Piglet - A Staffordshire Bull Terrier
The following article was published by the Daily Record - Saturday, March 9, 1999.
Injured terrier goes to see vet all by herself
An injured dog astonished vets by hobbling to the surgery alone - more than five years after her last visit. Piglet the Staffordshire Bull Terrier was waiting patiently on the practice doorstep when the first duty vet arrived.
Piglet limped inside with him before sitting down in the waiting room and holding up an injured leg.
There was no sign of her owner and it became apparent the casualty had admitted herself.
A check with a hand-held scanner revealed Piglet's identity number on a microchip inserted in her neck.
It was discovered that she had last visited the practice in 1993 - but had found her way back there in her hour of need. A check revealed that she had a slipped disc, which was causing the limp.
Val Lackenby, office manager at Crofts Vets Practice in Blyth, Northumberland said "It is absolutely amazing because it looks as though she made up her own mind that she was injured and needed treatment from a vet.
Our records show that Piglet was last admitted in 1993 and we are all wondering whether she remembered us.
We laughed at the thought that she might have remembered one of our vets, Malcolm Ness, who is a specialist orthopedic surgeon."
Piglet was first taken to the practice by Pennie L., who then lived in Blyth.
She later moved nearer the Scottish border and had to give Piglet away because the move unsettled her.
Pennie knows that Piglet was re-housed with a family in the Blyth area but has no idea of her recent history.
Now Piglet is going back to Pennie, who said "She is a lovely dog. I used to take her to Crofts Vets once or twice a year but it must be five years since she was last there.
It seems she realised that she needed help and found her way back there".
Steve Smith