Claychalk Costa Amero

Hi there and welcome to my site. My name is Alyson and I live in Paisley in the West of Scotland. My household currently consists of me, my Dad, my 3 dogs, Sam, Jack and Niamh and my gerbils Bob and Spud.

My three posing for their Christmas photo, on my bed of course.

From left to right, Niamh, Jack and Samantha (Sam).

I have grown up with dogs. We had a yellow lab, Trixie, first then a black lab, Petra. They both came from the Marquis of Bute's gamekeepers kennels on the Isle of Bute. They had working pedigrees and were both lovely dogs. We lost Petra in 1991 and it wasn't until 1998 that I got Sam. She is, reputedly!, a collie cross, but to me she is just a complete love. She is such a happy dog to be around and everyone who meets her falls in love and wants to take her home. 

I went to Australia for a month in 2003 and when I got back decided to get another dog. Into our lives bounded Meg a farm bred collie.

Meg 2003-2004

She was such a sweet dog but she was only with us just over a year. She had liver problems and was PTS on the 24th May 2004. I, foolishly, in retrospect, went out the next day and bought another dog, Jack the chocolate lab.

Jack in 2004.

At the time I knew nothing about the health testing, hips, eyes, elbows etc. All I wanted was a chocolate lab. It's, unfortunately, a trap many people fall into and suffer the consequences later. Jack's health problems started when he was 6 months old. He started to hold his back leg up. It was mis-diagnosed at the time and we now know this was the onset of ED-elbow dysplasia. The form Jack had was OCD-osteochondrosis. He now has arthritis in 3 of his legs. As if this was not enough, Jack has severe allergies aswell. It has taken a long time to make a proper diagnosis but he has enviromental allergies-house dust mites,storage mites aswell as grasses, pollen etc. He was recently tested for food allergies. The tests came back with him being allergic to chicken, duck, pork and turkey. At the moment he is on Glycoflex III for his legs and Atopica and monthly injections for his skin. His problems, finally, seem to be under control for the moment. Thank goodness for pet insurance.