Alexa’s Animals - Alnwick. Nominated by Sophie Moore
Sue Hunt
Jane McAfee
Carol Jamieson
Deborah Fawcus
Alexa Nisbet is a ‘one-woman’ dog re-homing charity, started 8 years ago. She relies on fund raising events, donations & money raised from her regular market stall selling donated items such as Bric A Brac, Home baking etc…
Alexa is ready to open 5 new kennels at a farm close by; when the need arises she has to pay dearly to use private kennels. She will be using her donation towards vet fees, and her new kennels.
In 2002, Alexa was awarded the M.B.E. for her services to dog rescue.
Friends of Wallace Kennels - Brentwood Nominated by Hilary Stewart
Vera Robinson runs the Wallace Kennels, taking dogs in from the Police & Wardens over a large area of Essex. She always has between 20 and 35 dogs requiring homes; she deals with their behavioural & health issues. Dogs have been literally ‘dumped’ at the kennel gates, many in very poor conditions!
Vera is well into her 70’s now and does a wonderful job for the dogs in Essex who need help. She will use her £1000 donation towards repairs to roofing and new kennel blocks.
Wiccaweys – Wellingborough Nominated by Pauline Barr
Pauline says……………….. “There are many breeds at Wiccaweys Rescue, not just Collies and Collie crosses. These include GSD’s, Poodles, Jack Russells, St. Bernards, OES, Shitzu, Pekinese, Setters etc to name but a few.
Wiccaweys will only re-home dogs to homes that have passed homechecks and they will try and match the dog with the right family e.g. a couch potato dog will go to a more sedate home! Dogs will be vaccinated and spayed, or neutered if old enough together with a flea treatment before going off to their new home. Unlike some other rescues, Wiccaweys receive NO free or cut price neutering or food, which means financial help is always welcome.
Wiccaweys do not place their dogs in traditional kennels as some dogs go crazy in this type of environment. When possible dogs are placed in foster homes where they can be assessed.
Wiccaweys offer and give much advice to dog owners and have helped when even behaviourists haven’t managed and helped to keep dogs in their homes.
I would love for Wiccaweys to receive a donation from DINAS, I know a few people with Wiccaweys dogs that attend and help at the shows. I have helped at DINAS over many years and would love to see where my help actually goes. I am greatly involved with Wiccaweys and have fostered 60+ dogs over the past 3 years.
Thank you
Pauline”
Suffolk Animal Rescue – Stowmarket nominated by Carolyn Smith
This charity frequently rescues dogs, which are from the local pound and are on ‘death row’, through no fault of their own.
Vet bills for these animals are a huge demand on the funds.
If you are attending DINAS 2009, and you would like to nominate a worthy charity, please collect a nomination form from Anne Gill at the secretary’s office, return the completed form to Anne before the end of the show.
Donations are made ONLY after the DINAS committee have scrutinised the charity and have recommended that if surplus funds allow, a donation can be made.
Please note nominations to, Registered Fund Raisers, Breed Rescue and Large National Organisations are NOT considered.
DINAS Charity Nominations and Donations 2007
Of the nineteen nominations received during the 2007 DINAS show, the committee considered making donations each of £1000 to the following TEN charities
Please note, Eight Charities in total EACH received a £1000 donation.
(The eight charities which were not considered by the DINAS committee, had either received recent donations from the society or were either Breed Rescue charities or charities outside of the UK, none of which due to the DINAS policy, would ever be considered for receiving payments)
“We have kennels and usually have 3-4 dogs for re-homing at a time, plus six or seven indoors. All are spayed or neutered, Micro chipped, vaccinated, and assessed for suitable homes. Homes are checked and we keep in touch with all our Rescues. Some owners are on their second or third dogs from us.
We are most grateful for any help with our funds. The money will be put to good use!”
“Dear Rosemary & Dogs in Need Committee
Thank you for your kind gift, which was truly appreciated. The money will be put to very good use. Our kennels are in urgent need of re-roofing so this will enable us to do it in the next few months. Thank you so much
Yours sincerely
Jane Armiger”
“ARC is a Dog Rescue based in Buxted, East Sussex. Our aim is to provide care and homes for unwanted dogs. Since our humble beginnings we have successfully home over 800 dogs.
ARC rescues, rehabilitates and re-homes dogs. Before they leave our care they are health checked, vaccinated and usually neutered. Because we are a small charity, we are able to match the requirements of keeper and dog closely. Within our work we strive to embrace environmentally sound ideals and where appropriate, use natural remedies with our animals. Education forms a large part of our ethos and ARC is run entirely by volunteers”.
Joe, a Collie X, spent the first 9 months of his life chained up with a barrel for his home. He was tormented and abused. He arrived with ARC as a malnourished, terrified little dog. Joe spent his time at ARC recovering both physically and mentally. Joe found a wonderful home and now excels at amateur AGILITY.
