Each sunday over the last month I have been face painting at a bull breed awareness road show. My rescue, in conjunction with several other animal charities have been trying to raise awareness re the importance of neutering and microchipping bull breed dogs. In the U.K a bull breed dog is put to sleep every hour and 40% of all bull breeds are put to sleep before their 4th birthday.
Animal shelters, including my own are inundated with unwanted bull breed dogs and there are hundreds more on waiting lists to be admitted. These dogs do badly in kennels and become extremely stressed and agitated, and are very difficult to re-home.
Liverpool is now the status bull breed capital of the U.K and the dogs are getting an increasingly bad name as cases of them killing children and pet dogs are often in the news. They are also used as fighting dogs and in the wrong hands are leathal. If raised correctly, these dogs are wonderfully gentle and loyal. So, to try and stop these dogs breeding we took ourselves off to four locations across Liverpool and Sefton, and tried to raise awareness re the importance of neutering and training.
A vet was present to microchip bull breeds for free and neutering was offered at drastically reduced rates. Hundreds of dogs were microchipped and as many signed up for neutering. An EXCELLENT result!!!
At these sort of events, we also have a few stalls and activities such as dog shows and facepainting to raise money to cover the costs of the chipping and neutering, so it fell upon me to face paint. It went down a storm and I raised £400 in total.
The road shows were not exactly uneventful. Week one went off without a hitch….well apart from me having a bad back after six hours of repetitive bending over tiny children…and there was an incident involving a child with a half painted face falling off the chair and refusing to allow me to finish…but overall, no probs!
Week two was rather nightmarish. It rained non-stop and hundreds of dogs turned out. Many of these dogs were aggresive and fights broke out continually. I was painting a little girls face, and suddenly saw a pit bull that had got loose from it’s owner, charging at a bull mastiff. The bull mastiff caught the pit bull’s head in it’s mouth and all hell broke loose. Ten minutes later, 20 people managed to pull the dogs apart…the pit bull was badly injured and had to be rushed to a vet. At least ten other fights broke out, but thankfully no serious injuries. In the end, the dog show didn’t take place in the ring….all dogs were judged in situ…all dotted around the park! Now that was a first!!!!!
Week three saw many parents haggling re the price of face painting. Several Mums refused to pay the £3 and offered me £2….I did take the reduced rate but thought it unfair on those who had to pay the full price. I painted one little angels face and after she looked at herself delightedly in the mirror, beaming from ear to ear she payed me….with a bright red button!!!! What can you do eh???? but thank her nicely.
So….getting to the point! Yesterday I was SCAMMED! Two angelic little girls wanted to be painted as princesses. Their Nan and mother sat on chairs and watched the process with interest. They had asked how much it would cost and said the price was fine. When I finished painting the little girls faces, I looked around and both Nan and Mum had disappeared. The girls were adorable and really thrilled with the results. They ran over to their Nan and Mum and asked for the money. Then they came back to me all shamefaced and said their Nan said she had no money to pay me!!!! What a terrible example they are to those beautiful little girls….and fancy ripping off a charity! FUMING I WAS…..and then….some guy asked me to hold his pit bull while he tightened the harness on his other dog and the dog I was holding suddenly lunged at a passing dog and managed to drag me half way across the park flat on my face and stomach!!!! AND the park was wet and muddy so you can imagine what I looked like by the time I handed the errant dog back. Ah well…all in a day’s work I suppose.
And finally….just to show you how good I am at face painting…here’s a piccie of two pleased customers. Btw…these are not the girls in question! Just happy lions!!!
That is extraordinary. Utterly shameful. Your face painting is top quality – excellent. My gosh, just can’t believe that Nan & mum.
Sorry you got dragged on your belly in the mud!!
You sound wonderful, though. Good on you.
Lol, thanks Noeleen….never a dull moment eh? xxxx
You are a star doing all this and putting up with being dragged about on your face and getting scammed….. flipping heck! Daughter was absolutely cooing and clucking over the top pic of the bulldog…..
Wishing you all the best with that awareness raising….. I think the country is being overwhelmed by staffies etc at the moment and of course savage dog had to be put down but Spot the Difference is just so unagressive and such a good dog…. all down to their upbringing. Spotty has a sort of father figure dog at the ex-boyfriend’s so has picked up a lot of the old labrador’s ways! xxxx
Lol, lovin the fact your Daughter liked George at the top there, apparently his breed is the original bulldog. I must say I clucked and cooed too and had a good long stroke, he was gorgeous!
