Animal Rescue with Marion Garnett

Dedicated animal expert Marion Garnett, founder of the Ealing Animal Charities Fair, continues her column

If I ask you what being in the SAS means, you may immediately think of camouflaged soldiers carrying out undercover operations and dealing with incredibly dangerous situations.

But we’ve got to be careful with abbreviations. To Dogs Trust, SAS means the Shared Adoption Scheme - a programme which helps Dogs Trust rehome dogs who have chronic medical problems or are extremely old.

The scheme is a programme of cost-sharing which facilitates adoption of dogs at their centres that require ongoing veterinary treatment.

If a dog has a pre-existing medical condition when they are adopted and they are accepted into the scheme, Dogs Trust will contribute towards the cost of veterinary treatment and/or procedures that relate to that condition (but not unrelated conditions), usually for the rest of the dog’s life.

Dogs Trust currently have 9,000 dogs on the scheme costing £1.7 million a year. It’s not normally decided until the time of adoption whether or not a dog will be admitted into the scheme.

But a prime candidate to apply to join the SAS (Dogs Trust style) is Marcus. As a result of retinal degeneration, Marcus is blind in his left eye and only has a small amount of vision in his right eye. If I hadn’t known this information in advance, I wouldn’t have known it from meeting him.

Instead of meeting the dog, as I usually do, in the courtyard, I met Marcus in the long grass where, in true special services SAS style, he had perfected his undercover operations to such an extent we had difficulty finding him.

He was having a marvellous time sniffing the countryside and exploring his surroundings. Dogs Trust explain how visually impaired dogs can map their usual surroundings – their home, their regular walking paths - carefully and methodically and then proceed like any other dog. Dogs Trust give advice about living with dogs with limited vision by, for example, helping them to navigate their way around by placing mats next to entrances to help the dog feel these places with their feet.

If you’re interested in homing Marcus, you can meet him at Dogs Trust, Harvil Road, Uxbridge.

While I was at the fabulous Chiswick House Dog Show last Sunday, I caught up with Dog Trust’s Dog School.

The good news is that, on a Wednesday evening, Dog School have just started dog classes in Brentford at St Faith’s Church Hall. Booking is essential. For details call 0203 405 9360 or see dogstrustdogschool.org.uk.