Benson’s story
Benson, the Boxer was found wandering locally. When he arrived at ARC he was a bag of bones. Filthy, malnourished and with several other health problems he was nursed back to health, trained and is now happily homed with a lovely family.
Bella & Murphy
Bella & Murphy were two abandoned Collie X pups. When they arrived they were mangy and wormy and had digestive problems. Once they had regained full health, the pretty puppies were homed. Murphy is now a successful AGILITY dog and Bella is a P.A.T.Dog.
Doris Banham Sanctuary, Lincoln.
“Dear Rosemary and Dogs in Need Committee
Hi there - Sandra Mitchell here. I nominated a charity last year and was very happy that £1000 was awarded (The Doris Banham Sanctuary).
In
early May 2008 I visited a Kennels outside Boston, Lincolnshire to meet with
Chris Whippey, a volunteer for the Doris Banham charity. This organisation
received a donation under the DINAS charity scheme as a result of the 2007
show. Chris works at a Great Dane Rescue Centre but the kennel also rents
kennel space to the Doris Banham charity. Chris works for the Great Dane side
of the business and volunteers for Doris Banham.
Kennel space is rented, mainly around Lincolnshire, and 'poundies' are rescued on their last day wherever possible. This is something my husband and I are aware of as our fourth dog , Bosun, was a stray and we collected him on his 7th day at the dog pound. At this stage he as not in any danger, he had just had his 7 days as 'lost property' before he could be put up for re-homing. The kennel owners said that he was a perfectly rehomable boy, shouldn't be a problem. However, little did they know that he would have been a problem as he initially growled at shrill women and most children, probably due to the fact that he had some unexplainable bald patches on his head and front legs (looked like he had been scalded with a liquid). As experienced Stafford owners this did not phase us and we now have a delightful dog who goes beating, picking up on shoots, is happy with everyone and has the best character of any of our four. What did we do wrong with the others from pups!!
Chris was late for our appointment as he was on a run to save four dogs and take them to available kennel space. This is the nature of what he does. Doris Banham has now passed on but her daughter Trudie James has taken over her work.
East Midlands Dog Rescue, Leicester
Many
thanks for the donation, we gave it to East Midlands Dog Rescue. They really
really appreciated it and said it would be spent on vet bills. They had just
had a greyhound/lurcher in which had been abandoned and abused with cigarette
burns on it's face. She was also pregnant and had 12 puppies over the Easter
holidays. The vets bill was £700 because of complications, they managed to save
7 pups and the mother, but 5 puppies died. They had many other dogs in, a big
black GSD , a sharpai cross, a lovely otter hound and many old dogs that
appeared to have taken root there and live in the house. They have recently
taken in and re homed 3 poodles belonging to Audrey Lee from the agility circuit
who sadly passed away. They made sure her two older dogs were re homed
together.
On average they help about 200 dogs/puppies per year and ensure all bitches are sprayed to help prevent more unwanted litters. Advertising costs, food bills and vets fees are the main costs and normally paid for by the group who hold weekly fund raising sales. The donation was great and will help loads!!!
Gail, Fran, Laura and Darren.
Hope Rescue, Llanbradach, Wales.
Tales of Hope Rescue Agility Dogs – the following accounts have been written by the owners of Hope Rescue dogs currently enjoying AGILITY.
Cassie
Agility is a wonderful sport. I had been training my dog Mikey for about two years and was having a huge amount of fun. I decided that I was ready to take on a second dog to train with the help of my 13 year old son. We thought we would look for a rescue dog as Mikey had been re-homed to us by the RSPCA and I knew of many successful dogs in the AGILITY world who had been re-homed. AGILITY dogs need to be lively, full of energy, and want to learn. It is these qualities that often cause a dog to need re-homing as they can be quite challenging pets. Taking on a ‘second-hand’ dog is always a risk as they can come with ‘issues’ but we had been lucky with Mikey and we hit gold again with Cassie.
I was lucky enough to meet Cassie soon after she arrived in Wales. She was staying with her ‘foster mum’, having been brought over from Ireland by Hope Rescue. Apparently a family had owned her with a young child and she was too boisterous. She was about 7 months old and is probably a Springer Spaniel/Jack Russell terrier. Hope Rescue quickly organised a home check and I was able to bring her home. Hope Rescue also arranged for her to be vaccinated, flea and worm treated, micro-chipped and spayed when she was old enough. She is very lively (perfect) but also extremely loving and keen to please. I can see her issues with small children as she tends to cower and gives them a lot of space when we pass toddlers out walking. She has never been forced into a position when she’s had to approach a child since we have had her and I have noticed she seems less fearful these days.
She has been a huge hit with my son. They have a wonderful relationship and love training together. They have been competing for about 8 months now and have overcome a few problems to win a respectable amount of rosettes and a couple of trophies. She is also a fantastic pet to have around the house; she likes nothing better than snuggling up together of an evening. Giving Cassie a new home has definitely been one of my best decisions.
