Owners' Stories

Dear Battersea,

Wendy has just taken Ellie to her first obedience classes, but to be honest she has been absolutely fantastic. You warned us that Ellie would go mental the first couple of nights, but we left her in the kitchen and she was as quiet as a mouse (we know because we lay awake worrying!). Perhaps she was just tired from her walks, because she did have a couple of noisy nights during the week, but all in all she has been very well behaved. She is very good on the lead and seems to enjoy meeting other dogs. She is pretty good at staying off the furniture, although I think she sometimes jumps up on the sofa just for the attention she gets from telling her to get off. She is virtually house-trained, apart from a couple of early accidents she has started asking to be let out. The best thing though is that Ellie has very quickly learnt how to play, as when we took her you were sure she had never been played with. She chases after balls and even brings them back
! and Ben has had loads of fun with his new friend. She seems very happy, and has a healthy appetite, and has lost some of that fat. I enclosed a couple of photos to remind you why you do what you do and to say thank you.

Cheers

Derek Brown

Dear Battersea,
Hope you are all ok. We are all just fine, just a little update on Flo-Jo (Sophie as was) whom we re-homed on March 17th 2005.
Flo-Jo has settled in well and is a really lovely girl and we love her to bits. She gets on well with Minnie our other Dog, and it's lovely to see them play which they do a lot. Flo is very affectionate, sometimes over affectionate, and sometimes a naughty rebel.

In July we went on our annual holiday to Devon, in our Caravan and Flo took to Caravanning like a duck to water, and all our relatives fell in love with her as she was so good with the children.
She has turned into a very chunky dog and is now double the size she was when we first got her.

Thank you so much once again for introducing us to Flo-Jo, she is such a joy to own.
Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and New Year. Hope to meet you all in the New Year.

Yours Faithfully
Nickey and Tony Ward.

Dear Battersea,
Its coming up for a year and i thought i would let you know how Hermione is doing.

First of all I would like to say that it feels like she has always been a part of our family and we love her to bits. Hermione has definitely settled down at home and prefers to curl up on a bed and sleep or follow you around, just along as she can be in the same room as you. When we first brought Hermione home she would hiss when we went anywhere near her so this is a huge achievement.

I have a very close bond with Hermione now. She can still be swipey with strangers but hasn't actually gotten me or bitten me i'm happy to say. Recently Hermione has started sleeping on my bed with me which I never thought would happen!! In the last 6 months we have found a new vet and have become quite friendly with him despite the fact Hermione tried to bite him when he came to a party at our house. We have started her on a new diet and hopefully she will get right down to a healthier size and hopefully become a bit more active as she is a super lazy girl!!!

Whenever I leave the house Hermione gets up on a shoe cupboard next to the door and sleeps there until I get home its so sweet.

I have included some pictures hopefully you will get them. I hope you are all well and doing fine and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Best Wishes
Jen Fujimoto

To everybody at Battersea,

Here is a picture of me and my new friends. I have been here now for one year and am having the best time ever.

My friends seem to think that I am a real character and I think they could be right! As you can see from the photo I get lots of attention, and the children in the photo above spoil me rotten.

In my spare time I like watching Emmerdale on the television, well lets say i've taken over the television. I know every programme and commercial and really make my family laugh.

I am very lucky to have been picked for this lovely home and would like to say a big thank you to all the staff at Battersea for looking after me.

Kind regards

Harvey xx

Hi everyone,

We adopted Bonni at the end of August. She's lost some of her "excess baggage" Since we rehomed her but still has a little way to go yet.

Bonni has settled into our home very well, in fact too well to start with. After her initial settling in period, she became a little horror, mostly with other dogs but she seemed to think she was the only one allowed to come in and out of our communal doors!.

We've had to re-affirm our authority with her, no sleeping on the bed, no going through doors before us, limiting 'toy time' and it has worked, she's now good with other people coming in and out, she's almost getting used to other dogs that live in our neighborhood that want to be friends.

