Firetop

It’s strange how life goes, one week you’re watching greyhound racing and debating whether it’s a cruel sport, the next week somebody you know wants to visit a dog rehoming open-day. On Sunday afternoon, whilst recovering from the Global Gathering hangover, Suzie_Q and I went with some of my relatives to the Evesham Dogs Trust centre (which is also home to Cat Protection). Here they have cats and dogs that need homes; having been brought in by owners no longer able to cope, on behalf of owners who have passed away, or animals found roaming free / abandoned. At first I did wonder whether some of the Global Gathering ‘massif’ had been posting stickers around the place, but maybe I have my ‘Charlies’ confused again…

As ‘cat people’ we found the experience of seeing our furry friends locked in cages a little sad because they did look depressed, but cats always have that superior aloofness that says ‘I can cope on my own thanks’ so it was the dogs which were much more heart-wrenching. I’m pleased to say that many of the dogs we saw in the kennels had been found new homes (and yes several were greyhounds). However, there isn’t much demand for older dogs, there were some very lonely animals running around their cages in circles carrying toys to play with – but nobody to join in. Even more tragic were the signs ‘I’m Molly, I’m finding it quite tough here and can’t understand why nobody has wanted me since October 2005’. I couldn’t understand it either - surely a dog that can write is a rarity? If we’d had room at home we’d have asked about a dog, but we have cats – so there’s a clear conflict of interest there.

Some dogs aren’t immediately suitable for rehoming; they have behavioural problems and have to be retrained. Indeed the main reason we were back at Evesham’s Dogs Trust was because my relatives had recently been forced to take one of their adopted dogs back because they just couldn’t cope with his crazy and wild antics. He’s now undergoing retraining away from the public to calm him down, but it hasn’t put them off; a new dog took their fancy and I suspect they’ll be back shortly to meet him, take him for a walk and attend a follow-up interview with the centre’s adoption staff (who check everybody out thoroughly).

If you get a spare afternoon and want a cat or dog, get yourself along to your local Dogs Trust or Cat Protection centre. I can guarantee that even if you have a partner who says ‘we don’t want one of those’ within fifteen minutes of seeing the caged furries they’ll want to take one home. There’s probably a pet cemetery there too, I wouldn’t particularly advise wandering there though – I found that experience a little bit odd.

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