Meet Alfred, Jackson and Sasha)

There seems to be a problem uploading photographs., I hate it when the computer plays up,its so frustrating so I am unable to show the photos today, I will try again tomorrow.PHOTOS HERE NOW>
I felt I needed a short break from the diary but Im back on track again now.Jackson and Sasha are inseperable which makes homing them more difficult, not many people want two medium size dogs, its not an impossibility but we will see what happens and give it some time.If no success then they will be seperated and go to homes where there will be another dog for company.Hooch the Dogue went to a home where there was already a Freshfields(Liverpool) dog in residence and I hear they are getting on well together.Another lurcher was admitted, he is sharing Mollys space in the house, he is rather sorry looking - thin and suffering from flea exczema but nothing that can not be put to rights.He appears to be around 6 years of age, a gentle quiet dog who is now named Alfred after the dog in "Heartbeat".He has taken over Cindys indoor kennel, all dogs seem to like it there, i think they feel safe and secure inside it.I am often asked what I think of these cages and I did dislike the idea of using them but my experiences with this one have all been positive.Of course i only use mine when there is a new dog or a difficult dog to introduce to the others and then it is only in use only for very short periods of time.I would never condone a dog being put in one as punishment or for longer than a couple of hours.All my dogs regard it as a safe house and there is no distress at all when it is being used, far from it, it creates calmness and comfort.
A dog was returned after a year in her home though it was a genuine reason for bringing her back.Megan has been having very bad fights with the other dogs in the house and she needs to go to a home where she is the only dog.It seems to be a territorial issue as we never had a problem here with Megan and other dogs.She is a Parsons Jack russell, wirecoated and appealing so she should go quickly.
A tiny little Yorkshire terrier was admitted today and has temporarily joined the gang in the living room though I think Mei has her eye on her already. Her family lost their old Yorkie last year and Mei has 2 chihuahuas at the moment but wants to persuade her parents that another toy dog is just what they need!!!We will see!
Yesterday I emailed a letter to a well know horse Magazine"Horse and Rider"
bemoaning the fact that we receive next to no help from"horsey" people and even after placing an ad in another magazine which by rights should have successfully
tugged at the heartstrings of anyone who cared for horses, we received not a single donation. They are considering my letter for publication so I am keeping my fingers crossed as it may just do what the advert failed to do and bring us some support.
Little Martha the black kittencat who lost her eye shortly after arriving here has
gone to a home where there already lives a Freshfields cat, not to mention a Freshfields Pig(from the LIverpoool shelter)We are all pleased to see her go to this lovely home.
The only other cathomed this past week is Mary who was the last of her group to be chosen, she came in with several others when her owner died so they have all gone now and made space for others in need.
Its a lovely sunny day here today but it has been so cold, I was a bit premature planting out a hanging basket, all the plants have died so I need to plant again.I like to see plants around the place, it brightens up the yard though the cats tend to think the pots are just new litter trays and William is prone to lifting his leg at each one.Still nothing daunted,I will try again.Only hardy plants survive here, they need to withstand the weather AND the animals.Same goes for the staff too!

And where exactly do I sit?

I couldnt resist taking this photo of my living room sofa occupied totally by animals,I decided to sit on the other sofa but within seconds most had vacated this one to join me! I cant win, best to give up and just squeeze in with the gang.From left to right- Felix cat, Suzy,Ruby, the maggie marthas, William and Fatticat.
The Liverpool ambulance came up today, driven by friends Elaine and Suzy, they brought me some donated dogfood from Lisa who runs Healthy Paws.Lisas dogfood is a healthy recipe loved by most dogs, even the fussy ones.I am grateful to her for her help.Also in the ambulance were 3 lovely dogs for which I will try to find good homes. Hooch, a breed of mastiff (dogue de Bordeaux) is just 1 year old, a lovely natured dog but my god he neeeds his bits off quickly.I have never seen such an oversexed dog.The other two Sasha a friendly cross GSd and Jackson a gorgeous dog of indeterminate breed arrived looking bewildered and dejected, that is until we introduced the pair of them.From there on their tails lifted,they licked each others muzzles - their whole demeanour changed from dejection to happiness. It was amazing, these two dogs had never met before but they formed an instantaneous bond. We have to try and home them together, for them to form this attachment so soon is incredible and it would be a great shame to part them.Oh and its not because Sasha is in season and the dog fancies a bit of rumpy pumpy!! Both animals are neutered.
The owner of the pony has turned up and taken her and guess what- he failed to pay a penny towards her keep in spite of promising to do so. There was no point carrying it on and starting legal proceedings, it would cause too much local ill will but I am very disappointed and annoyed to find ourselves out of pocket.
It was good to see Elaine and Suzy again, they spent a few hours here meeting the animals and taking photographs, I think Suzy took a particular shine to my main man "Noddy". Its good to know that it isnt just me who finds him totally irresistable.

