I have decided to have a weekend away at our static caravan this weekend and do some "hubby cheering up" :) Sam as you know is head kennel man...poo shifter...and all round handy man at MKF he sometimes gets a bit fed up so its my mission to cheer him up for the weekend :) :)
then he must get back to work :D
Last year I vowed I would write a dairy for rescue the only time its peaceful is here in this lovely haven of quiet I was seaching my files on here and found the following (below) so I thought I would share it with you all..............
An attempt at a rescue Diary 2007
Well dear dairy here we are nearing the end of april the total amount of dogs in this year is 110,some weeks ago we lost our own old lab Mattie at the grand age of 13 who we loved so much, we also had the sad news our other beloved dog Ned aged 4 is ill with terminal cancer, this is terrible blow as it is not known how long he has or how far the cancer has spread, he seems in apart from getting breathing problems after exercise which I assume is part of his condition, we feel grief and sadness and frustrated because there is nothing we can d except love him and take care of him.
This weekend and as I am writing this we have brought him away to our static caravan in an idyllic spot where he can chase rabbits and hunt for interesting smells the trouble is we both can see whilst its fun for him he struggles after .
Last month in rescue we had some major problems I am increasingly worried about the trend of people to buy a pup and put no training in whatsoever and then when the dog develops bad habits or becomes unmanageable will dump him in rescue, also there has been some dogs brought in who have had medical problems and chose not to disclose them, resulting in more cost for us diagnosing the problem or some poor person being left with the problem.
There is another problem which is aggression this can be to other dogs or people this should not be a trait in a Labrador! I am deeply saddened o have to admit that this year five dogs have been put to sleep due to aggression which was out of control.
Also people who could seek help and work with problems simple throw in the towel and return the dog ,there are some people however who will work with a dog and I for one am most grateful to people like this.
I wonder sometimes if some people actually understand what taking on a rescue dog means they somehow think that they will get an instant dg with no problems at all which In some cases is true but others there will always be some work to do ,I had a nice email today about a do called Sonny the adopter giving a progress report ,sonny had chewed up his laptop connecter and some other things but it was referred to light-heartedly and then he said how much he was loved, that was great to hear.
The good news is that through our good friend Steve Bland Prison dog training officer some dogs deemed unfit for family pets have gone on to be successful prison drug detection dogs ,dogs which have been very destructive or hyper in the extreme have their energies and intelligence channelled into doing a worth while job plus due to their strong bond with their handlers have a wonderfully fulfilling life.
Sometimes Kathryn and I are invited to go and watch the dogs go through their training
And also Steve and the handlers will bring dogs from our rescue to our fun day and do a demonstration which is lovely to see, especially as previously troubled dogs look so happy.
As a non profit scheme we rely on donations, and when people adopt a dog we suggest which donation is suitable some dogs we do not receive donations for these may be dogs with illnesses or old dogs we consider the donations for young ones will help the oldies and so it goes ,we state clearly that if a dog is adopted any donation paid is non refundable, its clearly visible on the document but I recently had quite a disagreeable experience with someone who adopted a dog and was quite stroppy when he returned th dog with 48 hours and then wanted his money back it was explained that it was clearly stated on the form it wouldn’t be .
Donations and funds raised are the lifeblood of the rescue without them we cant function most organisations work on similar lines some even charging for taking dogs in which we do not do, our overheads to provide kennelling and care for the dogs comes ata a high cost and these costs must be met by our funds if we don’t have fund s we don’t exist common sense, but some people think its like going to tesco or mail ordering ,its amazing how many people fill in the online application then assume they then only HEY PRESTO ring for a dog !. some of course are not acceptable to us as a prospective owners .
We are so grateful for or trusty band of voluntary home checkers who visit prospective homes for us and the report back most of these people have already adopted from us and know what we are looking for in a potential new home..
Another problem we sometimes encounter is an owner bringing in a dog to home and then some time after having an attack of guilt or sadness want to take their dog back often its too late the dog has already gone to a new home and that can also cause unpleasantness for us,and in many cases the dog has gone to a far more suitable home than the one he came from.
19th may.
Dear Diary
We lost beloved Ned on may the 1st ,when we returned home from our special weekend we then took Ned in for an x-ray on the Tuesday we waited with him for the results, the news was not good so we let our boy go ,this was to be the saddest decision for us but the best for him,he was now at peace at that special place where good dogs go, taking with us a piece of our heart to keep for us till we meet again.
May has been a quiet month one dog poor Ben a delightful bouncy boy has been with us nearly three weeks no interest shown for him yet,we also had two lots of brothers max and jacko and roo and frazer.
We are also fetching over some Irish dogs his week its been a while since we had some as we haven’t had room but we are expecting three so more news on that later.
t
to be continued……………………
As I am writing this July is nearly at an end we had our fun day which was hard work in the planning but so satisfying to see all the dogs and their proud new owners looking so well, as usual we had our “Labrador of the year” competition the owners gave their dogs history and why they should be the winner, the eventual winner was “Matt” who was brought over from Ireland, sadly Matt had been very harshly treated so much so he lost an eye, the operation which usually pads the eye socket hadn’t been performed well and gave matt’s eye a sunken look The Irish Ladies Marion and Niamh were so happy that w took Matt and we were delighted o find him a wonderful home.
There was a few tears shed by people when he was announced the winner, although all the dogs were winners really.
This month has been very busy also slow on the fundraising front, we did well with the fun day but have had several large vets bills lately, at this point in the year our fund is half what it was at the beginning of the year, the wok on the new kennel has been held up due o collapsed drain we hope to complete it before winter arrives.
This week we took three more dogs from Ireland Mal, Ernie & JJ all nice dogs thanks to Tim who brought them over a dog warden in Ireland has put so much training in with mal and Ernie new on their progress later.
Also this week due to a tragedy we took in an old boy Ben sadly we thought his hip was broken but examination by our vet pointed more to a pulled a muscle sadly Ben and his friend Charlie had spent a few months in a boarding kennels whilst his terminally ill owner was being cared for so we don’t know how long poor Ben has been suffering, the good news is we managed to come up with a foster home for him…more news on him later.
We are now In September dear diary its been so busy I haven’t had time to sit and write
These notes are done when I can escape with Sam to the caravan and get some peace and quiet.
Well Ben went into the foster home with John and Sandra Dutson where he was well looked after the Dutsons were waiting or a hearing dog as both are deaf and had offered to look after Ben we initially thought this would be for about 9 months but lucky for them but not for Ben their hearing dog came sooner than expected so poor Ben came back to the rescue where he took up residence in the house another pair of good Samaritans came in the shape of Ian (webmaster) and his wife Carolyn who had already adopted wo old girls off us before so its early days but hopefully all seems to be going well.
The rescue will continue to fund his diet and medication.
Over 200 dogs have been re homed by us so far this year from the farm and many more from their own homes.
We currently have an old girl in rescue her name is maisie she is years old unfortunately maisie looks and acts like a puppy being very over exhubrant so much so when people come to see her they are put off by her silly behaviour which is sad as when she settles down a more loving companion you couldn’t wish for so she is still waiting,sadly I discovered she had been kept in a cellar I cant elaborate on her life as am not sure but seems very sad to me.and could explain her enthusiasm at meeting people…………….
I never got time to keep the diary sadly and now we are in april 2008 still do not have time.
I will have ago at the day in the life or better still week in the life as suggested by Ian and Carolyn and whilst we are having a weekend away I will start it Monday………….
Diary
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