I know its not quite August and our new 'Rescue Dog' competition hasn't quite started... but we thought we would get the ball rolling and post our first entry which was emailed to us a few days ago.
Heres the email that Tommee's owner Dyane sent us about her special dog...
Whilst browsing the web in May this year, I came across an Irish Animal Rescue called AINMHITHE who over the years have rehomed 100's of animals that have been abandoned/found as strayed/neglected/dumped in pounds in Ireland. They had 4 collie puppies that had been taken in & as collies are regarded as disposable in Ireland AINMHITHE look to foster & rehome them here in the UK with experienced dog owners were they will lead active happy lives. For some reason black dogs(of any breed/non breed)& collies are treated appallingly in Ireland if they are unwanted/unsold, at least some of the previous owners now allow their unwanted dogs to find a future via AINMHITHE & not in a vet's needle or worse
These 4 puppies were 2 boys & 2 girls & struck a chord with me as I had rescued a collie bitch via the "Preloved"site in October the previous year. Having owned collies since 1970 & been involved in GSD rescue for more years than I care to remember, I thought to myself why not offer to foster on of AINMHITHE's young dogs/puppies to relieve the pressure on the rescue in Ireland, I have many friends involved in canine activities as well as being a dog trainer myself & I was confident that I would be able to ready one of the dogs for a loving active forever home.
So I contacted them via their helper in the UK, Ian Hastie, at first & then directly. I left the choice of puppy to the rescue & they sent over Tommy as he was then called(as in Thomas the Tank engine). The dogs travel from the West Coast of Ireland starting out at 10 am on Thursdays & arrive in the UK in the very early hours of Friday morning to make their way down to the south of England where Ian is based. I collected Tommy from Alan the van driver at a service station so as not to make him drive out of his way & waste time at 2 am Friday morning & returned home with my precious load plus my gang of 5 other collies.
Tommy settled in immediately, a testament to care & attention that AINMHITHE give their charges. He attended our pet dog fun training class on the same evening & immediately won everyone's hearts with his super character. He then accompanied me everywhere along with my other dogs, the fun agility where he met even more friends & another training club. He quickly showed me that he was a very clever little puppy & a total extrovert.
I slowly realized that I was a total failure at fostering(again over 20 years after my last attempt)& that there was no way Tommy was going anywhere & that he had found his forever home. When I told Rose & Joe at AINMHITHE they sent me a brilliant message"good, our plan worked"!!
The upshot of Tommee(as I not call him)arrining & staying here is that a friend of a friend of mine was looking for a collie puppy & now has a puppy from another litter called Harvey living with her, his brother, Buddy, on long term foster & their third brother, Moses, living with a friend of his owners. So 4 puppies safely homed(I doubt Buddy will be leaving his brother).
Other friends have shared the links for AINHITHE across Facebook & we are working on the famous, Mary Ray, adopting one of AINMHITHE puppies(watch this space)
Despite the fact he has redesigned my designer spectacles, I would't swap him.
Good Luck Tommee!