HOPE Dog Rescue turns 10 this month. Unbelievable.
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| Fiona & Brandy, happily adopted; the dog, not the human |
Prior to starting HOPE, I had been volunteering with various animal welfare groups. Each time I rescued a dog, I would hand it over to a rescue group. Although the dogs were saved, I felt bad because I was passing my responsibility onto others. So I figured the best way was to start my own rescue group to save whoever I wanted and not feel bad for pushing the responsibility to someone else. And so HOPE Dog Rescue was formed.
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| Trying to befriend a stray dog |
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| Fiona rescuing some puppy mill dogs |
We started off by rescuing puppies, sterilizing street dogs and cats, feeding strays, rescuing injured strays etc. Over the years, I've come to realize that I love senior dogs and dogs with special needs. Dogs enter our lives for a reason, often to teach us lessons, not in a bad way 😊 Matthieu was our very first special needs dog. He passed on early this year from old age. He taught us so much about caring for a special needs dog - using a wheelchair, expressing bladder etc., many of these things and processes I never even knew existed. Then we had Sida who was hit twice by a lorry resulting in a broken back. Despite her special needs, Sida has since been adopted ❤️.
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| Baby Harper, who was rather sickly as a puppy, often down with pneumonia and bronchitis |
Harper was rescued at about 6 weeks old and I started fostering her when she was about 3 months old; she is now 8 years old. Every day for the first few months, I wanted to call it a day. It was not easy caring for a dog with special needs. It was a huge learning curve. Leaking pee, poo all over the house, fitting her with wheels, daily management of pressure sores, exercising her so she wouldn't get water retention in her joints etc. It was not easy. Each time I got home from work, the entire house was covered with streaks of dried poo, from hall to kitchen . . . . I could see the chocolate trails showing where she had crawled. I would stand at the door and think which I should clean up first, the dog or the floor. The poo was dried by the time I got home and so I would spend hours scraping and cleaning the floor. I would love to say that those were the good old days 😉 but I would be lying. These days I've become an expert and I just need to express her pee and poo and she will be nice and clean all day ❤️
It took me 3 years to really master how to care for a dog like Harper. Today, I'm a pro at it. Thanks to all the special needs dogs that have come into my life, I am not only good at what I do (if I may say so myself), I also love what I do. Not everyone has the honour to be chosen to care for such a special dog – the dog obviously trusts you if they choose you.
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| A not so baby Harper, who is now 8 years old |
And so over the years, we have established ourselves as a group that rescues and loves senior dogs and dogs with special needs. These are the dogs that very few people would want to adopt so when we rescue them, we also have to be prepared to care and provide for them for the long-term. And thus, there is a limit to the number of dogs we can save because we have many dogs in our care that we will have to be responsible for, till the end of time. And with these dogs, they often come with many, many health issues, which also translates to many, many vet bills, as in the cases of Zeus, Chloe, Sofie and Mantou to name a few.
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| Harper has exquisite taste, she loves boat rides. Good thing I'm her maid, I get to tag along |
Although we may seem like a big group, we are not. We just look like we're doing a lot 😊 We don't have a shelter because the rentals would have forced us to shut down long ago. Instead, we rely on volunteers and fosters, and sometimes even commercial boarders if we cant find fosters.
We started stray feeding more than a decade ago and to this day, it is still ongoing. We feed the strays and we also supply the workers with dog and cat food so that they can help to feed the strays living in their factory compounds without having to use their own hard-earned money to do so. I am blessed to have very dedicated volunteers who continue to feed the strays week after week, come what may.
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| Saturday night stray feeding |
We continue to rescue injured strays, within our capabilities, take in owner-surrendered dogs (usually seniors) and also help low income families with dog food and vet bills because we believe that the pets provide them with companionship and they should not be separated if we can help it. Also, research has shown that pets help senior citizens keep dementia at bay. We love old dogs, we do love old people too. Hope's belief is also in education. We believe in educating dog owners, so that they become better informed for their dogs well being.
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Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think we would survive a decade, but we did. Like so many success stories, nothing would have been possible without the kindness, love, support and generosity of so many dog lovers out there, who believe in the work we do. And my loyal, dedicated volunteers, many of whom have been with me from the early days, who put so much effort into volunteering that it almost feels like they hold two full time jobs. Thank you for putting up with me 😊
My wish is to rehome all our dogs so I can retire 😊
Thank you everyone, for the love and kindness you have shown me. Because of you, I believe in miracles.
With deepest gratitude,
Head slave, Fiona
