Sponsor a Dog

Long Stay Dogs

Not all dogs are suited to a normal home. Sadly, we occasionally take in dogs with more than their fair share of problems. Dogs who haven’t had a great life up until now. We take them in and they remain here with us, given all the love and care that they need. We have reached a point where many of our dogs are not suitable to go to a normal home and although they would be available for homing should the right home ever come along, sadly this can take a very long time so dogs can stay here months or even years waiting for that chance.

This can be costly - food, bedding, even toys and treats - all have to be provided.

They often need a lot of veterinary care - and the bills can mount up quickly. Operations, long-term medical costs and special diets are all possible, and, sadly, probable, with our sponsor dogs.

That’s why we need your help

If you would like to make a donation for any amount by credit card via "PayPal" click the donate button or send us your postal address by email and we will send you a standing order form to set up a small regular monthly payment.

All the handling of your financial details are done by PayPal on their secure servers.
We will not pass your email address or other details onto third parties

Alfie - Greyhound

Alfie is a male brindle and white Greyhound. He has been neutered and was 3 years old in June 2005. Alfie originally came to us for assessment having been unsuccessfully rehomed three times by another rescue. Alfie displayed aggression towards both people and dogs on separate occasions and came to PFK to further his training in social skills and he has been doing brilliantly!. He gets on well with the dogs here, loves people and is a pleasure to walk on or off his lead. Alfie still has one problem we have been unable to overcome. He suffers from quite severe Separation Anxiety and gets very distressed if he is left alone.

It was initially decided not to offer him for adoption and Alfie is currently fully supported here by Ted Wolfenden and Angela Hudson (Thank you both!). However, due to the improvement in his behaviour we would now consider rehoming him to an experienced home where there was someone around all the time and where his new owners would be prepared to deal with his Separation Anxiety issues.

Missy - Foxhound x Blood Hound

Missy is a ‘Packhound', a Bloodhound x Foxhound, a lighter and more agile version of a Bloodhound, about the size of a Labrador. They are bred to be outdoor working dogs and do not always easily fit in as the average family pet. In many ways, Missy is typical of her ‘breed’, and unfortunately this has meant that it is virtually impossible to find the right home for her.

Born in February 2001 she was originally sold as a family pet and then when she grew too big, handed in to a rescue centre along the Welsh Borders. The rescue re-homed her to a family with 2 young children and a German Shepherd in Middlesex. Unfortunately the family were unable to correct Missy’s habit of displaying affection and excitement by standing upright on her hind legs and ‘patting’ with her front paws. Her almost ‘bear like’ claws are potentially quite damaging. As she grew bigger this became more of a problem until her display of affection caused her to badly scratch one of the children. The family realised they could not cope with her and the original rescue asked PFK to help with the emergency situation as they were closer. So Missy came to PFK in March 2002 just 1 year old where work to re-educate her and re-home her began.

Despite considerable effort, time and work, Missy has proved to be almost ‘un-trainable’. She is a lovely good natured dog, but typical of her ‘type’ of hound, virtually impossible to walk on a lead, little or no recall and impossible to housetrain.

One thing where Missy though has excelled beyond all expectation is in her ability to track! This is of course what Foxhounds and Bloodhounds have been bred to do over thousands of generations, and in this respect Missy has inherited the stunning abilities and hyper sensitive nose of both these breeds. Dave initially began training her to track in order to find lost dogs – other people’s and those from PFK who occasionally go AWOL! Missy’s ability to track another dog purely through a scent trail on the ground is incredible to watch. So although Missy hasn’t been able to fit into an average family, she obviously ‘nose’ that at PFK she will always have a safe and loving home.

Update September 2006:

Missy has developed a lump on her jaw. The vet has diagnosed Osteocarcoma (bone cancer). Because of the position in the jaw, surgery is not an option. Missy is fine in herself at the moment but sadly her day are numbered.

UPDATE: Sadly Missy lost her fight on Jan 10 2008

Toby - Japanese Shiba Inu

Toby is very nervous of new people and new places. Over the last few years we have done a lot of work with him to try and overcome this. He has been rehomed 3 times to very different types of homes, all of which seemed suitable, to try and find something that would be right for him. Unfortunately Toby was not truly happy in any of them and after the last attempt failed we decided that the best and kindest thing for Toby was for him to stay here where he feels safe and happy. His full story will be added shortly.

Orfeo and Nigeria - Greyhounds

Born in Ireland and exported to Italy, these two dogs and 370 others faced a very uncertain future when the last track in Italy went bust. After months of work by GIN (Greyhounds in Need) and local organizations in Rome, all 370 have been placed.

Read Orfeo and Nigeria's story by clicking here Sadly Orfeo died on 23 July 2004 and was joined at Rainbow Bridge by Nigeria on 30th March 2008

Aramis

GSD

3 years old

Aramis is a 3 year old white GSD who suffers from epilepsy. We are still working with our vets to bring this completely under control. He is currently on medication 3 times a day which costs around £25 per month and a special additive free diet which costs around £40 per month so any sponsorship towards his costs will be a great help to us.

I have attached a picture of him looking gorgeous. In fact, we entered this picture in an on-line dog show and Aramis won his class, “Poser of the Year”.

Read All About Aramis here

Ralph

Golden Retriever

4 years old

Ralph is here because over the last couple of years he has bitten most members of his family a number of times. Despite lots of work and training, as well as numerous visits to vets and behaviourists his family were unable to find a solution. Faced with making the final heartbreaking decision to put him to sleep they phoned us. We agreed to take Ralph in here where he could live out his time without being a danger to anyone. Initially Ralph behaved well here but over time both of us have experienced the behaviour that caused his family such problems. We are now extremely careful to avoid situations that could provoke these issues. Ralph is kenneled on his own but he is a dog that has always

preferred his own company and needed his own space. He runs loose in our paddock twice a day with a couple of playmates and his family visit him regularly.