Merlin is returned.

I have just had a call from someone who has taken an ex farm dog (nOT FROM ME) which is so terrified of strangers he curls up in a corner and urinates whenever someone visits the house.Poor poor dog.When the person leaves he springs into action, runs at them and nips then hides again.Clearly he has not been socialised at all though he is house trained.If I can home Billy the staff this dog could go in with Bonny the foxhound and we could try to work with him.I dont think a foster home would be able to cope with his problems.
One of my blog readers wanted to stress to me that not all farmers are cruel, she is from a farming family herself and I did tell her that my own farming neighbours are good to their dogs so I am aware that not all mistreat them.Nevertheless it is a fact that very few of the ex farm dogs I see display normal behaviour patterns, alomost all of them are terrifed of their own shadow, are neglected in appearance and are cowed and miserable I would love to be part of an education programme to instill different thought processes into the heads of those who keep their working sheepdogs in a state of permanent terror.(well I can dream)This type of owner give the others a bad name.
A cat we just rehomed, Merlin is being returned.(picturted here)What a shame, however he will find a home soon, apart from little Martha with the one eye, he is the youngest cat here.
4 cats have gone to be neutered today, one of them, Bramble" already has a home waiting.The other 3 are part of the "hard to home" gang.The pretty ginger youngsters are semi feral and need a very special home and the dark tortie is very shy and needs someone with no other cats and a quiet environment.There is someone out there for most animals, its just not always easy finding them!
The date for the Open Day has been decided.The grand event will take place on July 25th, Now is the hard part - organising it all, though thankfully most will be done by George who is the official fundraiser for Freshfields. We hope to have a dog agility/flyball display so I am trying to finalise that arrangement this week.
Teg is doing well with his training for the Snowdon race, he tells me he made it three quarters of the way up last week. He is amazing.
Watched the documentary last night "the lion cub from harrods" I had already seen the moving video clip on youtube but the documentary too was very touching but upsetting in parts.Thank goodness Harrods no longer sell animals in this way, there was a clip showing a woman walking an exotic cat(was it a cheetah?) along the Kings Road!!! Sheer exhibitionism at the expense of a creature which should be living a life of freedom.I couldnt help but wonder at the fate of the sibling lion cub.What happened to her? Best not to think.The conditions in Harrods were pretty grim too.
Bens homecheck in Dorset has passed , we have a new homechecker Wendy who is the lady who gave a home to Christy collie(now called Ben).If the new Bens home turns out to be as good as Wendys he will be a very lucky animal.
Just as I was about to finish this, a call came through from the owner of the stray pony!!! We are now on speaking terms and I hope this situation will be resolved for once and for all.He is reluctant to pay for the ponys keep but will ring me later after he has spoken to his father about it.

A stun gun is requested.

