21/07/2022
We may be closed but Sunita is still trying to find rescue spaces which are increasingly shortening with trusted rescues š
A TRUE STORY
Dear caller
No need to apologise for calling so early. We have been taking calls since 7.30 am. Itās 9 am and you are the 4th person this morning to call and ask us to take their dog.
I totally understand that you are finding things difficult at the moment because your dog is reactive, but you have had him from a puppy so it would appear the fault is yours for not socialising him. I know you canāt help having to move home, but you have had the dog 3 months. Did you not know when you took him on that your housing situation wasnāt permanent? Wouldnāt it have been more responsible to check on your tenantās agreement before you took on a dog? That must be really annoying when he gets into next doors garden, but should you not be out the garden with him supervising? Your dog has bitten? That must be awful for you but why was he put in the situation allowing him to bite when you knew it was a possibility? You canāt have family visit? Oh, we can sympathise. Our families have more or less given up on us because we never have time to spend with them because we are too busy helping these dogs that need us.
OK caller, we are not saying we wont help, but we are really struggling at the moment both with kennel space and the worry of how we will pay our kennel and vet bills. Could you not work with the dog for a while until we can take him? Possibly manage situations so that he isnāt doing all these terrible things that you find so upsetting. No? Oh, you think euthanasia for your 2-year-old dog is the only option left if we donāt take the dog today? Caller, we are really not sure how we are supposed to respond to that. Maybe we can miraculously find you a kennel space. Strangely though, the caller before you said the same thing and we still couldnāt come up with a space.
Caller, we are at a bit of a loss here. This problem is yours. You created the problem but you want us to sort it out for you. Oh, the dog will be better off living with someone who has more time for him. Has lots of land so he doesnāt have to go out? Wouldnāt that be lovely. Itās a fairy tale. We are struggling to find suitable homes at the moment, let alone the fairy tale ones. The chances are your dog will be in kennels for a long time due to his bite history. That kennel will cost us Ā£100 per week. But if it makes you feel better by passing the burden on to us along with the guilty conscience that you are going to euthanise your dog and we are powerless to help because we canāt physically get more kennel spaces, thatās OK.
Your dog will not be the only dog we will be lying in bed worrying about tonight. No. We will be worrying about all these other dogs we couldnāt help either that are probably going to be euthanised because of human failure. We have over 100 dogs in our care. Many of them cannot be rehomed. We will be worrying about what will happen the them if we keep being threatened with āeuthanasiaā so we give in but then can no longer pay the kennel bills for them. Several of the dogs in our care are receiving veterinary treatment costing us thousands of pounds. But donāt worry if we canāt pay the medical bills, it wont be your problem once you have dumped your dog will it?
People in rescue are there because they have a strong need to help the dogs. How do you think it feels for us saying we canāt drop everything and take your dog today? Have you not considered how inadequate we feel when we couldnāt fulfil our mission to help any dog that needs us? How we struggle daily asking people to support us so that we can help not only the dogs in our care but the next dog that needs us. How we personally donate to help these dogs or pay for things for these dogs out of our own pockets. You didnāt know that? No, we donāt publicise it. We are not doing it for recognition. We do it because of our need to help.
Good luck with your dog caller. We are very sorry we couldnāt help you immediately. If you had given us some time, we may have been able to sort something, but donāt worry, we do understand how frustrating it is for you to have to put up with the behaviour. Yes, of course we do. We risk being bitten every day we are dealing with some of these dogs. Have we ever been bitten? Too many times to mention caller but we donāt give up on them. After all, we are a rescue. Thatās what we are here for.