It was difficult to start with but she's deffinitely worth it, as she's such an affectionate, loving dog with bags of character. She even loves watching Eastenders (It must be the theme tune)

Thanks again for letting us adopt Bonni, take care and keep up the good work.

Dolly was gifted into Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, Old Windsor when her owner sadly realised she couldn't cope with the active 16 week old pup.

Dolly was assessed by the staff at the kennels who soon realised that she had that something special that might make her an ideal candidate to be considered as a hearing dog. They kept a close eye on her over the next few weeks to see if she had enough to be considered as a Hearing Dog upon which they contacted our Head Office to arrange for an Assessor to go and visit her.

After yet another assessment, the Hearing Dog Assessor agreed she was indeed a special little girl and snapped her up. On arrival at the Grange, Dolly was collected by a puppy socialiser and taken to her new home. She has settled in really well and will be spending the next seven months or so attending puppy classes, visiting towns, meeting new people and learning good manners before coming in for her final assessment before advance training.

Many thanks to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, Old Windsor for letting us have Dolly and all the others that have come through the scheme over the years.

Dear Battersea ,

Thought you'd be interested in a Charlie update as he's been with us for 10 days now.

He was a bit nervous to start with and hid alongside the fridge for a while, but was soon tempted out by food. He's spent lots of time exploring the house which is a large 4 bed over 3 floors and one of his favourite places is my friend's teenage son's room. It's probably due to the mess which makes it more interesting and the food scaps which can sometimes be found on the floor! Charlie follows my friend's teenage son around quite a lot which is nice for him too because they are establishing a bond. He is reffering to Charlie now as "his cat".

Our other female cat (Cadbury) seemed very slightly put out when they first met and there has been the odd bit if hissing, but they are definitely becoming friendlier. This evening they were quite close up together on the landing with very relaxed body language!

Charlie is very alert, interested and playful. He's slept on our bed a couple of times and tries to get under the covers and swipe at our legs, so thats being discouraged. He's really quite kitten-like with some of his behaviour and it makes me realise that Cadbury's not such a young thing.

One evening he made a mad dash out of the front door when it was opened but came back within minutes and if we've been out then both cats come to greet us when we return. More and more often he's coming to find us, so if we're in the office , he'll come there, if were in the front room he'll come and look for us there. It's really working out well and we are all besotted with him.

Congratulations on your cat rehoming skills.

Regards

Angie and charlie

Hi All,

My name is Scooby, formerly known as Nike,the puppy you used to refer to as "The Cheeky & Naughty One".

I just wanted to write to you to give you all an update of my progress at my new home since I left in July '05.

I live in a lovely 3 bedroom house with a nice garden in which I have entertained myself with a spot of gardening, much to the annoyance of my new owners. Digging out their nice plants has been one of my favourite pastimes this summer, along with chewing all my toys up as soon as they buy me a new one!

Since my arrival I have made myself at home and love to sneak onto all of the beds when I can, I also spend alot of time walking in the woods and fields where I play with all my new doggy friends.

I have also been to doggy training classes where I came top of the class as I can sit, laydown, roll over, fetch, leave and many other smart tricks I have learned to do.

When I left my friends at Battersea you were concerned about my boisterousness and felt I would need extra training to stop me jumping up and nipping.

I have seen a nice lady who helped me stop all those things now and I am a very loving and sociable young man now.

That's about it for now, I have enclosed a recent picture of myself for you all to have a look at how handsome I am now!!!

Love from

Scooby.

(Jonathan & Paula).

To All,

I would like to thank you for looking after me in my early day's.I am very happy with my Mum and Dad, they get cross sometimes when I dig holes or eat their plants but they soon forgive me.

We go for breaks in our caravan in Dorset where I run on the beach and play in the sea, I enjoy it so much that sometimes i don't want to come out, then we walk over the fields back to the car.

I have been with Mum and Dad for nearly a year now and I am so pleased they picked me and I picked them!

Thanks again,

Love Spot (age 16 Months)