Cariad seems a little better today though her balance is far from normal.Still not had the results of her blood tests.
It has been another quiet weekend, only one cat rehomed, the couple who came to see Ben the dalmation cross were not compatible with him at all.I think as they had never had a dog before that he was too young and lively for them.There is no doubt they offer a good home but it will have to be the right dog, maybe something a few years old would be best for them.There is another home waiting for him, pending a homecheck of course.If this passes he will go to live in Dorset near the edge of a forest which will be ideal for a dog like Ben.
The owner still has not collected the black pony.This cant go on.
The lady who owned the neglected horses which we are still treating 12 months later, has decided to contact a solicitor for the return of her animals.I really dont need this aggravation, they were signed over to the shelter and I have the Vets report and the Farriers report on file but I wish now I had reported her to the RSPCA, I refrained from this action due to the womans ill health, I will not be as considerate if this ever happens again.Thanks to her longterm neglect 2 young ponies had to be euthanased - totally unforgiveable.
Jan who has 4 of our horses on loan came to help in the office yesterday, she has been getting the microchip database up to date. After 2 hours work, the computer crashed and she lost the lot!All her work for nothing, she looked about to burst into tears and decided to call it a day and go home. Just before she left I took a call from a lady wanting advice.
She wanted to know if I had a Stun Gun because an animal had escaped from a property.Imagining some sort of dangerous wild creature roaming the North Wales countryside, I told her to contact a vet and asked her to describe the escaped animal. "its a feral" she said."Feral what" I asked,the lady replied "its A feral Chicken!!!! Jan and I collapsed in a fit of giggles.Life is never dull here.

Tara picks up and Cariad is worse.

What a change to have the sun shining all day, this is when I realise how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful place as North wales.I never thought I would ever leave Liverpool having lived in the same suburb of Crosby all my life but a series of incidents led me to move here 6 years ago and I feel as if I have lived here all my life.Just to say a little about it, there were 8 rescued horses in the care of Freshfields and they had been kept at a livery stables for several years(we did not have enough land for grazing)Suddenly we had to move them and I had nowhere to do so.I was at my wits end when an email came through offering The charity this smallholding.It had belonged to friends of mine and ex Freshfields helpers who wanted to move but wanted the property to continue as an animal shelter.The timing was incredible.All of a sudden there was light at the end of the tunnel, somewhere permanent and safe for the horses to live.Within 6 weeks the horses were moved to their new home and with much apprehension and feelings of trepidation I packed up my meagre belongings and my beloved dogs and left behind my old life. I intended to stay 6 months, find a manager for the place and return to my home town, well that was 6 years ago and I am still here.I think I knew the first night here that I would not leave, somehow it felt right and strangely familiar.
Stray ponys owner not turned up today or rung to make arrangements so I presume he will leave a message tonight for collection of her tomorrow.I find it hard to believe he has not been near the shelter yet.
Cariad our permanent longhaired ginger cat(pictured here) who has been very wobbbly on her legs is worse than ever, the vet thinks she has a neurological problem. Her balance is very poor.similar to the effect of a middle ear infection.I am keeping her in the house for her own safety.cariad has always been the first cat people see when they visit here, she used to live loose in the cattery and her appealing looks would make everyone admire her.Her pretty looks however belied her nature which was unpredictable, she had originally been admitted with a litter of newborn babies but it was not long before we realised Cariad was temperamental and unlikely to find a home.After a year in the cattery we decided to release her to live freely but she always liked her basket in the passage of the cattery and would return to that all the time.Last year I persuaded her to move in to the conservatory and after a few false starts she did decide it was better and warmer there.We have much better natured cats here but for some reason the feisty ones are often the ones for which we all develop a particular fondness.
Tara our old collie is back to normal, today she is as lively as ever though the vet says her heart has deteriorated considerably since the last time he saw her.That nothwithstanding she is back to playing with her toys and her appetite is good once again.Maybe like all old animals, humans too, she just had an off day.
The little Westie I took in from a dog pound went to a new home today and I am not ashamed to admit I wept a few tears.Funnily enough I am not keen on this breed at all but Lele was so frightened and scared(she had recently been homed from a puppy mill because she had miscarried 2 litters!!!) and she needed so much reassurance and love that before the first week was over she had imprinted hgerself on my heart.Its fatal for me to have a dog in the house with my own dogs, Lele was cuddling next to me on the sofa with the oldies and she had started to wag her tail and give me kisses.Then I betray her by passing her on to someone else - well thats how it feels though as always I know it is the best thing for these animals, they need homes of their own and it gives me room to help another.She had the sweetest nature and how can anyone not feel for a dog so timid and scared of her own shadow.
Mion is fostering the mum cat and her 3 babies and there is another one coming in on Sunday, this cat has had babies in someones shed, I have asked them to wait a while to minimise the likelihood of mum rejecting her offspring due to the trauma of being moved so soon. Then another pregnant cat is being admitted tomorrow.I can already see the kitten season looming ahead!

