The Four Musketeers receive some training.

Thursday

Thanks Rhian for the illuminating facts about Kiris illness.Its good to know that she is well again.
For an old girl of 12 years she has been through a lot but must have a strong will to survive, No wonder she is such a favourite of husband Steve. Kiri is a tough Old Girl.

Two lovely adult cats (seen here)were admitted today. The owner of George and Lori has moved to a flat where cats are not allowed.They are easygoing cats who should be easy to home - that is if anyone ever visits us here! We did have a home offered for one cat but unfortunately the house was on an estate where cats had regularly been killed by lads with dogs and it was felt to be too dangerous to house felines in this area.It was explained to the young lady but she announced that she would get one from somewhere if not from us and sadly that is the truth. She will overlook the fact that so many cats have met an untimely end in her street because she wants one and that is the all important thing to her. Do they think that we turn people away for kicks? We are desperate for good homes but not at the expense of the cats who are at our mercy when we adopt them out. 

I have a new house guest - Candy a 9 months old labrador(sorry she is upside down!) whose owner found her too much to cope with - she is the best behaved dog I have looked after in a very long time|!having had a labrador myself and knowing what they can be like when young I was prepared for the worst, a manic overexciteable barrel of a dog prone to stealing food and chewing everything in sight! Instead what I found myself caring for is a  treasure of a dog and through no fault of her own she has already had too many homes.So unfair.











Friday:

Seren has left today for a new life in Plymouth, Sue and Roy have had many years of experience with rescued dogs and feel sure they will cope with her nervousness and lack of training. I was pleased to see her go in the knowledge that she would now have more attention and will learn to live a normal life in a home with lovely people who care , but at the same time I could not bear to see her sitting bewildered in the back of their car  and had to walk away before they drove off.  Its small wonder that many fosterers end up keeping their temporary charges, it is so easy to form a bond with animals, especially those which have been mistreated or abused.They really pull at the heartstrings.Pictured here is an apprehensive Seren just about to set off to her new life.What a pretty girl she is, good luck Seren.

Vicky the animal behaviourist is doing one day a week here at the moment and it is good to see the work being done with the permanent dogs, we struggle to find time to do anything extra with them and maybe ,just maybe a couple may find homes if we can find the right people to take them on. We call them the Four Musketeers.They  live at the shelter due to the fact we were never able to find people to adopt them and it is a great shame that they miss out on a real home life.Sam the cross patterdale has an issue with strangers but is getting better all the time,As long as people don't crowd him and afford him some respect, he is a great little dog whom all the staff adore.He needs a single person with experience of terriers and their idiosyncrasies.Scamp the cross collie/Kelpie (seen here with Vicky)who is an ex farm dog needs someone with collie experience but with no other dogs as he behaves best when on his own, he is learning to sit and stay on command and he will play with a ball until he is exhausted! Then there is Glenn, another kelpie/collie ex farm dog who is  full of life and nervous energy, he behaved almost autistically at first but has improved loads and now responds to people with great affection. Lastly Cleo, a cross mastiff /labrador  who loves everybody but needs someone strong because when she is on a lead, she goes for other dogs.These problems are all surmountable but require owners with knowledge and experience of dogs with issues and most, understandably want easy well behaved animals.
There must be the right person for  these dogs but it is not easy finding them .Advertising has brought nothing for either  but we live in hope.

I have just sent Rhian out to collect a stray  cat from a local village(see above)When she arrived back with her we saw that her once beautiful long coat was very matted and  she had several horrid ticks gorging on her! (ugh) Some of her fur was easy to just gently  pull away, the photo is of the bit pulled away from her tail alone! You can imagine what the rest of her is like. The rest will have to be shaved off under an anaesthetic so she will go in next week to have the rest of her makeover completed.

We have two new young women working here for the next 6 weeks , they are on one of the government get back to work schemes. Hannah, Gails daughter has worked here before but It is new to Emma and she is coping very well so far.It is not easy to suddenly be thrown in the deep end with a new job, complex  animals and lots of new people to get to know(and some of them fairly complex too!) having a couple of pair of extra hands makes a big difference here and when they fit in well it is a great relief(not all of them have done so)