A desperate dog owner from Manchester is appealing to the public to help fund research into the cause of her beloved pup’s unexplained seizures.
Morgan Dale and her blue Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Hugo have an incredible bond.
Not only is he her cherished pet, but she also credits him for saving her life by pulling her back from the brink following a suicide attempt. Now, Morgan is trying to return the favour and get her poorly pup the help he needs after he suffered some “terrifying” seizures – something vets are aiming to get to the bottom of.
Two-year-old Hugo’s seizures started a few weeks ago, and then more recently, he had two in the space of four hours.
He is currently being treated for possible epilepsy, but Morgan has been told that it could potentially be a brain tumour and this is something she won’t know until an investigative MRI has been carried out alongside an Ultrasound scan on his heart and other internal organs.
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But this costs money – and it’s a lot more than is currently covered by Morgan’s insurance.
“I genuinely think without Hugo, I would not be here [and] I say this all the time [but] this dog saved my life,” Morgan told Team Dogs.
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Hugo has suffered some “terrifying” seizures over the past few weeks / Credit: Morgan Dale
Fearing that she may have to give her pup up for adoption if she is unable to find the funds for the scans, Morgan has set up a GoFundMe page with the target of raising £2,000 and is asking anybody who can spare a few pounds to consider donating towards Hugo’s treatment.
“He’s just not the same dog,” Morgan added.
“He’s just really sad, he seems depressed [and] he just constantly wants to just chill.
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“Obviously after the seizures as well, he was absolutely terrified. He doesn’t know who I am, he wouldn’t let me near him. He was running away from me, hiding. He was just absolutely terrified and it was traumatic, traumatic for me and him.”
Having contacted various charities, Morgan now faces losing precious Hugo for good as if she cannot raise enough money to fund his MRI, she will have no choice but to sign him over to a charity that is able to pay for treatment.
Morgan Dale and her blue Staffy named Hugo share an incredible bond / Credit: Morgan Dale
Morgan continued: “Basically, once I sign that paperwork, I’ll never see him ever again [so] I just hope to god that I can get it so that he can stay with me, because I don’t want to stress him out.
“I just love him so much… and I just couldn’t imagine being without him.”
If you would like to contribute to Hugo’s treatment costs and help reach the £2,000 target, you can donate via Morgan’s GoFundMe page here.
Featured Image – Morgan Dale
UK News
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Many people think VAR has already gone too far and want it gone from football full stop, and we’re here to tell you that you’re a fool; your hopes are in vain, and the technology is only going to become more common as time goes on. Sorry.
So much so, in fact, that Tesco look are bringing in their own virtual referee into self-checkout systems in shops. You could say the ‘game’s gone…’
Of course, we’re being a bit flippant here, but if you have seen ‘VAR’ and ‘Tesco‘, you’re not seeing things: this is genuinely a thing that is being rolled out here in the UK, with video footage of the supermarket chain’s next self-checkout technology going viral online.
Thought you’d got away with sneaking an extra little something in the bag without paying? Think again.
— UB1UB2 West London (Southall) (@UB1UB2) May 28, 2025
We’ll admit, this was the first time we’d come across the technology, but as it turns out, the updated self-checkout service has been in place for a while.
Similar VAR checkouts have already been installed at other retailers, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, although some reports claim that while stores capture footage of shoppers to check if they’ve scanned all of their items, it is thought that not all of these self-service tills show a playback when an error is detected.
Although this particular speculation has sparked some uproar and debate online, many have quite rightly pointed out that CCTV records your movement in any given shop.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that aside from the obvious memes and people poking fun at the new system, many on social media have shared some pretty strong opinions on the matter.
Not that it matters much – it’s likely this will soon become increasingly the norm, with the likes of Sainsbury’s having already introduced barriers which require customers to scan their receipt in order to leave at branches such as the site on Regent Road Retail Park over in Salford.
As yet, it’s unclear how many of these new self-service tills are in operation and whether they are limited to larger supermarket locations of their Express convenience stores, but don’t be surprised if you come across one.
Put simply, if a barcode isn’t registered before being put on the scale and/or set aside to be packed away, the Tesco till will read: “The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.”
Addressing these new VAR-style checkouts in an official statement, a company spokesperson said: “We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.
“We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.”
What do you make of the new Tesco and their new VAR self-checkout technology?
Emily Sergeant -
24th June 2021 
