Last week Darcey mentioned in her blog that I was on my way back to France and that I was visiting rescue organisations enroute. I have to say that I loved every minute of these visits and was very, very impressed with both the welcome I received and the rescues themselves.
Rescues can be very stressful places for the animals that find themselves there, for the staff, the volunteers and indeed for visitors. A bit like buying a house, your initial impressions go a long way but when you are met with a smile and a ‘how nice to meet you’ it helps a lot!
When we enter into negotiations with other rescues its initially by email or by phone but the UK rescue world is very small and as well as doing our own research we ask others for their opinions and recommendations. This means that we know that the associations have similar policies to ours and that our dogs are in very safe hands. Saying that, nothing is better than meeting the staff first hand and seeing the facilities for yourself and thus the purpose of my visits.
So..who are the lucky five dogs who have left? Ako, Babette, Bond, Heart and Woody!
Heart and Ako are border collies and are young, active, very clever dogs who need much more mental and physical stimulation than we can possibly give them. They are off to a specialist border collie association where they will be assessed, trained and placed with a loving family.
Bond and Babette are probably ex hunters who have been rejected, most likely as they were not good hunters. This is no suprise as they are both really loving, affectionate and will make superb family pets. They are going together to a rescue who is very used to both ex-breeding and ex-hunters and who have a fantastic network of foster homes. They will initially go into the rescue to be assessed and we are confident that they will be in the perfect family very quickly!
Woody is a pointer cross who was eventually caught and brought into the SPA after Carole saw him wandering in the village where she lived. He was extremely scared and thin when he arrived but flourished quickly and now he has the chance to go to an association, specialising in pointers who can help him along the way to his forever home.
So today the paperwork was checked, extra feeds given, dogs were walked, bowls, food, towels, blankets etc were packed and all five left with our superb volunteer James, who is driving them to the UK towards their new life. It takes a very special person to offer do do this, so a massive thank you to James and to his partner Rebecca, we know that they are in very safe hands and we wish everyone a very safe journey!
The lucky five:
Ako
Babette
Bond
Heart
Woody
And They Are Off!!!