Twinklet a year on

Today I’m handing over my writing reins to one very special dog, who was featured by Dogs Today a year ago after being found dumped with horrific injuries and left to die. Here’s a message from Twinklet a year on from when she was rescued.

Hello everyone! Here I am, Twinklet a year on from when I first came into the care of DBARC. I’m delighted to let you all know that after a year of loving care and lots of kindness I’m a really happy, lively, fun-loving mini schnauzer. A year ago this was far from the case. I had been found in a field with a broken jaw and other life-threatening injuries. DBARC immediately offered to help me, as it was very apparent that I would need extensive veterinary care. Although my broken jaw made me look like I was smiling, I had nothing to smile about. I was a discarded commercial breeding dog, terrified of humans, and physically and psychologically damaged, apparently beyond hope.

But there WAS hope for me. I’m named Twinklet after “Twinklets”, which combines the literary talents of writer and campaigner Janetta Harvey with the artistic talents of artist and illustrator Annabel Wilson, and they immediately launched Twinklet’s Smile Appeal to raise the funds that would mean DBARC could meet my medical and physical needs without compromising their other work. My world was about to be transformed.

While vets worked on my surgical needs, and DBARC took care of me, wonderful people from all over the world contributed to the costs of my care. And lovely things kept arriving in the post addressed to me! Comfy blankets and beds, coats, personalised dishes – I was the luckiest dog at DBARC! And with all this kindness came waves of love from all the senders. And so I steadily improved in health and in confidence. By October I was able to take part in my first ever Schnauzerfest and although I didn’t walk, I enjoyed seeing how much fun being a normal dog can be. Those schnauzers out and about were really an inspiration to me to get myself fully fit and able to enjoy life.

Eventually, and with the help of money raised by a lot of lovely people and Schnauzerfest, I was well enough to have cataract surgery, and I’m now able to see the whole world in a very different way than before. I have truly come from a world of darkness and fear into a world of light and love. I have a loving home with my very own pack (you would call it a family!) and I get to see my DBARC friends all the time. I also have fantastic friends who I rarely or maybe even never see, but I feel their love because it is the support of those friends that have got me to where I am today, just a year from being a tiny, terrified scrap that nobody had ever loved.

Then yesterday, for me, little Twinklet a year on from when I thought I was going to die, I really had the most fantastic day to celebrate being where I am now. I went to the beach with my closest friends and what a lot of fun we all had. Here you can see a little video showing the highlights of my year.

I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my brave little schnauzer heart, with a slightly Biblical reference here, for all your faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.