Covid19 and Pet Pooches getting Rescued & Rehomed
During Covid19 dogs are the key companion champion who have brought joy, laughter and mindfulness into our restricted lifestyles. One example being the increase of dog walks for your one hour’s daily exercise, boosting our mindfulness and time in nature. This provides an opportunity to take amusing photos and video clips of your pooch, and then to engage online via social media sites like Instagram, YouTube and Facebook. You can tag your dog’s quirks for others to see, smile and laugh at using the many trending new hashtags like #dogwalklocktown #dogcovidthoughts #dogcovidcare #covid19doglife #covid19dogperks.
Here’s just one of many funny video clip’s been made around dogs and their ability to entertain us during the Coronavirus! https://www.facebook.com/Wagwinsuk/videos/875025599590565/?t=1
However, we can’t ignore the sad side for dogs during Covid19, when some pooches need to be rehomed with a new family/owner and start their life all over again. I for one, was helping look after an older lady’s dog whilst she was taken into hospital for weeks on end with meningitis. It wasn’t until she came out of hospital and back in her own home, she picked up Covid19 and was back in hospital before she knew it! Luckily her dog didn’t come into contact with her around the time the elder lady picked up Covid19, but sadly the lady, feeling so ill and weak, made the toughest decision she could on what to do about her little fluffy best friend (who already was a Romanian rescue dog – rescued by ‘Leash of Life’ only a few years back). So, with the decision being the dog would need to go back to the rescue centre it came from, sadly the little dog has to face life learning to trust, settle and build his confidence around another new owner – hopefully this time round being for the rest of his life.
The problem being with Covid19, all rescue dog charities aren’t able to carry out home inspections during lockdown, so dogs that are collected are sent to a foster home before being able to be permanently rehomed with a new owner – to confuse the dog even more, making two transfers instead of one!
Unfortunately, dog charities and animal rescue teams don’t make top of the list of priorities amongst the many other categories to consider when things start to ease up. Despite animal rescue teams, vets and nurses being designated as key workers by the Government, they still rely almost entirely on donations from the public to fund their vital services and, like many others, are already seeing the damaging effect of the crisis on their fundraising income. But if you can help charities out from going into overdrive, please support family and friends’ dogs with your time and household space, as this may help to ease the dramatic change in lifestyle one dog has to face on its own. The RSPCA have set up a ‘Coronavirus Emergency Appeal’ and you can get involved to help, see www.rspca.org.uk/covid for more information. It is vital that we can make up the charity funding shortfall – so charities can continue to rescue animals from suffering. Your gift today is urgently needed!
For more information on dog rescue centres I recommend getting in touch with:
Bath Cats and Dogs Home www.bathcatsanddogshome.org.uk
Dogs Trust www.dogstrust.org.uk
Leash of Life www.leashoflife.co.uk
Blue Cross www.bluecross.org.uk
RSPCA www.rspca.org.uk
Austin Pets Alive www.austinpetsalive.org
Wild at Heart Foundation www.wildatheartfoundation.org
Therapy dogs are also on the rise, and why wouldn’t they be? Cuddling a dog de-stresses, you and, for a short while, can replace your worries with fluff! Rescue charity All Dogs Matter has started its own informal programme, which doubles as a fundraising stream. Another site, PATS Pets at Therapy is another national charity that enhances health and wellbeing in the community through taking behaviourally assessed pets with trusted volunteers to visit hospitals, hospices, nursing and care homes, special needs schools and a variety of other venues all across the UK for their patients to spend quality time stoking the pet and calming their nerves.
If you have a dog and are thinking to train it up to become a therapy dog, visit the PATS Pets as Therapy Website or the All Dogs Matter website to get started! The key thing for a good therapy dog is that, first of all they are under good control and don’t jump up on people at first sight. The dog must be confident around people of all ages, happy being handled/touched all over, interested in being with people – but not pulling towards them, revert to being still when being ignored rather than trying to gain attention like barking or jumping up. What better way to train your dog to become a qualified therapy dog than with Wag Wins handmade dog treats – all grain free, wheat free, lactose free and vegan friendly! Wag Wins can also personalise biscuits with individual messages, like this one that was made for the online dog competition dashing dogs’ online shows!
The magazine to read about underdogs and wunderdogs!
Adopting a dog is an emotional journey. It is not a simple purchase, and it goes beyond the transformational experience. We wonder about our dog’s past, get angry at other humans who inflicted wounds on our pooches, bond with like-minded people, and get involved in the charity that helped when our dog’s need was at its greatest. At the same time, most rescue dogs come with fully formed – and often strong – characters.
Wunderdog – a new magazine has become available to read about the underdogs and wunderdogs. Their rescue journey is central to every edition of the Wunderdog magazine, showing the amazing work of rescue organisations and the incredible people who volunteer for them. The Wunderdog magazine starts off with the more serious side about rescue dogs, before showing you how to enjoy the dog life together. The Travel section covers beautiful places with rescues, and moves onto how to enjoy entertaining art and design together with your dog. Wunderdog magazine then finishes up with dispatch stories of fellow dog-lovers and how to educate you about rescue dog care by sensible experts, whilst your dog snoozes gently next to you on the sofa! To order your dog or someone else’s dog some handmade treats to make their tail wag and aid their digestive system, visit www.wagwins.co.uk/shop-page
For more information about the Wunderdog magazine, visit www.wunderdogmagazine.com