A life in the sun is ahead for Leo.

Pepsi and caspar the two welsh ponies set off today for their new home,it is always a wrench to see them go, I will never understand how people sell their horses on , I feel I am betraying them when they are loaded on to the horse trailer, I always wish they could know that we are doing what is for their own sake.I cant wait to hear how they travelled and how they have settled in.
Tara our resident collie who lives now in the office has been off colour today so has gone to the vet, she has a slight temperature and is having some blood tests.She must be around 15 years of age. This lovely collie has lived here for nearly 6 of those years and prior to that had been in and out of dog shelters and homes.Her problem was not trusting people and Im afraid she bit in every home she went to. Eventually she was booked in to a vet for destruction but I heard about her and offered her a home at the shelter.For the first few years she was kennelled with another older collie Monty but when we lost him to old age related problems, Tara came to live in the office where she is now completely at home and she has company for most of the day.Everyone is very fond of Tara but we know she is on borrowed time. A year ago we thought her number was up, she has a very bad heart murmer but when the vet put her on new tablets she appeared to have a new lease of life.Just days ago she was playing with a toy and throwing it about and generally acting like a puppy, then today she was completely flat and lifeless, refusing to even go outside.The change was drastic and very worrying.We wait now to hear the results of the blood tests.
The owner of the stray pony has rung and left a message on the answerphone - he is planning to collect her on thursday or Friday!! That will be 2 weeks livery costs to pay. I hope there will be no trouble when he comes,I have very mixed feelings about it and cant help being concerned about the future of the pony.Even after a few weeks its easy to form an attachment.
Yippee, a cat was homed today.He was one of the youngest we have here at the moment, a striking little tabby called Leo.His owner was in a flat and Leo wanted to get outside all the time.He will be living near Porthmadog for the next few years and then will be going with his new people and their other cat to a retirement home in Cyprus.Their current feline has a passport and all the required injections ready for the move to come so A life in the sun beckons for Leo.Lucky sod!Wish theyd take me too!

Meet New arrival Ben the dalmation cross

Once again the Dogsblog website has worked its miracle and the three latest dogs Fudge, Bengy and Gwen have all gone today to homes, one to Chester and the other two to lancashire.They are not staying any length of time in their temporary foster homes which is marvellous.Our newest arrival is Ben an 8 months cross Dalmation with a wonderful nature who should find a home soon too, he is very strong so needs someone who is strong enough to manage him on the lead and will not be toppled over when he jumps up to greet them.
We had a visitor today who is interested in having one of our ponies as a companion to her elderly horse but she is going on holiday soon so will visit again when she returns.That would be marvellous if we could find another pony home before the summer.
Yesterday two helpers Ramona and Steve came to build a wooden table type thingy(sorry for my inarticulate writing today)for the feral enclosure.This is intended to act as a cover for the litter trays but also to give the ferals another place to sit and sleep on when we have warmer weather.They actually made two of them and some of the younger ferals showed great interest in the activity going on in their home.The more nervous cats stayed well out of the way until the interlopers left(not my thoughts, just trying to imagine what the cats thought of the human beings making so much noise in their normally quiet space!)After Ramona and Steve left, the cats began to venture out slowly and it seemed that the general concensus of opinion between them was that the new table thingys were a great success and were tested with much enthusiasm by all the feral residents.
The weather has been wonderful this weekend and its been good to see the cats out and about again, for so long they have stayed out the cold , snuggling into their warm beds in Kitty Kottage or in the conservatory, today there have been cats enjoying their snoozes outside on the office veranda chairs, on the top of the sheds and even just sleeping on the floor of the yard.Even the pigs have abandoned their ark for a bit of fresh air and have been sleeping on the grass.There have been no homes for cats but lots of calls for kittens which we do not have,then as soon as we start to admit kittens(probably round easter) all the homes will have dried up! Its the same every year.Our first mum and babies arrive today from Anglesey. Her three kittens are just two weeks old and they will all be fostered by Mion in Porthmadog until they are ready to go to homes in about 6 weeks.Then we will have mum back at the shelter , have her spayed and put up for adoption too.