BEN	ELLIE	LOLA	EMMA	MAX	OLLIE	FLYNN	CASEY	TWINKLE	GIZMO
PAULINE	VAL	LYNNE	ALI	LIZ	PAUL	LIBBY	GWEN	CHRISTINE	DANIEL

BEN FOWLER 

Ben is a lovely older dog who should have been in the 2005 parade. Nobody could understand how or why he ended up in rescue. He has a wonderful temperament and has totally restored Pauline’s confidence in Golden Retrievers. She is a very brave lady as she had been very badly savaged by one from another Rescue organisation who, unlike us, didn’t assess their dogs in foster homes before re-homing. Ben is extremely popular in the small village in Somerset where he lives.

ELLIE DAGGER 

Ellie is a 4yr old German Shepherd who went to live with Val in Somerset after her drug-using owners were persuaded to part with her by Pauline. She was then about 6mths old and her favourite food was, apparently, pink wafers. Apart from being undernourished, she was quite spaced out and very nervous, because of a total lack of socialisation.

 She lives with Connie, a whippet cross, and plays happily with a variety of different dogs every day. Val still has to be careful with her diet as her tummy can still be easily upset but, generally, she is now an extremely fit and healthy dog who adores her walks and doing agility and obedience for fun. At last year’s reunion she was awarded her Kennel Club Good Citizen Award and had a special prize for having the highest marks.  

Apart from brains, she is also in excellent condition and won her class today but, because her mum has to be very careful with how much she stands, they had to leave early and she was unable to compete for Best in Show. 

LOLA JONES

 Lola is a 4yr old GoldenRretriever owned by Lynne and Ian. We are fairly sure she was undersized because of having a litter of puppies at her very first season but, apparently, problems with her puppies meant she was no longer required for breeding. Lynne first fostered and then adopted Lola and, with love, natural remedies and determination, she has now almost completely overcome Lola’s phobias.

 Lynne, with her great knowledge of the flower essences, is always there to help our rescue dogs when in foster and after they have gone to their forever homes. 

Lola’s rehabilitation was also achieved with the help of Jilly May (the Bernese Mountain Dog) and Sammy (the GSD X who was also rescued by Sandie.  She was awarded her Kennel Club Good Citizen Bronze Award at last year’s reunion and she thoroughly enjoys doing obedience, agility and heelwork to music all achieved using the clicker method. Lola, who is very pretty, is one of the most popular of our Sponsor Dogs  

EMMA GREEN 

Emma is a 4yr old Golden Retriever owned and very much loved by Ali and Nick Green. She was handed into a pound in Ireland having possibly been mistreated. She went to Ali and Nick via super-fosterers Andy and his mum, Val. They have never been able to figure out why she was handed in as she is such a lovely dog but they think she probably just grew too big for someone who expected her to remain forever a fluffy ball.  They expected to encounter the problems that would have caused her to be thrown out but, in fact, found very few other than the usual retriever selective deafness.  

 She now is very confident and is a bit of a stunner. She lives in her forever home with Faith the (also thrown out) rescue Lurcher, who likes to beat her up mercilessly, and who quickly trained her to dig and chew beautifully!  

Ali and Nick, very kindly, purchased our brand new megaphone for us so thankyou very much to you both. 

MAX PERKIN

 Max is a 4yr old golden retriever who was placed in the pound by someone to spite their spouse during a divorce. This is particularly awful as, being a surrender, he could have been instantly put to sleep especially if the pound was full.  

He lives happily with Liz and Paul in Devon with his very good friend Ollie.  

OLLIE PERKIN
 
Ollie is also a 4yr old Golden Retriever who, sadly, had to be given up because the father of the family had died and poor mum couldn’t manage a young family and a puppy.  

Ollie with his friend, Max, are quite a hit at their local obedience club as well as spending time running happily on the beach together. They so impressed one local lady with their good looks and excellent behaviour that she has now become a fosterer for us.
 

