Sweet viewers, welcome
to Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Today we will visit
the UK-based Dogs Trust,
which looks after
dogs in need and seeks
to bring about a day
when all dogs can enjoy
a secure and happy life.
Charlotte Peters,
Supporter Relations Officer
at Dogs Trust now shares
how the organization began.
Dogs Trust was founded
back in 1891,
and we are actually
the largest dog welfare
charity in the UK.
We care for over 16,000
stray and abandoned dogs
every single year
throughout our network
of 18 rehoming centers.
As well as re-homing dogs,
we also run
several campaigns.
We have a nationwide
education program
and we also offer
subsidized neutering
and microchipping
in the worst affected areas.
Under the magical hands
of the kindhearted
Dogs Trust veterinarians
and volunteers, every dog
coming through the door
of a Dogs Trust facility
is given a fresh chance
to live a better life.
This is Lulu.
She came in from Ireland
in very, very poor condition.
Her fur was totally matted,
she was covered in lice,
her ears were very dirty,
and all her eyebrows
had actually grown
inside her eyes.
So she’s had to have
an awful lot of treatment.
As a result,
all she wants now is loving;
hence this lap dog.
She doesn't like
walking on the floor,
she just wants
to be carried everywhere;
she wants to be nursed
all of the time.
And she's turned into
a most beautiful little dog.
So, isn’t she adorable?
She’ll get plenty of walks
while she’s here, definitely,
and plenty of love.
Let’s now
find out more about
Dogs Trust’s love-filled
rehoming centers!
It’s extremely bright,
it’s extremely welcoming;
we have
a huge reception area.
This center here
is purpose-built.
We wanted somewhere
where people would
want to come
and look at the dogs,
and also see
how well cared for
the dogs are here.
Obviously
our priority is the dogs,
so they have the
most wonderful facilities;
they have
state of the art kennels,
glass fronted kennels
with under floor heating.
So the kennel design
is primarily for the dogs.
Most people who walk
through our doors say,
“We can see
how well cared for
those dogs are.”
We know that
they’re in the best place.
Constructed with
the environment in mind,
the newest Dogs Trust
rehoming center will have
a “low carbon paw-print!”
Dogs Trust’s
chief executive
Clarissa Baldwin
provides more details.
This is our
18th rehoming center
that’s going to be opened
in Loughborough, which
is in the East Midlands
of England.
We will be able to look after
around a thousand dogs
a year there.
It will have green rooms,
and it will have
heat reclamation.
Very much we are
looking at the savings
that we will make
in the longer term.
Dogs Trust’s compassionate
“Freedom Project”
and “Hope Project”
help animal caregivers
look after their animals
during family crisis periods
and provides
veterinary care
to the canine companions
of homeless persons
respectively.
“Freedom (Project),”
this is for women
who are escaping
domestic violence.
And they have nowhere
to go with their dogs,
because it’s very difficult
to find places
to live with your dog.
So what we do is
we take the dog
out of the abusive home,
we look after them
in rented accommodation
for a while,
or find foster homes
for the dog, until such time
as the abused person
finds alternative
accommodation.
And we’ve look after
about 500 dogs in this way
and helped the families.
The “Hope Project,”
this is for people
on the streets
who’ve got their dogs.
We do know that there is
a wonderful relationship
between the homeless
person and their dog.
The homeless people
in the bad weather
for instance, and they’re
sitting outside a shop,
if it is raining,
the umbrella will be
over the dog,
so they really have this
wonderful relationship
that we’d like
to be able to support.
So it’s microchipping,
it’s neutering and
it’s all the flea treatments
and vaccinations
that we give to the dogs.
Another sensitive initiative
implemented by
Dogs Trust helps give
peace of mind
to caregivers concerned
there may be no one
to look after
their dog companion
after they pass on.
Should such an event occur,
the canine friend
would be taken
to a rehoming center and
Dogs Trust would help
find a new loving home
for him or her.
I also promote a scheme
called
the Canine Care Card,
which is basically a card
that you would carry around
in your wallet,
and it guarantees that
in the event of your death
Dogs Trust will
look after your dog.
Dogs Trust is also
taking steps to lessen
the number of dogs
being born without anyone
to care for them.
When we first started
looking at statistics
we found that
in the United Kingdom,
something like
30,000 healthy dogs
were being killed
because there was just
no home for them.
So we decided
that what we had to do
was to start reducing
the numbers of dogs
that are being bred.
So what we’ve done is
put in place
free microchipping,
free neutering,
and education
of the caregivers.
We’re neutering about
30-40,000 dogs a year.
We now meet one
of the rehoming center’s
cute residents!
This here is Shane.
He’s one
of three sponsor dogs
at the Harefield
Rehoming Center.
