2007 Parade of Rescue Dogs
BERTIE & ZACH WORSLEY Jan met Zach (aged 5) and Bertie ( aged 4) from the Irish transport 23rd March 2007 at 6 A.M., both dogs weighed 102 KGs jointly. Her role was to provide transport and a foster home for the night as people were visiting the next day to consider them both for adoption. Both dogs were grossly obese and had severe movement difficulties. She had enormous trouble hauling them into her 3 door hatchback, due to their size and inability to move and thought we had become IRISH ELEPHANT RESCUE. These dogs were being surrendered by their loving Irish owners who could no longer care for them, with the stipulation that both dogs must be rehomed together. After both dogs were bathed and de-matted, the prospective visiting adopters decided they were unable to adopt both dogs, in due course eventually offering a home only to Zach. As there was difficulty finding a foster home for both male dogs together, Jan offered to care for them for a few more days until arrangements could be made by IRR for fostering and, to cut a long story short fell in love with and adopted them. In less than 6 months these dogs jointly lost 34 KGs, the weight of one large male golden retriever, thanks to being exercised twice daily on Salisbury Plain for 3-5 hours off-lead in all weathers. Everyone who meets Jan’s 2 IRR angels falls completely in love with them and she has had numerous homes offered to both of them over the months. She says “These 2 IRR angels are truly all that anyone could ever hope for and everything a traditional golden retriever should be, perfect in every way: they really are true ambassadors for their breed.” CASSIE MARSHALL Cassie was originally known as Maeve and is a Labrador, now aged about 6yrs. She was found with terrible skin problems and had definitely had babies. She was absolutely terrified of men when she first arrived with Maisie, Merlin and Minstrel but she is improving all the time. She lives with Anne in Somerset and has a greyhound friend called Mick, for company. Her skin is so much better now, thanks to Ann’s TLC. LOLA HAMILL Lola was an ex breeding bitch who, apparently, wasn’t happy living with her daughter and another dog. She went straight from her breeder to Anna and Kevin who immediately fell in love with her and mostly call her Lolly. Anna says” We could not ask for a more happy, well behaved (when she wants to and most of the time she does) loveable girl. She is so trusting and very good with other dogs, so no social problems. She is a bit pushy with us but never with any of the kids………they all think she is wonderful (which she is)” KENZIE WILKINS TOBY LEGGETT EDDIE TURNER Eddie is a 3yr old Labrador. He went to live with Emma and family in Hampshire in April 2007 after being fostered by Nicola in Somerset. He is now well and truly part of the family! He was surrendered by his previous family in Ireland after being caught chasing sheep. He still loves to chase, but now it is normally just the children around the garden! He was in foster with Nicola before going to his forever home in Basingstoke. Alan says “He is our first dog and has settled in very well. We would be lost without him.” RHANI JEFFEREY Rhani is now about 18mths old and arrived shortly before Christmas 2007, She was supposed to be a Labrador cross but, see her run, and you realise she is almost entirely Whippet. She became the 3rd Jefferey “failed foster” on Boxing Day and was a Christmas present from Pauline to Steve. She is very affectionate and sweet natured but is definitely boss over the boys in the house. MILLIE McAVOY Millie is aged about 5yrs and now lives in Somerset with Belinda & Terry. She was surrendered to a pound in Ireland and was rescued and fostered by Sandie who said “She is either a small Golden Retriever cross or a badly bred thoroughbred. She is an adorable little dog.” Millie was, understandably, very nervous when she went home with Belinda, though greatly relieved to get out of the car! Initially she stuck to Belinda like glue and while she was friendly with Terry, she seemed to have a fear of men. It has taken a while, but gradually she has improved and is now beginning to come out of herself. When she went to training, the first few weeks were spent with Millie shaking at the side, but gradually, with the help of Crisis (flower essences mix) and lots of encouragement from everyone there, she now takes part in all the activities. She and Terry were even awarded a Certificate for being the Most Improved Partnership! All in all, a perfect match as far as B&T are concerned. For sure, Millie thinks so too! Terry & Belinda felt she may be lonely and would benefit from doggy company so, soon after, they also adopted Connie. CONNIE McAVOY Connie, originally called Maisie, is a Golden Retriever who is probably only about 2yrs old now. She was surrendered to the pound, and possible death, in Ireland with her two lovely black, male crossbreed puppies, Merlin (now Brian) and Minstrel (now Drake). Since they were totally weaned and showed little interest in their mum, they went to different foster homes and were both also successfully rehomed. Connie settled into her new forever home straight away with Belinda and Terry in Somerset. For the first couple of days she would rush up to the car and they thought that she wanted to go to her puppies, but this soon passed. She