 FLYNN HARTLEY 

Flynn is a 4yr old Retriever Cross who was fostered by Pauline for several months because of the appalling state he was in when he came over from Ireland. We believe, because of his injuries, that he was used by gypsies as the gentle bait to tease the aggressive fighting dogs. He was covered in bites when he was found and was very thin and he still had no hair on his tummy when he was adopted. 

He is now very large but he is a very loving boy who is adored by Christine and family and he is absolutely wonderful with the grandchildren, one of whom, Megan, took him into the parade. Sadly, Barney, his very good doggy friend recently died but he now has a new friend, Ben, a rescue Labrador, who he has taken under his wing. They both share the same bed and Flynn is, apparently, very patient with him.

CASEY FLYNN 

Casey is an 8yr old golden retriever owned by Gwen Flynn. He was originally called Sam and came to us with his brother, Ben. They had lived in a small yard all their lives and were left tied up in the yard when their owners moved house. Sam was bullied by his brother Ben so we decided to separate them. He was fostered by Andy who said he found a corner in the bedroom and had to be enticed to come out. Andy never managed to walk him outside the house. Casey went to another fosterer where there was another dog to try to give him a bit of confidence but they, too, only managed to walk him twice. He didn't like going in and out of doors, wouldn't go near a lead and grumbled if you tried to cuddle him.  

Thanks to Gwen’s TLC and the help of her other dogs, just 6 months after his rescue, Andy was amazed to see him at the first reunion and three years on, although he still has a few worries, he now loves his walks and cuddles and gives Gwen a big smile every morning.  

He has a very cheeky streak in him now and went on today to win the Darcy Memorial Award. 

TWINKLE ASTOR 

Twinkle is now about 10yrs and is a beautiful Golden Retriever owned by Christine Astor. She was originally a successful brood bitch for one of the top breeders in Ireland but she was rehomed after she was spayed. We also had to have several lumps removed but, fortunately, she now enjoys good very good health again. Twinkle was fostered, amongst many others, by Denise and Phil in the Midlands. 

GIZMO JEFFEREY 

Gizmo is 4yrs and is, probably, a retriever X hound owned by Steve and Pauline.   He was found scavenging on a rubbish heap when aged about 3mths. He is a lovely dog but he has a few strange behaviours that would have made him difficult to rehome successfully to "normal" people so Pauline and Steve failed again as fosterers and Steve adopted him. Gizmo proved to be his soul mate when a ruptured Achille's tendon put Steve out of action for months, 2 years ago.  

Gizmo lives happily with 3 rescued Golden Retrievers and 2 other IRR crossbreeds and loves to play with all the young foster dogs who come to stay. He is another dog in the Sponsor a Dog scheme. 

Not in the parade but at the show were:- 

CALLAN GRIST 

Callan is about 3 yrs old now and is a retriever possibly crossed with a Staffie. He came over as a tiny pup with his brother Connor. His dad, Steve, missed the parade as he was helping to run the Fun & Games for us again this year.  

Steve says that Callan is now calming down. He is great with kids and loves other dogs so he now has a new doggy friend to play with.

EDDIE REGULA 

Eddie is 3yr olds and was supposed to be a Labrador cross. He came over from Ireland with his sister Gracie as a tiny puppy.  We all expected them to be Labrador sized but they both stayed small although, what they lack in stature, Eddie and Gracie more than make up for in personality. Denise and Phil were running our Bottle Stall for us so didn’t make the parade.                          

GUY HARDY-KING

Guy was a 6-7yr old lab X who was surrendered to the pound by a priest after his owner died. He was suffering from severe entropion so his chances of being adopted were nil but, fortunately for him, Sandie happened to be there at the time and couldn't bear the thought of his certain euthanasia.

He has had several operations for entropion and, through no fault of anybody's, he also had several different foster homes including Lucy, Kay and Margaret but, throughout it all, little Guy maintained his wonderful nature. Luckily for him, his last fosterer, Maggie could not bear to let him go and adopted him herself. He still lives in the luxury he so much deserved with her and her husband, his Yorkshire terrier friend, Chico, and several cats.

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