PAWS & QUIET Living a dog’s life
..but for these pampered pooches it means roaming free in lap of luxury
WITH her scruffy coat so matted you can barely see her eyes, you might think Freckles is a picture of neglect. But she is actually a waggytailed, happy and thriving resident of a luxury rehoming centre for rescued street dogs.
I meet Freckles, who was rescued from Romania as an eight-month-old puppy, at Barton Moss Farm, a kennels with a difference, tucked away behind a Manchester housing estate.
Emma Billington and her partner Lou Fields have been working with Freckles for two years to get her ready to rehome. Lou says: “It is only recently that she has started letting us touch her and start to trim her coat.
“Once she trusts us enough to get her in the bath and groom h er prope r ly everyone will fall in love with her just like we have.”
At Barton Moss Farm there are no rows of kennels with barking dogs locked up inside.
Instead, the 50 residents roam free day and night, and have no idea they are homeless.
Every one of them is showered with love and attention – and doggy treats – by founder Emma and Lou, who know every dog by name and treat each one as their own pet.
Most are street dogs who had to fight for survival in countries such as Romania or Bulgaria, where homeless hounds are beaten or starved to death.
With months, or sometimes years, of care from Emma, Lou and their team at Dogs4Rescue, many eventually find forever homes with British families.
In seven years, Emma and Lou have managed to rehome 1,500 dogs.
Emma, 41, says: “Street dogs have never had any love or human affection, so are so much more willing when they do get it and they can make lovely pets.
“Some have never had human contact or have suffered trauma so it can take months for them to even let us go near them. Once they do, it is so rewarding and they can give you so much love.”
Once Freckles trusts us enough to get her in the bath everyone will fall in love with her
LOU FIELDS PARTNER IN DOGS4RESCUE REHOMING CENTRE
Dogs4Rescue is a labour of love for Emma. As a little girl, all she ever wanted was a dog, but as both her parents worked full-time she was not allowed.
When she started to hear the pitiful sound of a dog crying out in distress at night, she questioned neighbours, but no one knew where it was coming from.
Then one day she found her in a back garden two doors down, a skeletal Staffie, chained up on a concrete base surrounded by her own faeces.
The dog was called Lucky – ironic, as she was used as a breeding machine, the owner selling the puppies online for £20.
Emma started walking Lucky, giving her the love she craved. But one day she came home and Lucky was gone. Her owners had let her off the chain and she had run off and been hit by a car. Emma
We have dogs who have been here for four years and still won’t let us touch them
EMMA BILLINGTON FOUNDER OF DOGS4RESCUE
knew then that she had to help others like Lucky. After a career as a computer programmer, she eventually left her job and set up one of Britain’s first doggy daycare centres, but her goal was a rescue centre.
Emma says: “I went on holiday to Turkey and went to visit the local dog pound. There, the dogs roamed free – there were no cages. I thought, why can’t we do that in the UK?
“My rescue centre dream was for it to run like the daycare, where the dogs could play and have a life, not knowing they were homeless at all but feeling lov e d , surrounded by a big family and sleeping on sofas.
“I wanted people to see them, unstressed and unfearful, playing, interacting and living as normal dogs.”
At Barton Moss Farm she has achieved exactly that. As soon as you arrive, the dogs bound towards you, happy faces, tails wagging. There is no barking or whining, instead it is a tranquil piece of puppy paradise. The dogs have acres of land to play, with tunnels to hide in, paddling pools to splash in, decking areas for sunbathing and sandpits to dig in. No dog is ever locked away, and at night they have little wooden houses to sleep in, with bunkbeds and under - f loor heating. No wonder some of the dogs never want to leave.
Like Grumpy
Stu, who once lived on the streets of Romania and has the battle-scars to prove it. Emma says: “He stays here out of choice.
“He has been with families so many times but when it comes to bedtime he just won’t stay overnight.
“We had one lady bring him back at midnight, he was so unsettled.
“One of our volunteers made him a throne as he kept taking over all the sofas from the other dogs. Stu even has his own following on Facebook.”
Another long-time resident is twolegged Sherry. She was shot by a restaurant owner in Bulgaria who caught her stealing food. Sherry was left paralysed and incontinent.
Emma says: “We paid £3,000 to have her hind legs and tail amputated to give her a better quality of life. Now there is no stopping her. Last year she did a marathon using her special wheels – a mile a day for 26 days – and raised £25,000 for the rescue centre.” The charity’s vet bills are around £1,000 a week and they rely on fundraising and charitable donations.
But Emma says it is worth it to rescue dogs neglected both here in the UK and street dogs from abroad.
It takes patience, love, attention and lots of doggy treats to turn a traumatised street dog into a loving pet.
Emma says: “Many people are wary of taking on a rescue dog because they think they will have issues.
“But they are often much easier to rehabilitate than dogs who have lived in a family home and been neglected or abused. They have never had human contact, all they want is love.
“Some dogs will never leave us. We have dogs who have been here for four years and still won’t let us touch them, but other dogs can be turned around in a couple of months.”
Zara the Wonder Dog, a Staffie, helps the team assess the new dogs when they arrive as she senses which ones are aggressive or traumatised.
Emma says: “We want to re-educate people about bull breeds like Zara – people think they are aggressive, but they can be the most loving pets.”
Emma fears we are heading for a pet neglect crisis after lockdown.
She says: “People bought puppies as they were at home all the time.
“But what happens when they go back to work? Some dogs will have separation anxiety and people may be unable to cope. Rescue centres like ours will have to pick up the pieces.”
For more information or to donate visit dogs4rescue.co.uk