During my summer holidays, I have been helping out at an animal rescue called Second Chance Rescue Kennels. It is a rescue centre for animals but they mainly have dogs of all sizes and ages up for adoption as well as a few cats. It is such a good rescue and the work they do is brilliant, getting dogs back into health and grooming them before they go to a 'forever home' which has been checked out and seen that it is suitable. There should be more rescues like this across the country or even world. Dogs can't look after themselves, they need a bit of a helping hand from some generous humans who are willing to be patient and give them the help they need. I spent a few days helping out cleaning out kennels; picking up poop; preparing food; transporting things around like cans of dog food etc. My muscles were complaining because I like to avoid physical exertion at much as I possibly can and over these few days I had been carrying around a lot of heavy things and moving around more than I usually would.
Any way, this blog post isn't about that, it's about the dogs themselves. In order to clean out the kennels you have to go in them with the dogs and at first I was scared, but once you get over the barking (which they are only doing to get attention as they don't get much one to one) they are some of the nicest animals. Ever. All they want is a fuss and a bit of a cuddle which I don't really understand. This is because for them to end up there, they mustn't have had the best life before then to end up there which was at the hand of a human. Be it they are ex breeding/puppy farm where they've never seen the light of day and don't know how to act at all, they've never seen grass or toys or other dogs that aren't their siblings or they've simply been abandoned and the dog warden has dropped them of to stop them being put down and sent to rainbow bridge, they just want a love from you, a human, who they don't know from another human apart from your smell (you tend to smell similar to the other people there because you are all working with and smell like dogs) and I find it astonishing how dogs are just so loving if brought up correctly. Everyone gives certain breeds of dog a bad reputation but it's not their fault, it's the owners. A dog isn't born with any nastiness inside of it it is all down to how they are brought up. Unfortunately, there are a couple of dogs who have been at Second Chance a long time and just end up being resident and one of them is always there with his ball, ready to play or cuddle, to be honest I don't think people realise, he is up for adoption because he isn't in one of the kennels or the outside pen because he won't go anywhere when the gates are opened. Whenever I go, whether it is to volunteer or just go and donate something (my Mum and I would love to bring at least one of them home but my Dad said we can't :'( ) I always make sure I give each and every dog a bit of attention, I do have my favourites, obviously, but all the dogs want is a little bit of attention.
The only way dogs are able to get your attention from a distance is by barking. This scares some people but when you get up close they stick their noses through the bars and if you hold your hand out they will sniff and lick you which is a sign of affection from a dog. (they do have hand sanitizer to be hygienic)
I am, without a doubt, a dog person, when someone asks there is no hesitation, my automatic answer is 'dog'.
Sorry this post is a little down and that but I really wanted to write a blog post about it.
I hope someone takes something from it and maybe think about volunteering at your local animal charity.
Twitter & Instagram - @Lexii_Brentnall
No comments:
Post a Comment