Jirra
I took on a little kelpie girl called Tilly from Hope Rescue in December 2006. At the time she had been rescued by Hope Rescue in August 07, at about 8 months old, and in a terrible condition. Her time was up in the pound and she was underweight and with a terrible flea allergy that meant she was virtually hairless across her back and legs.
The Hope staff spent a lot of time putting her right, so by the time I collected her, the hair had largely grown back and she had put on weight.
We have re-named her ‘Jirra’, which is an Aborigine word for a female kangaroo, and, oh boy is she well named! She has developed into a bright, healthy energetic and totally gorgeous kelpie girl and love her to bits. She has been doing AGILITY training this year and although she has very firm ideas about how it should be done, she is a little superstar. We hope to start competing in 2008.
Jirra is a prime example of the good work that Hope is doing. They took a dog who had been treated appallingly in her short life, put time and effort into not only getting her right, but finding the right home for this challenging little girl. Long may they continue.
Suffolk & Essex Small Animal Welfare, Leavenheath, Colchester
“Thank you for taking the trouble to contact us concerning our nomination.
We are a small rescue centre based just in Suffolk, hence our name as we deal with many people and local authorities both sides of the boarder. We are often approached by Social Services either to take in an animal from their clients who are unable to manage either to board for a short while, or re-home.
It is our policy never to end a dog’s life; so long as it has a good quality of life it is given every comfort and love until on veterinary advice it is given a dignified end. If companion dogs come in together they are kept until we are able to find them a home together.
Home checks are always made before a dog is placed and then initially they are placed on a month’s trial. New owners sign an agreement with us to ensure the dog is provided with ALL necessary care, including veterinary, also that should they have to part with the dog it comes back to us.
If in the case of an older or difficult dog we are unable to re-home we place it in a foster home and SESAW retains ownership and pays the veterinary costs.
Our kennels are not up to Hilton standard, but they are warm and dry, with heat lamps during the cold weather. All dogs are well fed and walked three times a day aith an area set aside for a play area.
During 2007 we re-homed 75 dogs. All dogs are checked by vets before placement, they are either castrated or spayed before they leave us. If for any reason we are unable to do this we enter into an agreement with the owner that it will be done as soon as possible and we check with their vet that the operation has been done.
We are currently replacing our less salubrious kennels as we are able to afford it, your very kind donation will be put to very good use for this project.
Many thanks
Maggie Jakaman
President (and general dogs body)”.
Three Counties Dog Rescue, Aslackby, Nr. Sleaford
We currently re-home in the region of 120 – 130 dogs a year mainly in the counties of Lincolnshire, Rutland, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. Since 1972 we have successfully re-homed almost 5000 dogs.
My name is Maddie
I am a 14-month-old Border Collie. I have only just started AGILITY. I came to live with my mum Julia from the Three Counties Dog Rescue. She only fostered me, but I made sure that she did not let me go.
I am deaf and blind in one eye. My best friend is Sky; I follow her when we are let off the lead. She knows where the ball is! When we do AGILITY I hope I won’t knock too many jumps down, I don’t want to have the same reputation as Sky!
My name is Sky and I am a 3 year-old Border Collie and my owner’s name is Julia. I came from the Three Counties Dog Rescue. I was there for 4 months. Every week I was in the Stamford Mercury newspaper but nobody wanted me. I was so sad not to be in a lovely home. Then Julia came to get me.
Since then I have been enjoying myself with lovely walks and having a go at AGILITY. I am known to my mum as the ‘Demolition Dog’. I wonder how many jumps I will knock down today?……………..
Whitehall Dog Rescue, East Ardesley.
Dedicated to saving stray and unwanted dogs from Death Row.
“Dear Rosemary
Oscar is one of the many dogs that live permanently here at Whitehall Dog Rescue, due to his condition called a “Liver Shunt”; he has to be fed on a special diet of Banana’s, yoghurt & cottage cheese plus a host of medication & vitamins.
He is a wonderful dog and lives life to the full.
Thanks again for your help!!
Brian Wheelhouse”
A BIG THANK-YOU FROM ALL AT WHITEHALL DOG RESCUE!! Life is one big smile when you’ve got someone that cares!!
“Dear Rosemary
Whitehall Dog Rescue would like to take this opportunity to thank you & the Dogs in Need Society for the very kind donation of £1000 towards my cause.
Please rest assured this money will be put to good use in the care of the dogs that come to stay with me. (This money will be used towards our Vet’s fees). I cannot put into words how much this is appreciated so: -
Thanks and again my very best wishes!
Pack (the Jack Russell)!”
AND FINALLY – dedicated to ‘Joey’ a previous Jack Russell resident of Whitehall Dog Rescue
God’s Love
Heavens gates opened wide
To let the stray dog inside.
God placed a hand upon his head,
In gentle, soothing words he said
“Your little frame, all bent and sore
Your health and body I’ll restore
The pain I’ll take and give you love”
And stars, like jewels shone from above
God scooped him up upon his knee
“You’re safe from man; you’re here with me”