is teaching Millie how to play, which is lovely. Connie is incredibly loving, very waggy and absolutely beautiful. Terry and Belinda say “All in all, we consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have both Connie and Millie (all in the space of about 6 weeks!). We couldn't have wished for two more wonderful, loving companions.” Connie, who is loved to bits and thoroughly spoilt by Belinda and Terry, is very proud of her two clever sons. Terry and Belinda have become very involved with helping IRR and are responsible for this programme and most of the lovely merchandise we have to sell. They have also acted as transporters and, more recently, fosterers and homecheckers. DAWN MORGAN Dawn, who is now 8yrs old, came from a puppy farm in Wales and had led a sheltered life as a breeding bitch. She now lives with her adoptive brother Roger, a black Labrador, in Abbotsbury, Dorset where they are surrounded by the most wonderful countryside. They get on really well - you'd think they'd been together forever. Dawn has really come out of herself and is very happy. She has plenty of walks and family holidays. Kate says “We hope that we have made up for her bad experiences earlier on in her life.” BRIAN HAMMOND Little Merlin is now called Brian and he lives in Bedfordshire with Sandra and Owen and their 4 dogs. He is training to be an Agility dog and is in the best of hands. They say, "Brian is a lovely boy, very contented and intelligent. We have taught him to come to a whistle like the other dogs. He loves Casey, the spaniel, but the other dogs just wish he would "grow up" sometimes. He has fitted in nicely.” DRAKE BOYD Drake is a 1 yr old Golden Retriever cross who lives with Helen. Drake was initially called Minstrel and, when just a tiny puppy, he was surrendered to the pound and possible instant death. He was with his brother Brian (then called Merlin) and mum Connie, a purebred golden retriever, who was originally called Maisie. The owner obviously believed that by producing crossbreed puppies, Connie was "ruined" as a breeding bitch and the pups were of no value to him either. Fortunately, all three were rescued and were fostered in Ireland before coming to the UK. Drake has already started competing in Heelwork to Music and is going to be trying his paw at CaniX which is a type of racing. He, unfortunately, recently had a problem with his tail and it has had to be partially amputated. DAISY LONG Daisy is a 3yr old Golden Retriever. She now lives happily with Maggie & Ray and is learning the joys of caravanning amongst other things. She was found in a car park in Ireland begging for food. She was skin and bone and had just had puppies and yet was only a puppy herself at about one year old. The sad thing is that the puppies were never found. To this day, Daisy still carries her soft toys around in her mouth as if they were her puppies. Maggie says “We have had Daisy for 18 months now. She started off as a poor frightened little dog but my Sadie soon showed her that it’s not all bad in this big wide world and Daisy came out of her shell and started been naughty and a happy little dog like dogs should be. Then we lost Sadie very suddenly in July 2007 and Daisy went back to being the frightened little dog again. She was looking for Sadie for support and she couldn’t understand where her friend had gone. We knew that Daisy could not survive without another dog for company but we could not face getting another one straight away so we waited for a while and said to the IRR we would like another dog to help Daisy as she was getting so withdrawn again. Finally, in November 2007, along came Charlie the clown as I call her. Charlie soon cheered us all up with her silly antics and Daisy was back to being her happy self again and they are partners in crime now and it’s so lovely to see. Daisy is looking so happy again and it’s great to see the lovely Daisy smile she has, along with her big brown eyes. CHARLIE LONG Charlie is a 4yr old Golden Retriever. She was found wandering the streets of Cork and was taken to the pound but she was never claimed. She was in a very sad state. Maggie says “We have had Charlie for 10 months now. When we first got her, she was very sad looking, she had scars on her back, a very thin coat and broken teeth and her back legs were very splayed which meant she would fall over quite easily. She had to have 2 teeth out and she still has very worn down teeth where it looks as if she had been trying to escape. Now, after hydrotherapy and chiropractic, she is a different dog. She can now jump up the wall in the garden and jump in the car which she could not do before. All the neighbours love her and they say she is such a character, which she is. She is just so naughty, she tried to eat through the fence to get to next door neighbour’s cat and managed to get the hole big enough to get her head through. We think Charlie is 'a picnic short of a sandwich' and it’s like the light is on but no one is in but that could be because she has been either hit by a car or kicked very hard in the head. Nevertheless, she is a delight to own, even when she is naughty I have never known such a happy dog with such a silly smile on her face. Charlie has done Daisy the world of good and, thanks to Charlie, Daisy is a happy little dog again. They get on really well together. They love their new