & Litter 2) and from this everything that I now have has come. She only lived to 4 years of age but certainly gave us a lot to remember her by.
She was a consistent show dog, winning her first challenge at nine months and gaining her championship title by two years of age. She ended up winning 199 points overall so almost became a double champion. She won consistently with lots of classes in groups, a few Runner Up in Groups and a couple of Best in Groups.
With obedience she made me laugh (and cry). One trial that particularly stands out in my mind is the last one for her CD. She was actually 4 wks pregnant at the time. We had done really well in the heel on lead, stand stay, heel off lead and stand for examination, I was hoping that this would be the last pass for her CD title as she had always done well in the recall. I left her in a stay at the end of the ring and went to the other end with the judge to call her. “Come” I called loudly and she came racing in towards me only to dive onto the freshly mown grass – roll, roll, roll, scrub, scrub, scrub – as only a Stafford can do and then crawled & I mean CRAWLED to the judge and sat perfectly in front of the judge. The judge by this stage was just about doubled over laughing at the black lagoon looking creature with grass cuttings dripping off her, with a big grin on her face sitting at her feet. “Finish your dog” said the judge, mortified I called “heel” and Rage came perfectly to heel to me. The judge clapped wildly and said “I am afraid she didn’t quite pass dear.”
Rage’s forte was the high jump – we discovered this competition at a country show in Gundagai and she came second there with her son Jacko winning it. We then competed at the Sydney Royal, she won this two years running with her son Scally and her daughter Jessie winning the next two years after that. The second time she won it was only weeks before her death, showing what great heart a Stafford has as I had not realised at the time that she was sick and looking back it would have been a big strain on her.
Rage died from Cancer, she had a small lump on the back of her neck which I thought was a grass seed so I paid little notice, this was just before Easter. By Easter she had a lump the size of a small marble so I thought I better get my Vet to look at it. It was completely moveable, did not seem attached in anyway. We operated to remove it and ended up removing a good portion of her neck with it as it had arms & legs and looked decidedly nasty. The results came back as bad news. Within two weeks of having the operation the cancer had regrown to the size of a tomato, we tried to remove that again and removed a large portion of Rage’s neck and skin. Within three weeks after that it had regrown again and metastasised to the lymph nodes in her body. Another two weeks later she looked pregnant as it had metastasised to her liver as well. By the time it got to her brain, enough was enough and she was put to sleep.
One of the hardest things about Rage going was how Sprog reacted. She could not cope at all with us burying her best friend and as fast as we were trying to bury Rage, Sprog was trying to dig her up. Sprog was not herself for about six months after Rage died, being a lot quieter and not wanting to join in with the other dogs and sitting in the corner staring at the wall – who said dogs don’t feel and don’t grieve has never looked at them closely. It is the little things you miss the most – the quietness when we got home was soul wrenching, as she was the one to bark and fuss and throw herself at the door. The wicked Stafford smile as she took something she shouldn’t have and the constant harassment about throwing her precious Kong. The great shame about Rage was that she never got to have a long life, it was such a waste of one so young and full of the joys of life.
Still I consider myself very lucky as I had her for those four years and she gave me 14 beautiful babies to remember her by. Her traits I can still see in them even today as I can in her grandkids, great grandkids, great great grandkids and so on it goes.
Cloe > Sprog > Maddy > Basty > Murtle > Angel > Oprah > Freddie > Jitterbug