Sylvia's Diary 06-09-24

Just another day in paradise. That’s what Bill says when asked how his day has been. However, despite all the ups and downs of past weeks and weeks to come, working with this team, these animals, this job, well it is really “paradise.” I have strived to make it this way for the dogs that come to us so troubled. A bit of luxury and the promise of lasting bliss. I also try to make it a good place for the staff, but really, it’s the animals that do that job best. Every day is different, different sadnesses, different happinesses and different surprises. 

Yesterday’s surprise was 5 puppies born. We knew they were coming, but only because when the vet opened the mum to spay her, he saw them, so popped them back in. Then yesterday, with no help she presented us with 5 beautiful puppies that seem to be well cared for and doing very well so far. That was yesterday’s surprise, then yesterday’s joy was to see the Beagle puppies growing up, nearly off their bottle and learning to try to drink from a bowl, although that’s a very messy experience!

The sadnesses are the nights, quite a few dogs have come in from homes this week.. some from homes where owners have died, some from homes where owners have been made homeless and another from a vet who refused to put a healthy dog to sleep. The nights are tough for these guys in kennels and they howl calling for their loved ones, whether canine or human. Then, others join in and sometimes I cry too with them.

Summer is nearly over and the equines who love being out in the field have had so little time out this year as the rain has been just terrible. I have spent time in the evenings with them scratching, bonding, and trying to be one step ahead of our Arab cross who is too smart for his socks. I go in to chat and he’s undone my laces. I bend to do them up and he’s whipped off my radio. I scratch his neck and he’s emptied my pockets of tissues and dog treats or best still horse treats. I taught him a few tricks and when he sees me and only me, he does them before being cued, like a border collie showing off all its tricks before the clicker is even out of the pocket of the trainer.

That brings me to the collies here… how they hate kennels and the sadness they feel if their owners die. I guess with their smarts, the loyalty is deeper than can be imagined. Bess the collie has come to us as her owner passed away and she is so sad that we are finding her hard to feed. Another two dogs called Tilly and Rex lost their homes after 10 years as their people split up. I think those two were the howlers last night.

The operations on the dogs this week have been epic. Huge mammary strips to remove, large uncomfortable tumours to remove as well as lots of teeth. As well as many sore ears and eyes. All of this takes up a lot of the vets and vet nurse’s time. On top of that, the bills for medication range between £7-14k a month, the servicing of the equipment more and so on.  We are blessed to have the veterinary surgery here on site, and it does save a lot of money, but the adoption fees rarely cover the staffs wages and vets procedures. Everything is getting tougher and tougher each day.

The weekend will soon be here and that will hopefully bring wonderful new homes for these sweethearts. It also brings more people to our coffee room that is supposed to be a place to relax until we can see and help people, some of which have driven literally hundreds of miles. However ALL of our lovely mugs have gone walk about. We have tried buying paper cups too, but all disappear. I don’t mind if they aren’t matching, but if you have a spare mug, please bring it our way, we would be so grateful.

Thank you for your support and interest in our wonderful rescue.
Sylvia x