life with us as we go caravanning for our holidays and they always come with us. People cannot believe they are rescue dogs because they are so good so thank you IRR for two lovely dogs.” JACK GRANT STEVIE PHIPPS Stevie is 3yrs old and is blind. He was found by Fiona, an ISPCA inspector, in a dilapidated shed where he had spent much of his life alone. Despite this, he has a wonderful nature and is loved by all who come in contact with him. He is the happiest, friendliest and most loving dog you could ever wish to meet. Alison and Tom adopted Stevie in March 2007 and are in complete awe of what he has achieved since. He has put on about 4 kilos in weight and regular hydrotherapy is still helping him increase his muscle tone after the problems caused by being locked up for so long as a pup (his muscles and ligaments have not developed properly and he was quite lame when he walked). At the 2007 Reunion, he won the ‘best condition class’ and went on to win ‘Best in Show’. Despite the fact he is becoming a bit of a celebrity, he is first and foremost a greatly-loved family dog who adores cuddles, food and playing with his golden brother Sam. Alison and Tom just feel so privileged to have him as part of their family. DIGBY READER-HOER Digby is a 3yr old Golden Retriever. Tracey, his forever mum says “ Digby is our beautiful IRR dog, who we've had since March 2007. He only has 3 legs (front leg amputee) but that doesn't stop him enjoying lift to the full! He doesn't know he is disabled and doesn't let this stop him in any way.” He lives in the beautiful Devon countryside with his golden retriever girlfriend, Cleo, cats, horses etc, in total 19 other rescued animals. Apart from looking drop dead gorgeous, he is a great ambassador for his breed and he is one of our very popular Sponsor Dogs PENNY JAMES Penny is a 2yr old Golden Retriever. She was a stray who was initially fostered by Pauline. There she met her boyfriend Dazzle and they were rehomed together in Gloucester. Over one year on, they have settled in wonderfully but continue to be partners in crime thankfully in a slightly less destructive manner. They had a very exciting first year with floods to cope with (or, in their case, enjoy). Penny has a visiting boyfriend called Albert and tends to lead Dazzle astray. Her mum, Di, has recently become the editor of our website. DAZZLE JAMES Dazzle is a 3yr old Samoyed/Lab cross. He was a stray who was initially fostered by Pauline. There he met his girlfriend Penny and they were rehomed together in Gloucester. They were very destructive initially, each egging the other on, no doubt, but now they are less naughty but still full of fun. Dazzle is definitely the quieter one of the two. KALEIGH WILLIAMSON Kaleigh is a 2yr old golden retriever who was rescued in June 2007 and had her surprise puppies in August so was rather tied up during last year’s Reunion as was Joy who helped her to look after her puppies. The boys were named after trees and the girls after flowers. Kaleigh eventually went to her forever home with Kerry & Graham in Surrey in Oct 07. Kaleigh is now enjoying life with them, having lots of walks and holidays :) She is a happy dog and brings them a lot of happiness too! BAILEY LITTLE (was CEDAR) Bailey was called Cedar and was the biggest of Kaleigh’s babies and the one who was most like a Golden Retriever. The pups have now celebrated their first birthday. Bailey passed his Puppy Foundation Course on 14th February and is now going for his Bronze Kennel Club Good Citizen Award. He is very much loved by his mum, Gemma. DIESEL BARRELL (was ASH) Diesel once called Ash was another of Kaleigh’s babies. He lives in Kent with Jo and family, who have recently become fosterers for us. He is another gorgeous looking boy with a wonderful temperament thanks to Joy’s TLC when they were babies and to the wonderful owners who have carried on the good work. His best friend is Poppy, the Golden Retriever. JASMINE McEVENEY Not in parade but at the show were:- Bonnie is a 2yr old Labrador who had been handed into the Pound by her owner. She had been kept in a yard for a year, due to an accident, with no training or socialising. She went into foster care with Jackie and was re-homed for 3 months but was handed back to us because she became too lively for the other dog in the household. She then went back into foster with Tammy, who is very experienced, and, with careful training, Bonnie’s behaviour has improved immensely and, at last year’s Reunion, She then went to live with Linda and family in Basingstoke where she was able to benefit from Linda’s experience. Linda said “ Bonnie was certainly a handful when I first got her - very frantic about life and never able to relax at all. She is still lively and loves everyone, but she is not so out of control, and will just lie around all day if need be. We all love her so much - she really is a very loving dog!” Tracey says “He loves the park and especially muddy ditches which he loves to lie down in. He's very good at recall although he can get a little spooked if a dog doesn't particularly want to be sociable but he always runs to me for protection! He's very cuddly and never pulls away when we all have a hug. His favourite place is lounging on the armchair looking out of the front window, watching the world go by.”
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