A couple of weeks ago, an acquaintance of Sharon's lost her home due to medical issues and repossession. The lady was a breeder of border collies and she and her family had been evicted from the home, however the dogs and cats were still at the property and in the hands of the management company. Sharon asked at that point if we would be able to help, and of course we said we would happily provide rescue help as we had the space. There were at least 8 dogs than needed somewhere. Unfortunately at that point, the lady thought she could still sort issues out so we heard nothing more.
Over the weekend, things happened rapidly, the lady went to visit her dogs and found they had been removed and placed in an unknown location. The RSPCA had come and taken some of the cats, although the dogs were still in the control of the management company. Thanks to the very hard work of Sharon, Olwen and the solicitor, the dogs were tracked down and their release was secured. Olwen collected them on Saturday, 8 dogs in total.
Sadly, the dogs were in very poor condition. They have all obviously suffered a severe bout of fleas which has resulted in allergic reactions in some. The kennels had treated them for this. One lad is incredible overweight. Their coats were all in pretty bad condition with massive matts and in some cases, the coat had fleeced to the skin. They were all very smelly. One dog whilst being examined and bathed by Olwen was found to have many old wounds and injuries caused by other dogs attacking him, including a large untreated abcess on his ear and nasty bites to his back legs and 'gentleman area'. He was taken to the vets straight away and treated.
Sharon and Olwen spoke to the owner at length, along with her husband present and it was agreed that given the current circumstances and for the welfare of the dogs it would be best if they be signed over so they could find new homes through rescue. The lady had previously told Sharon that should the dogs ever have to go into rescue, the only one she wanted them to go to was Wiccs.
Sharon took the youngest lad home with her, and Olwen contacted the breeder of another girl. Thank goodness for responsible breeders as this lady received the email on Sunday night and was there collecting her own breeding back at midday the next day. Cudos to them.
When Sharon phoned me on Monday morning to explain what had happened it was panic stations as we were almost full with very limited space available. A telephone call to Shirley was made, with a brief breakdown of the situation and she immediately agreed to foster one of the current residents. She drove over the same day to collect Max puppy.
I travelled over to Olwen's and bought the first 3 dogs back home. Wilson, Flick and Rory.
Rory is a Red Setter and belonged to the lady's husband. He particularly wanted Rory to come to us as he is an older chap and just a totally dote. A real Wiccs ABC oldie.
Yesterday another phone call was made to Lins, and she has also kindly offered to foster an existing resident which means we freed up the space to bring back the other dogs needing rescue space. It was going to be 2 today, Jet and Tiff, as Olwen was going to foster Mac, the lad with the wounds. However Mac was so upset seeing his friends going without him, the decision was made for him to come as well. He was very pleased about that, and was extremely happy to see his Uncle Rory when we got back to Wiccs.
So its all been a bit
for the past couple of days with Paul holding the fort, me travelling
backwards and forward, dogs going on foster and moving around to fit
these babies in. Sharon and Olwen are a bit
after it all, but very well done ladies! 
The work now starts to get them all ready for new homes. Obviously coming from a breeder, ALL of the dogs need neutering. Routine stuff wise, they all need vaccinating as the lady doesn't believe in conventional vaccinations and they also need micro chipping, worming etc. A few will be needing some regular Malasab baths for a while to help get their skin back in order and in some places their coats look like they have already been to Chez Wiccaweys for a haircut - they haven't, Olwen had no choice in some case with the matts etc.
Despite this, they WERE loved by their owner and it is one of those extremely sad situations where a medical condition has taken hold and led onto much more. Its very, very sad.
The dogs all have AMAZING temperaments and are a wonderful loving bunch.
If anyone is stuck for something to do this weekend, walkers would be very much appreciated.