It is sad about the poor staffies being put to sleep…..we hope to do the awareness roadshow every year now, hopefully it will make a difference.
I think your Daughter has done a fantastic job with spot dog, I remember that pic of him just looking at the cat! Amazing! She would be great working with dogs in a rescue……maybe she should apply to be an RSPCA officer, I’ve heard they recruit twice a year……xxxxx
That all sounds absolutely hair-raising … you are a heroine, me dear gal!!! 8|
Gillllllllllly!!!! You DID it! Lovely to see you here!
The road shows were a little….erm….educational! I didn’y feel very heroic getting dragged across a park flat on me face….lol xxxxx
Wow some people are really just too much aren’t they. To rip off an individual is one thing but to rip off a charity…£3 is nothing bet they happily paid more than that for a drink or something pointless! It’s good to have a rant about things, and yours is a good example of why I prefer dogs to most people!
Now you are a girl after my own heart…Dogs are so much nicer than a lot of people! I didn’t think £3 was a lot, and I did take the time to do a good job on each child….yes they were all walking aroung eating and drinking and probably spent a lot more. Thanks for your comment UJessica.x
Oh, by the way, smashing face painting. 🙂 Do they wash away easily if you wash your face?
Why thank you kind Sir!!! Yes, they come off really easily.xxxxx
Amazing post. I really enjoyed reading it through. You should have face painted the nan as a devil. As she was. Poor you. Must be painful to be dragged on the ground. Hope you’re fine now. 🙂 xxx
Ahhhh, thanks Vahid. Yes, I would have enjoyed painting her as a devil….talking of which, a gorgeous little girl came up to me, all in pink and INSISTED that I paint her as Dracula, with blood dripping of her fangs…weird! Lol….believe me, it’s REALLY painful being dragged along the ground….no dignity in it at all….lol xxxxxx
I find it disturbing that so many of these dogs are used for dog fighting. People are to blame for breeding ever more fearsome bull breeds. I think all dogs should be left to be plain simple ordinary mongrels which tend to have few health problems and longer lives as well as being more balanced.
Thanks John, dog fighting is a barbaric, disgusting practice and those who perpetuate it are without any kind of compassion….I totally agree about pedigree breeding…most pedigree dogs have problems. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a world where dogs are allowed to be dogs…..the variety would be fantastic.x
Those statistics are worrying. I agree that responsible dog owners have well behaved dogs.
Thanks Dessie. I agree, the stats are horrific….and if a dog has a responsible owner they are generally well balanced.x
Soooooooooo…… as I tried to say
I think the top photo is great. We certainly could have done with your face painting skills at yesterday’s garden party ~x~
Thanks Marian….just say the word and I’m there, rather fancy a weekend at your place!xxxxx
p.s the dog in the first pic was called George and he was GORGEOUS! xxxxx
Ooh you’ve got a new captcha…
Adult example is worrying in those that you describe, both with children and with dogs. Your art work is up with the best! 🙂
I met some well behaved dogs, all sorts of breeds including the docile to the fighting sort, all with responsible owners and all, including the humans, behaving very well. They had to be, they were wandering around an agricultural show with horses, riders, farm animals in their pens and in show rings being judged.
Yes….a brand new captcha thingmijiggy!!!!
I think all dogs are good if treated kindly and are taught how to behave, as usual it’s a human problem!
Yes, the adults in question were appalling, unlike their delightful little girls!xxxxx
The face painting is fab, well done you. It is a shame that some will not pay when everyone else is. Interesting facts about the dogs. Such a shame.
Hello you that girl!!!! It is a shame isn’t it…and what a bad example to young children. It is heartbreaking about the poor bull breed dogs…..We are going to do another road show in august and then make this a annual event, hopefully we will raise awareness and get some of these dogs neutered along the way.xxxxx
Why thank you Jen. Yes some people are really mean!xxxxx
Thanks Leigh-Ann…I’m still shocked that someone would be so hard faced! Most of the dogs are brilliant…they get wound up being around so many dogs.xxxxx
What a nightmare – that’s so cute about the red button though! xx
Lol…thanks Scarlett.xxxxx