Sylvia's Diary 22-09-24

A new week starts and I had hoped it wouldn’t be as stressful as previous weeks, however there seems to be no let up for me at all. On Saturday a lovely little Shih Tzu bitch who was extremely pregnant dropped a puppy unexpectedly and then didn’t want to have anything to do with it. In fact she mauled her before we found her. I took her away from her and called a vet and it was decided because the dog was so hard to handle and so fearful and not at all interested in puppies that we should do a C-section and remove the puppies and hand raise them.  Bill was good enough to take the mum with all the pups still inside her and the one puppy that had been mauled (as we had no vet on site) to an outside vet and get a C-section done. She came back very groggy and we tried the best we could to hand raise the nine puppies that looked premature and strange. Over the next day and a half every single puppy died. It’s been heart breaking and with all the effort that so many put in it’s been a bad downer on all our hearts.

While this was going on so many other things were happening, I was being called backwards and forwards from one problem to another ranging from people wanting to adopt the wrong dog and needing to be talked with, to people wanting to give up their dogs, to staff being ill. On top of that my back has felt worse than ever, if only I could get her MRI on it now, I would know if I’m doing more damage just walking around with a broken back but doesn’t seem possible.

We had a good foster run and a few very special dogs got to homes. One fosterer took a lovely hound called Ranger and that was really good and cheered me up  to see him the next day on a video running around the garden playing with another dog. 

Sadly it’s been raining and just when you think it’s going to stop it starts again but how can I complain with all these people in different countries losing their homes because of the terrible rain. Not only is the weather terrible,  I’m now on my way to Southern Ireland to pick up dogs and this is extremely stressful. Luckily Joyce has come with me this time to make sure the paperwork was spot on and everything is right.  We drove all day after leaving at 6am and picked up 43 beautiful dogs and now we’re waiting for the boat to dock.  Next we have to go through customs, which is always a horrible thing to do, as you often be made to feel like you’re a villain and then we get home about 12 o’clock at night or maybe more like 12.30.  The dogs are then unloaded and we make them comfy and by 2am I should be in bed but will be up at 5am and ready for the next day! This job is my life. There is no time for anything else. I’m very lucky to have a husband who not only accepts this but helps me and supports the rescue.

Now a plea from the dogs via me. The dogs would love to break free kennels. The quickest and most effective way is to be adopted or fostered, however we need more fosterers and homes.  We have one of the few foster programs where you NEVER have to let a dog go if when seeing the application or meeting the prospective foster dogs you are not happy.  This means most fosterers keep in touch with their foster dogs' new homes and sleep easy. We take dogs down the M4 corridor and meet at services, and sometimes go further afield. It's not hard to become a fosterer and once you are it means a hell of a lot to the dogs you take and helps set them up to find a forever home as you can socialize, educate and love that dog first.

I am thinking of Jiffy when I hope for a foster home. We picked him up in Ireland. He was in such a matted mess that we could not tell if he was a male or female. Once home, I fed him but the next day decided he was so matted he would need to go into the vet and be shaved. The vet knocked him out and two of us carefully shaved all of him but managed to save his ears and tail. His history was unknown - a breeder’s neighbour was in care now and he was asked to take the dog and in turn asked us. Jiffy came to us with no name and is 17.3 kilos and is perhaps 12 years old. He is already castrated and has cataracts starting that you often see in old dogs. We think he is over 10. He would love a kind home that will groom and care for him and slowly get his weight down to insure longer life, but who wants a dog like him?  Well maybe a fosterer could change his sad life?

I am the world’s worst fosterer. Once a dog steps into my home it's all over, I try and not do this but just don’t succeed, hence we share our home with 14 dogs!!!! Ally was one of those. She was one I picked up in Northern Ireland. The breeder had her in a stable waiting for me and it was freezing that day. She did not walk so this little lab was carried and put in a crate in the van. I noticed her backbone stood out as she was carried past me, but not till away and down the road did I check her out. She had a huge belly and at first, I thought it was filled with gas, and maybe she had a stomach torsion, but on feeding her she appeared starving. I then thought she was in pup, but her belly did not feel like others I had seen pregnant. I monitored her all the way home and as there was no vet at the rescue that day,  I took her to Emerald Vets where Tom was working.  Ally’s organs had shut down and we found out later after blood tests) this was that this was due to starvation and there was so much fluid build up in her it was pressing on her other organs, Tom drained a ridiculous amount of fluid from her and I took her home to nurse. Other vets said I should put her to sleep but me and my God disagreed.

Then Luca (another of my failed foster dogs!) stepped in. Ally started to feel stronger and when everyone went home, Luca and I would sit with Ally and open her door to encourage her to come out. Ally was not feral but terrified of the world and everyone including me. However, Luca was like a magnet to Ally and they soon became inseparable friends and partners in crime. Ally did nothing I told or encouraged her to do, but copied everything Luca did, so as Luca came when called and Ally shadowed him this was how we started. This went on for some weeks and then I thought she ought to learn to set foot in reception, then in the house and slowly she learnt life was not so scary as long as Luca was there.  And you know what I said about one foot in my door?  Well yes she became part of the family too!

Thank you for your support.  It means more than you will ever know and has enabled us to keep saving many precious lives.   The dogs have raised beds and Summertime, who is improving every day, is comfortable but unable to chew her bedding as she and others have these splendid beds that hopefully all the kennels will have one day.
THANK YOU
Sylvia