A sponsor dog
will actually live at
a rehoming center
permanently.
When Shane first
came to us at Harefield
he was very, very shy,
very nervous,
and since he’s been here,
he’s been here
for nearly five years,
he’s a different dog.
When you take him out,
he wants to go off
and meet people.
He’s very, very friendly,
so he really does love
his life with us here.
Dogs Trust
rehoming centers ensure
that all doggy residents
get plenty of exercise
and feel enlivened!
The sensory garden here
has been built
for all our dogs but it will
be particularly beneficial
for dogs that are stressed,
that have been here
for a long time
and are getting bored of
the kennel environment.
So as you can see here
there’re all sorts of
different games
for them to play.
There’re different materials
that have been used.
There’s grass; there’re
all sorts of plants in there.
Often dogs
that are stressed as well,
they do self-medicate so,
there’re lots of plants
they can use
for that purpose as well.
So, it’s really for
environmental enrichment
to keep the dogs
stimulated both mentally
and physically.
Looking after
the lovely canines
staying at the Dogs Trust
rehoming centers is truly
a rewarding experience.
The best part of working
at the rehoming center
is seeing those dogs,
go through
the rehabilitation process,
and then seeing them
at the end of the day
going home
to a loving family.
There have been
so many stories
that I could tell you
about dogs that
have come through here.
One that really sticks out
and is personal to me
was a dog called Patty;
she was a Bulldog-cross.
She was about
seven years old.
She unfortunately had
been locked up in a shed
for all of her life and
she had literally been used
as a breeding machine.
She had been bred
and bred and bred,
puppies after puppies
after puppies,
locked in a shed
with no human affection.
Yet this dog came to us
and she was
the most loving dog
you can ever imagine.
She still, after everything
that she’d been put through,
she put her trust
in humans she went home
to a lovely family
with very young children
and she’s doing
really, really well.
Touched by Dogs Trust’s
benevolent efforts
and dedication to caring
for vulnerable canines,
Supreme Master Ching Hai
contributed US$17,000
to further the organization’s
life-saving work.
On Supreme Master
Ching Hai’s behalf,
our local
Association members
also gifted Dogs Trust
16 kilograms
of vegan dog food.
May I say
thank you very much.
I would love to have met
the Supreme Master
but I hope you will
take back our good wishes
and our thanks
for this very, very
generous donation.
I’ve obviously
looked at the website
and understand a little bit
about the work
that she carries out.
She’s absolutely
magnificent.
There are
a number of things
that we would like to do,
buying some environment
enrichment equipment for
some of the puppy units
that we have.
Huge numbers of puppies
now come in to us
from all over the country.
So we’d like
to spend some money on
furnishing other centers.
Also some warm blankets
for some
of the older dogs so,
I think they’d very much
appreciate that as well.
So we will put this money
to very good use.
And I hope
you will send back
our very warmest and
our very grateful thanks
to the Supreme Master.
In addition, Dogs Trust
was presented
with a number of
Supreme Master Ching Hai’s
DVDs and books,
including
“From Crisis to Peace”
and the #1
international bestsellers,
“The Dogs In My Life,”
“The Birds In My Life,”
and “The Noble Wilds.”
Fabulous,
thank you so much.
We have
an education officer
here at Harefield
(Rehoming Center)
and it looks as
though these books
will be a great help, and
a source of information.
Thank you so much.
Clarissa Baldwin later
sent a thoughtful
thank you letter to
Supreme Master Ching Hai,
the following of which
is an excerpt.
Dear
Supreme Master Ching Hai,
I had the pleasure
of meeting some
of your TV team
when I was interviewed
by them at our Harefield
Rehoming Centre
this week; they helped
to convey the scale of
your charitable work and
it sounds very impressive.
It was also lovely to hear
that you have so many
rescued dogs and
other animals of your own.
Your donation will go
towards helping us
care for the thousands of
stray and abandoned dogs
who come into
our rehoming centres
each year.
Although we receive
no Government funding,
we are able to look after
around 16,000 dogs
each year.
[O]n behalf of all the dogs
in our care, thank you
for your kind donation.
Your generosity
is greatly appreciated.
With warmest wishes,
Yours Sincerely,
Clarissa Baldwin OBE
Secretary
and Chief Executive
We salute you
Clarissa Baldwin,
Charlotte Peters and
all the other members
of Dogs Trust
for your wonderful hearts
that are steadfastly devoted
to uplifting the lives
of our beautiful
animal co-inhabitants.
Your true love for canines
clearly shines through.
For more details
on Dogs Trust,
please visit
www.DogsTrust.org.uk
Blessed viewers,
thank you for your
kind presence today
on this episode of
Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
after Noteworthy News.
May our actions
always represent
our real noble self.