Meet The Dogs

Alice and Archie have taken quite a while to become ‘normal’ dogs, not a suprise really considering the hell they have lived through their entire lives, never touched by humans living in filthy, muddy cold cages outside, Alice has taken nearly a year to become clean in the house having never been used to going to the toilet outside, Archie has eaten a number of doors and the entire banister but now is generally fairly settled. They do not like not knowing where each other are but they are now pretty affectionate and although their temperaments with other dogs are not excellent they live with the other eighteen dogs in the house and despite their history they actually like humans! They certainly smell and look a lot better too now they are not covered in filth.

Annie came in 2007 she was a pound dog from Croydon and about to be put down as she had ‘done’ her seven days. She had a reputation of not being good with other dogs but then neither would you be kept in a very stressful kennel environment with little exercise! She gets on well with other dogs and loves people especially children. She had an incontinence problem and we thought she may need some very expensive surgery but thankfully it seemed to be that she had never been kept in a house and so did not know about toilet habits!

It is unlikely that Bella will be suitable for rehoming as she has very severe mange. It is caused because of an untreated skin allergy. It is believed that her owners handed her in to the pound saying that they had found her as a stray. She is believed to be about a year old and possibly her owners couldn't or didn't want to take her to the vets and then got embarrassed about how she looked. She has already had a lot of treatment but there has not been a great deal of improvement as yet and it is possible that her outlook is not very good as often the quality of a dog's life with this condition is not acceptable. It is very expensive to treat but I will give her a chance to see if she can live an acceptable life. It took four hours to persuade her to come into the hours and just about everything was scary for her so I am asuming she has not seen much in her life. It then didn't take long for her to lie on top of me with all the other dogs!

UPDATE 01/08/2010: Bella, as you can see, still has some bad ares of skin but she has vastly improved and she is going to have some different treatment in the next few weeks to try and complete her transformation. She says it is nice sleeping on the bed rather than out in a cold yard now!

Billy is another Pound Dog who ended up with the usual seven days to wait to be put down.He was very unhappy in kennels and would not eat and was quite slim when he came to the sanctuary. He has had no trouble eating at the sanctuary and is now a bit podgy! Sadly his bigger problem is that he has epilepsy which combined with his obsessive eating and his worsening fits there is a strong possibility that he may have a terminal brain tumour. He is only a very young dog and presumably his last owner threw him out when he started to fit and they didn't want to take responsibility.

This is what Cassey has to say to her previous owners, after twelve years of devotion she was first put out into a kennel in the garden just as the cold weather started and then thrown out altogether, she was very distressed when she first arrived at the sanctuary as she was very disorientated and confused at finding herself in totally alien surroundings, Old animals like people find being thrown out very stressful!

Charlie is a three year old Dalmation and he was kept locked in a shed for the first eighteen months of life, he was then kept in a back yard and not exercised. it is probable that he was also hit and on top of that like 70% of Dalmations due to poor breeding he is almost totally deaf! He went into a foster home but the lady reported that he kept biting her. He has settled in well at the sanctuary and gets on very well with everyone.

Chesney was another pound dog but from Birmingham, he came as he had gone to six different homes, which is never good for a dog and each time there had been a problem with him. He does have a few problems as he used to be very agoraphobic, food obsession and marginally paranoid! He is much better now despite the bad year we have all had but he is very nervous of other dogs and people still which manifests itself with barking and ‘looking’ quite aggressive even though he is actually terrified!

Dolly also from Croydon with Benny and Annie she is a lovely girl, quite timid but loves people and other dogs and just wants to play all the time. She also had had quite a few litters of puppies and like many of the dogs had probably been kept chained outside and is not always totally housetrained and often chews although these aspects are improving.

Elvis is a lovely dog and just wants to be cuddled! He has been psychologically damaged as a result of being chained up his entire life. He needs a lot of distraction and although he has a good temperament he is very nervous and confused and for a long time used to eat the walls doors and skirting boards and chase light and shadows, sadly until it is made illegal to chain dogs this sort of abuse will continue.

Kojak was original picked up as a stray in Yorkshire and was emaciated when he was found. He was then saved from being put down once he had ‘done’ his seven days in the pound. He then spent the next year of his life going from kennel to kennel. He was still very thin when he came and took absolutely no notice of what was going on around him. He is now very alive and is a really lovely dog, he loves people although small children frighten him and he is good with other dogs.

Mouse unfortunately went to two homes where she did not settle in well so now lives permanently at the sanctuary with many other dogs although I was told in both homes she did not get on with other dogs. She is another one of Croydon dog pound strays due to be put down after her seven days were up.

Poppy is about six years old and has been used for breeding all her life, she has been passed on from one home to another when each had no more use for her. She is a lovely dog who loves people and other dogs and is also good with other animals. She was just one of the many dogs across the country every day destined to die because no one wants her.

Reggie is another Birmingham dog who was terrified when he came and didn’t like you going near his neck, probably because he had always been chained. He is very nervous of other dogs and can only socialise with Dolly. He now has a fantastic temperament with people and loves nothing more than being cuddled. Like Dolly he also needs some more improvement with house training and chewing.

Scruff is not the type of dog The Sanctuary takes in, he is small and adorable looking and the sort of dog everyone wants. However something has gone badly wrong in his three short years, he is a Jack Russell cross Yorkshire Terrier but he has severe problems, he has taken a lot of work but still does not like strangers and is very aggresive (due to anxiety on a lead). It took two weeks for him to trust me enough to let me touch him now he likes nothing more than to be cuddled and follows me everywhere.

UPDATE 1/08/10: Scruff is now a lot more settled. He still has a lot to say for himself but he is now also better when strangers visit.

UPDATE: Scruff now has his own red Ferrari thanks to a generous supporter who brought a bed in for Scruff and Elvis.

Click here to see Scruff's new wheels!

Smartie is a Minature Schnauzer who had elderly owners in poor health and he then developed diabetes which Schnauzers are prone to but was exaserpated by being very overweight. He is a little chap with a big personality and a lot to say for himself who does not mind putting everyone else in their place!