To the rescue
“My friend said he looked like a little mouse...”
Wendy Dwyer, from Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire, adopted rescue puppy Mouse earlier this year, when fate brought them together.
“We lost our Border Collie, Ice, during the pandemic, and our other dog, Murphy, a Wire-haired Dachshund was really missing him,” recalled Wendy.
“We started looking for another puppy, but it was hard to find one, and the ones we found were very expensive. One day I heard of a litter of Border Collies and arranged to visit them, but by chance I spotted a post on a local Facebook group, about a puppy who had been dumped outside someone’s house in a cardboard box.
“I’ve been involved in rescue, so I volunteered to pick the puppy up and take him to the vet. When I saw this tiny puppy, I felt incredibly angry that someone could do this. He was so thin, and his skin was covered in sores.
My friend said he looked like a little mouse, and the name really suited him, so Mouse he became.
“I took him to the vet, who estimated that he was about five weeks old, and as he weighed just 1.4kg would probably only have survived another day or two. By another strange twist of fate, a council official happened to be at the vet’s and, after talking to the vet, agreed I could foster Mouse for 28 days to see if anyone came forward to claim him.
“Mouse was diagnosed with mange and infected dermatitis, and his ears were particularly sore, so he needed a lot of care. I had to isolate him from Murphy, and feed him small, regular meals. Luckily my husband agreed to pay the vet’s bills although people in the local community were incredibly helpful, donating a puppy pen, bed, toys, and everything else we needed.
“Mouse gradually recovered, and as he did it became easier to examine him. It was then we discovered that ‘he’ was a ‘she’! Mouse is now 16 weeks old, and full of life, despite a setback of gastroenteritis after her first walk post vaccination. Murphy absolutely loves her, and she’s given him a new lease of life.
“I’m so thankful that Mouse and I found each other. We’ll never know her full story, and I worry about her mum and other siblings, but Mouse’s future is bright. We love her to bits!”
The charity considers dogs aged between 6 – 36 months with the right qualities.