Ralph is fully supported by his family

Houdi

Saluki x

3 years old

Houdi came to us late 2004 after being found as a stray and being handed in to our vets with a horrific leg injury. He is now fully recovered physically but the emotional scars have left him extremely nervous of people and things so we feel that the best thing for him at the moment is to stay here where he is happy and safe.

You can read more about Houdi by clicking here

Eric

Greyhound

4 years old

Eric is a stunning blue brindle male Greyhound who was retired from racing in Ireland due to being aggressive towards other dogs. He was transferred to an Irish Greyhound Rescue but did serious damage to two of their other dogs whilst he was there. The Irish rescues are always under great pressure for spaces due to the sheer number of unwanted dogs, particularly Greyhounds and with no chance of a home with that history Eric was at serious risk of being put to sleep so we offered him a space here.

We have spent many months working with Eric and he is now totally happy to be around other dogs although he will never be trustworthy round cats or small dogs. Eric's current issues seem to be based round fear of strangers. He is very fearful of anyone he does not know and this is proving very difficult to resolve. With this issue and his other history Eric is likely to need to remain here for the foreseeable future.

Rusty

Chocolate Labrador

2 years old

Rusty came to us at a year old after being taken to a vets to be put down after biting his owner. The head vet nurse obtained permission to try and find him a rescue place and contacted us so Rusty came to PFK.

We had him neutered and spent a year working with him and we eventually felt that he was ready to try life in the outside world again. We placed him with a very experienced couple who already had one dog from here but unfortunately after about 4 weeks there Rusty started to revert to his old ways. The decision was made to bring him back here and although he has never been a problem with anyone here we feel that the only responsible thing to do is to keep Rusty here where his issues can be managed.

Rusty is great friends with Ralph and the two dogs spend many happy hours together racing and playing in our paddock.

Bramble

Labrador x Retriever

3 years old

Bramble came to us last year after her owners came to the decision that they could no longer manage her issues and their vets had advised that Bramble should be put to sleep.

As Bramble was growing up she developed problems with aggression towards other dogs whilst out and was also prone to unprovoked aggressive outbursts towards certain types of people when on walks. Her owners did a great deal of work with her on her behaviour but they ultimately felt that they were fighting a losing battle and when she killed their young kitten whilst it was asleep on their lap they decided that enough was enough and rather than put her to sleep they contacted us.

We worked with Bramble for many months and have overcome her problems with other dogs in general as well as her issues towards other people however we are still working with her and hope to go on to greater things.

Scooby

Crossbreed

3 years old

Scooby came to us in July 2004 from a Dublin pound. He is a real character and a super lad. His only problem is that he is not for the faint hearted and needs a dedicated owner to keep up with his energy levels. We did have a number of enquiries for Scooby in the early days but either they were not suitable or people were put off on meeting him by his sheer personality.

Scooby has been here for two years and has now calmed and matured into a really nice dog, although he still needs someone who can cope with him. We never get any enquiries for him these days and is seems that he has been here so long that people either just overlook him completely or assume that he must have some horrible fault that we are not mentioning. It seems that the longer he is here the less chance he has of ever finding a home of his own. Obviously Scooby still needs food, veterinary care and treats until we can find him a home of his own.

Update: We have decided that after so long Scooby has a forever home here at PFK

click here for more photo's of this lovely lad

Joker is a 8 year old Black male Curly Coated Retriever . He is a big lad but very friendly and loves his cuddles. (He really believes he should be a ‘lap dog’!)

Joker suffers from a mild seizure condition which does not require medication and he only has mild focal seizures maybe once a year or so.

Joker is in a permanent local foster home where he can continue to help us at our Pat & Chat events

UPDATE: Sadly Joker passed away at home on 1st October 2007

Spanky is a character and very much a typical terrier. In the house he is an angel (mostly) but outside he is a bit of a challenge Spanky has bounced from 3 different homes due to his terrorist activities. He is now living with us in the house and his behaviour here is impeccable in our large pack. He enjoys having cuddles and likes a lot of attention but will quite often amuse himself for a while.

He is extremely useful here for socialising new dogs with "small" dogs so we have decided that the best (and safest) thing to do is to keep him here. He has plenty of freedom and space to bomb around in and lots of other dogs to play with. Spanky seems to think it is a decent lifestyle. .

user posted image Purdy is a 10 year old female Dalmatian. She was handed in following the death of her owner as the family couldn't cope and she was taken to the vets to be put to sleep. The vets pointed the owners at us and Purdy came here

Update 12 Jan 2007: Last week we found 2 more small lumps on Purdy. Today she was booked in for x-rays and possible surgery. Sadly the x-rays showed one fairly large and several small masses in her chest. These look like secondary tumours but we are not sure whether the primary is the lump on her side or something somewhere else. This means that taking the new lumps off surgically is pretty pointless. We dont know how long Purdy has got left, she may have months but she may have years. She is not showing any symptoms at present so we will just have to wait and see. She is unlikely to require any expensive veterinary treatment at this point but anyone interested in her will need to be aware that she could only have a short time left.

Update 3rd April 2007

We have decided that it would be unfair at this stage to move Purdy on. She is happy and settled here in the house with us and we think the kindest thing is to let her end her days here.