What is rescue? Rescue is work, it is about the love of dogs, but understanding that these dogs have had difficult starts to life. There are no easy fixes, no over night cures. Just time, patience, work, dedication – and time (did we mention that?)

This is an update on Sir Galahad – our dear sweet boy. Sir G was abandoned and lived in a alleyway in Spain – our volunteer got him and he got to kennels. He then developed Leishmania and had a lot of treatment. We almost lost him. He became well and he is now in the UK. But that isn’t where our work ends.

We help the dogs that need help – but we only get sent a photo – and based on that we take a leap into the unknown. Sir G was not wanted, he was dumped and we cannot imagine what horrors he has faced. He has developed several behavioural issues based on fear. Fear that has kept him alive and when times got rough, Sir G survived. Now Sir G needs to learn that the world is not going to hurt him anymore, he needs to learn to trust people and rather than hide in his safe place, we want him to come into the wider world and feel the sun on his face, feel the love of a human hand, to know that he can’t give up because there is a place he will call home. We are not giving up on Sir G but we know that his road is long, and it will cost us funds, man hours, emotion, miles, and lots of time.

Sir G is wary of anything new – people, places, things, dogs. So every time we need to do something we need a lot of time to help him adjust at his pace and then allow him to retreat to his safe place and process the change. So we thought we would tell you what our Norfolk volunteer did recently for him.

Sir G needs regular blood tests to ensure the Leish is under control, but he is terrified of the Vet (understandable considering what he has been through) and he doesn’t like the car. So the volunteer has been spending time with him – gaining his trust. Building on that, she slowly worked with him to get in the car, this is a slow process and can take 30 minutes or an hour. He will eventually get in the car and he will then be fine in there for the journey – but then getting him from the safety of the car to the Vets is another slow process. The Vet understands and we have got them to also come to the car and let him know he is safe. But this process takes the time it takes. Sir G is given time and patience, nothing rushed. Slowly he comes out. He shakes, he stiffens, but taking things slowly we were able to get bloods. Then the process starts again to get back in the car. When he returns to kennels he gets out easily as he knows where he is, and he runs to his kennel and his safe place. Sir G wasn’t suppose to go to the Vet on Friday -but the wonderful people at the kennels noticed a small sore on his shoulder. So our volunteer went, last minute appointment made for Vets, blood tests taken to make sure not related to any underlying problem. She started at 130 pm and wasnt home til 6 pm. She will repeat this next week as Sir G needs a groom. So repeat process above. This means she puts her own personal life on hold, her own dogs, and she does this for the love of Sir G.

Please note that our volunteers spend time weekly/daily with the kennel dogs. We get them groomed, seen by the Vet, bring them for days out, we play with them, give them activities to break the boredom of kennel life. We spend a lot of time away from our lives and families – to give our dogs a sense of human kindness and attention. This is all done at our expense – we only ask the rescue to cover vet bills.

We organised a Behaviourist for Sir G as well – we have an initial assessment and a plan in place for him. We would have any potential family work with the Behaviourist, and also work closely with our volunteer.

Sir G should be in a foster home, he should be in a nice quiet family, that will allow him to slowly come out of his shell and learn to love life. We are putting the building blocks, but kennels have their limits no matter how much you try and do. But we can’t let him go to someone that doesn’t understand or LISTEN. Most people want easy dogs. They want easy fixes, they want easy solutions. We have none of that.

We know that Sir G has a long road ahead, and we will walk by his side for his journey. He is a wanted dog, he is a loved dog. He will know the meaning of love and he will know that people don’t give up on their friends.

Sir G has a lot of associated costs – Behaviourist, Groomer, Vet, Kennels – would you like to be a sponsor? Would you be interested?  Then please consider making a donation via PayPal towards his costs:

                                                      

Don’t give up on Sir G – we are proud of who he is – we have looked into his eyes and we have seen a broken and bruised soul – but we have seen love and we have seen hope. Help us, help him