Just looking for a place to call home
This Christmas, all Holly, Blitzen, Nutmeg and Elfie will be wishing for is somewhere to permanently rest their heads. The four bouncing whippet-terrier cross puppies – three females and one little brother – currently have sanctuary in the Blue Cross rehoming centre in Kimpton, Hertfordshire.
Seven weeks ago, their two-yearold mother was found wandering the streets in Oxfordshire by council dog wardens. Heavily pregnant, Edith was taken to a dog pound and transferred the next day to Blue Cross’s centre in Burford, where she gave birth almost immediately. “It was very lucky they got to us in time,” says Clare Cruttenden, a manager at the Kimpton centre, to which all five dogs were transferred a few days later.
Nobody knows where Edith came from. More than 47,000 dogs were abandoned last year – dumped in parks or left to fend for themselves until the council or concerned members of the public picked them up. Others were given directly to rehoming charities like Blue Cross.
One of three organisations selected for this year’s Telegraph Christmas Charity Appeal, Blue Cross takes in hundreds of abandoned dogs every month, but it’s an issue that gains particular attention in the winter. The adage about dogs and Christmas remains true, yet some have noticed an increase in dogs being given up before the festivities – possibly to alleviate responsibility, or to make room for a new, cuter puppy.
The charity Dog’s Trust took 3,989 calls from owners wishing to give up their pets last month – over a third more than in the same period in 2015.
“It could be that people are moving house, or an owner has fallen ill and can’t care for the pet,” explains Mandy Jones, director of rehoming at Blue Cross. “We try never to judge people who come to us, because the last thing we want is people to feel embarrassed and resort to dumping their animal anonymously. We want people to know that we’re here to help,” she says.
Blue Cross cares for more than 40,000 sick, injured and homeless pets a year, but hopes to reach 70,000 by 2020. It depends almost exclusively on public donations (unlike many animal charities, Blue Cross receives no government funding). The animals in their charge receive vaccinations, a legally required microchip (if necessary) and a few good meals before they appeal for new owners – including through the creation of a quirky, personal online profile – after two weeks’ rest in the kennels.
“We’re now increasingly seeing little handbag breeds [being abandoned] – pugs, French bulldogs, chihuahuas,” Jones says. “Those types are fashionable and easily bought through unregulated sales on the internet. The small toy breeds are especially vulnerable on the streets – it’s a real problem.”
Typically, it takes around a month for dogs to find owners, all of whom are heavily vetted.
David Worship, 49, passed the test. The events manager and his wife, Lynda, who live in Essex, registered with Blue Cross over a year ago; two weeks ago, they fell in love with a newborn black-and-white mongrel bitch advertised at the centre in Southampton. “She’d been dumped in a garden along with three brothers and sisters,” he says. “I’m assuming somebody bred them to sell and didn’t manage to, which is such a shame.”
Naming her Dora, after Dora the Explorer (“because she’s been on a few adventures”), the Worships intend to give the puppy all the care she’s been missing out on.
“Dora is a wonderful little thing – a ball of energy. We’re walking her 5km a day at the moment, and she’s really loving it.”
Another new owner, Catherine Seatherton, 43, has given a home to two five-week-old Staffordshire bull terrier puppies found underfed in a box in Torbay, Devon. Seatherton, who works for a cider company, and her 11-year-old son originally intended to pick up one dog, but couldn’t bring themselves to part the brothers, who they’ve named Gizmo and Rafiki.
“It would have been so sad to leave one at the shelter,” Seatherton says. “The work Blue Cross does is vital, and it would be nice if more people came to them, rather than looking for pedigree breeds.”
Back in Kimpton, Cruttenden is optimistic that the four little Christmasthemed whippets won’t be lonely for long. “On Christmas Day they’ll be eight weeks old and ready to have their jabs,” Cruttenden says, cheerfully. “This weekend we’ll be starting to appeal for owners. It shouldn’t take long, I hope. Just look at them. They’re beautiful little things.”