JULY

Ricky came out of kennels - into being fostered with Geerarffe, where she took him to the beach along with Della and her own dog.  The next day - his new family went to meet him - home check done - and he went to his new home the next day.  How lovely to say he has been sat in kennels for nearly a month - just waiting for someone to come and take him home.  Thank you Geerarffe

Della went to the seaside and had such a lot of fun - she is really sociable and enjoyed playing.  She is learning manners and rules - she's just a young lively girl.  To think - she was sat in the pound - totally unwanted just a few weeks ago - before Geerarffe offered to foster her, and to see the transformation in her from that scared little girl - to this energetic young gsd x - is a dream to see.

Little Meg - Geerarfe was fostering little Meg along with her own dog.  However, Meg was just a little too small and staid for that household.  So our Handsworth fosterer offered to take little Meg in once she managed to get Sid into his new home.  In little Meg settled and it was touch and go as to wether little Meg would end up staying.  Thankfully - we had a few enquiries for this little girl - and we found the perfect household - along with 2 other terriers and a couple that would give her all the love and affection she truly deserved.  This was really a great pull together and swopping of skills to manage to get little Meg right and makes it all worth while.

Sid - now in his new home - had a very bad turn for the worse - his new mum thought he was going to die.  We thought it was down to the shock of anti-biotics fighting all the infection.  The vets took him off all his tablets and this wednesday he has just had almost a full dental removing loads of teeth.  Hopefully now the smell and infection will stop and so will the pain.  Rain Rescue will be paying for all this treatment which we think will be just over £250.  Thankfully we have had 3 very generous sponsors who have covered all of Sids' treatment - thank you all.

Nana - after all her x-rays and tests is now settled in her long term foster home who love her to bits.  She is nicknamed Princess and wears a pink diamante collar.  They never thought they could love a Staffy - but they do - and she will stay with them forver.  Rain Rescue has just paid just under £200 for all her drugs and tests and vet trips - but hopefully she will now be fit and well.  RR will continue to pay all Nana's vet fees for the rest of her days.

Branston is still in his foster home - and is a fully spoiled little gentleman.  His foster mum really loves him to pieces - but he still needs to find a long term home.  We have had a kind offer from Anna on the Sheffield Forum who will walk him sometimes when she is over that way - Branston is a complete turn-around from the neglected - dejected old man that we took out from the Sheffield Pound.  He had such horrific Kennel Cough he could barely stand for the coughs.  It was pityful to hear and to see.  He has been on so many anti-biotics and pick-me-ups but thankfully now in a nice warm house, and properly cared for - he is a credit to his foster mum.  His coat is like silk and he shines like a conker.  We have paid for all Branstons' treatment so far which is just over £115 and he still has to be castrated now that he is fit and well.

Kato - the lovely American Bulldog that The Doris Banham managed to find a lovely sanctuary for.  He had a few fits in the pound and we were desperate to save him as the girls had said he was so gorgeous.  Sadly he wasn't in the home for very long when he started to fitt again.  He was in the vets over 5 days on drips and treatment.  Up to now their Bill is over £800 with a quote that he ought to go to Newmarket where he needs more tests and drugs and an estimated £2000.  No way can anyone afford this, and so he will probably just be kept comfortable and hope things settle down.

Sadie - the gorgeous german Shepherd girl who we got out of Sheffield pound with ooozing sores on her legs.  Was spayed and had the sores treated - again paid for by Rain. Ann found her a lovely foster home in Blackpool and she waits patiently for her new home.  Sadly the sores aren't healing properly and she has again had to go back to the vets and is on anti-biotics and cream for them - again paid for by Rain.

Our foster mum Spottie21 is still not very well - we miss her so much - and wish her a speedy recovery - and even though she feels awful at not taking in a foster whilst she is at home - we know she needs the rest - so not to be little spottie - get well soon

Jess and Strix are looking at doing adverts for us to promote the strays and the rescues on our site in both the Ad-mag and The local Star.  Rain is looking to pay to put adverts into these papers in the hope that we can get more people to visit rescues and the pounds to get dogs - and hopefully to reduce the numbers buying puppies - which increases the demand.  The ad-mag advert is £150 per annum.

Adz and hubby and Strix have been into the Sheffield kennels to take pics and get them to Sue to go on the website

Strix and Lottie have been giving out lots of good advice to people who are struggling with different problems with their own dogs. We always ask people to seek out a qualified behaviourist and get some 1 to 1 sessions (which is a cheap investment in the long run, and should mean people can get to keep their dog with them), but we thank both Strix and Lottie for their interim support and common sense advice as experienced dog owners.

Helensq and family have worked hard to produce our very first set of pictures of the dogs at Sheffield kennels.  The are collating a load of email addresses and distributing them out to anyone who can display them at places where they should be looking for decent long term homes.

Ann - who heads up our Blackpool Rain site has also been under the hospital for surgery.  Thankfully she is now back home and getting sorted with the work she needs to do to help the dogs around there.  Fantastically she has managed to rehome all the blackpool dogs that were on our site.  Rain took in the Mastiff Balloo and the rottie x - both where Ann managed to find homes for.  Plus, by them featuring their dogs on the Rain Site the local pound have managed to rehome most of the residents.  Its full up again - and we are awaiting more pictures. 

Sue continues to keep the website busy and full of changes.  It takes her so long, and she spends half her life doing it I think.  However, no matter how much it does take - we know that without it - dogs won't get homes - and so she carries on.

 We have had 2 new enquiries for foster homes for small dogs - which sound promising and will be supported.

We still don't have any boarding kennels for this month - August.  This is due to the high volume of dogs being boarded.  We have now been told by the kennels that we could rent 4 kennels at a cost of £2k per kennel per annum - this would guarantee that we would always have room - for the next year for 4 dogs at any one time - until they can be assessed and put into foster homes.  We are looking for funding towards helping this.

Once we manage to secure the kennels we will be looking for some dedicated help from people who are good at working with the dogs - who can get them out and about for the day and assess them properly.  Then who would be available to meet up with potential new homes and help with viewing and vet trips.