Rewriting The Story
After Susie-Belle died in 2015 I received a beautiful portrait of her as a gift. I found it deeply moving. Not only the generosity of someone I had never met, but the thoughtfulness the...
Category: Community
Love Is Not Enough – part 2
Adopting a dog requires thought and planning. Understanding that sharing life with a rescue dog is a privilege, not a right is a good starting point. It can sometimes be difficult to automatically get...
Love Is Not Enough – part 1
When thinking about adopting a dog from a breeding background, it’s vital to keep the dog’s previous life firmly in mind. Adopting any dog involves a number of unknowns but for breeding dogs the...
From Puppy Farm To Peaceful Dartmoor
Many months ago I was contacted by Donna who was considering adopting an ex-breeding dog. We chatted online for a while. I shared my experiences, and our converations developed past adoption and into the...
Naya’s Struggle Continues
Jayne Coughlan adopted Naya, a miniature schnauzer who had spent a number of years as a breeding dog in a puppy farm. Jayne had read Saving Susie-Belle and felt inspired to adopt and do...
Writing For Addis
Earlier in the year I agreed to write a blog for Addis, a British housewares company which is supporting the work of Schnauzerfest. To have an opportunity to educate a non-dog focussed audience was...
What Makes A Fosterer?
What makes someone become a fosterer? To foster a dog means to take a vulnerable, dependent animal into your home, to nurture them, allow yourself to fall a little, or a lot in love,...
Angel the Nomad
Angel must have nomadic genes. She loves to travel. It would have been hell for her in the puppy farm just being confined, let alone all the other hideous aspects of that existence. She...
Why New Is Good
When we adopted Susie-Belle it was all new, for her and us. She had no concept of what life with us would be like. Or indeed life anywhere beyond the safety of the rescue...
Happiness, not in another place but this place
Two weeks ago I was on my way to the UK to collect Angel. She was in the care of the Diana Brimblecombe Animal Rescue Centre. It was a trip that would give me...