DOGS
Toby and Basil
My sister Louise in Canada is in touch with an animal shelter in Romania. Through the person there she got a message to say there was a puppy who had been seen begging for food from restaurants in Corfu whom a tourist rescued from a swimming pool where an irate restaurateur had thrown him. Another holidaymaker, Pauline, heard him crying from her holiday apartment & took him in. After sleeping for 36 hours, Toby woke up on Pauline’s bed where they’d put him because he was so thin, his bones were sticking out & she couldn’t leave him on a hard floor. Pauline knew he’d be a big dog & put the word out to her contacts for a home on a farm or somewhere with land.
Hence Alina in Romania contacted Louise who has a farm & Louise knew it was easier to get him to the U.K. than Canada so asked he to take him. Meanwhile he was placed with the Corfu Donkey Rescue to be looked after until the paperwork was complete for his travel. Another very similar looking puppy turned up & the two became inseparable. Pauline asked me if I’d take them both. Of course, I said yes! They had a 63 hour overland journey from Corfu to Weston Super Mare. Here is a photo of me being handed Basil & a walk a few days later where you can see - despite being fed for a couple of months - how thin they are.
They came with Leishmaniasis- a horrible disease transmitted by sand flies - but that is another story!
Raj
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Taking a walk with my elderly border collies in the local park, I saw the most beautiful young German Shepherd dog. Immediately I crouched down (reducing my height to reduce any threat) to offer him my hand to sniff. He seemed a bit “zoned out”. It was only then that I saw who was holding his lead. It was a young woman who worked at the livery yard where I kept my horses. She explained that Raj had been kept in a dark shed by her ex mother in law and that she had managed to persuade her to give the dog up.
As a result of his imprisonment, Raj didn’t know what a walk was, had not been socialised with people or other dogs and had been severely stressed from his solitary confinement. He was then 6 months old. A month later, the same woman asked me if I would take Raj as she could no longer cope with him and her other dogs. I agreed immediately and Raj joined us. With the help of a friend, Chris, he learned to socialise & soon got used to regular walks. He is now qualified as a Pets As Therapy dog and “works” in a psychiatric hospital giving the patients his own brand of therapy.