International Dog Day is observed across the globe on Friday 26 August to put the spotlight on:
- Acknowledging dogs that need to be rescued
- Recognising that dogs bring us comfort, protection, and save lives
- Discouraging people from buying dogs from pet stores that support unethical backyard breeders and puppy mills
- Encouraging the adoption of dogs in need from local shelters or rescue centres
- Rescuing dogs from homelessness and abuse
It was founded in 2004 in the United States, by pet and family lifestyle expert, dog lover, and animal rescue advocate Colleen Paige. She chose August 26 as this was the day her family adopted their first dog.
You can find out more about International Dog Day here.
With this in mind, to celebrate International Dog Day, our Mewburn colleagues have shared some of their rescue and rehoming stories about the special dogs in their lives.
Bijouz – Bichon Frise (Denise Diedrick-St Cyr)
My best friend for the past 9 ½ years is my Bichon Frise – Bijoux
Although he was not rescued through a dog’s home, I knew that if I did not take him, he would not survive. He was the runt of the litter and was rejected by his mother, who had delivered 9 pups. Sadly, the owner was more focussed on money and was not bothered by the fact that he was selling 5 week-old pups – which were too young!
At the time of purchasing my pup, my husband and I were looking for a house as we were living in an apartment. Fortunately, Bijoux helped us make the right decision about the location of where we would live and a year later, we moved.
A couple of years in our new home brought a challenge, we wanted to go on holiday but could not take Bijoux.
A close friend and neighbour stated that this was a perfect opportunity for her to look after a pet without the full commitment of having one, since she had just recently retired. She never wanted a pet, but her husband loves dogs. Perfect!
Our trip was done and we received full praises over how well behaved and how lovely my dog was. As they were so happy with his visit, it became a regular thing. They called quite often to take Bijoux for a night, a weekend, a week…
What was really a heartfelt moment for us, was when we were where told that, during Bijoux’s visits to my friend’s house they would take Bijoux to a local residential care home for people suffering with Dementia, where her mother resides.
Many of the residents there do not have families visiting them.
One resident did not speak a word when she arrived in the care home. She was very anti-social and never really wanted to leave her room.
One day during Bijoux’s visit, this resident happened to clasp eyes on the white doggie on the lead and Bijoux instantly saw her and walked towards her. The smile on the resident’s face said it all.
By the time Bijoux left the care home that afternoon this resident was talking, to the amazement of staff. It was such a delightful story that we insisted that for every visit made at the care home, Bijoux came along for the ride. He brought so much joy to the residents.
Unfortunately, since covid, Bijoux has yet to visit the care-home, but he is spoken of often.
This truly shows how important animals are for the health and wellbeing of those who are vulnerable and lonely, they can truly make a difference to someone’s life, and we can truly make a difference to theirs too.
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The litter of 9 - Bijoux pokes his head up above the rest |
My friend who takes Bijoux |
Enjoying our walk |
“Jake” – Newfoundland (Charlotte Gillett)
We rehomed Jake back in 2014. At 7 years old, he travelled from Hungary, where he belonged to a puppy farm run by a married couple. Their marriage had broken down and consequently, just like many pets, Jake needed a new home and fast. Frantically, the Hungarian rescue centre worked with rescue centres worldwide in order to house the large number of Newfoundlands that needed help, and through The Newfoundland Club we welcomed Jake into our lives. We had to “teach an old dog, new tricks” as Jake wasn’t trained in English.It also didn’t help that he came with a fake passport, so had to come to terms with his new name, “Jake”.
The first few weeks it became clear that Jake was petrified of many household items such as the broom and bottles, his skin and fur was practically falling off him and it was evident that we had rescued him from much more than a just a “puppy farm”. After several vet appointments, we found out that Jake was allergic to the naturally occurring house dust mites, causing him to react and shed, a vicious cycle resulting in more dust mites. This was due to being kept outside, on concrete, for the first 7 years of his life. For the next 6 years, Jake had a weekly shampoo and pamper with medicated ointments at the vets to keep his skin condition under control.
In 2018 at the age of 23, I hit a mental health crisis and spent the following year working with the relevant health practitioners to recognise my emotions, cope with the loneliness I was feeling but also uproot the trauma my brain had decided to bury rather than deal with. Mental breakdowns are messy, but the majority of the time, healing is so much messier. This is when we noticed Jake’s ability to tune into human emotion. On a bad day, Jake wasn’t far away with a wagging tail and the offering of a sock. The year consisted of tears, anger, loneliness…but it was all worth it for the slobbery sock that was placed on your lap next to the massive head that belonged to Jake. He never once left my side.
As the owner of a rescued dog, you don’t necessarily have them for the longest time, but there is no better feeling than knowing you have given them their best time. On paper, people may assume that we saved Jake’s life, however he very much saved mine. We sadly lost Jake in the October of 2020, but he very much remains my best friend.
“Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them and filling an emptiness we didn’t ever know we had.” – Thom Jones
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Bea - Irish racing greyhound (Jenni Stowell)
Bea (or beautiful Bea as we all call her) is our family pet. She lives at my mum and dad’s but she is a bit of everyone’s and we all love her dearly.
Bea is an ex Irish racing greyhound, although she didn’t actually race because she was not fast enough and didn’t show a motherly instinct meaning they couldn’t breed from her. So, she was put in the ‘no good’ category.
Like all racing greyhounds she suffered a tough start meaning she has a few scars and her ears have been tattooed. The reason Bea made it over to England was out of pure luck. While the charity that rescued her went to Ireland to collect a bunch of other ex-racing greyhounds, Bea was about to be shot due to her not being able to race or be bred from. However, her trainer waited until the charity got there and asked if they wanted her too. They had next to no room to take her but couldn’t leave her there and thank goodness they didn’t!
She lived in a foster home for a while before we adopted her, and they discovered she was absolutely addicted to marmite sandwiches.All she would eat in the kennel in Ireland was mouldy bread so we think it was a comfort food for her.
For most of her life she had a brother called Finn who was also an ex-racer that did race but his life was slightly more pleasant than hers to start! Unfortunately, Finn passed away earlier this year after living to the age of 13 (we had him for roughly 10 years). Both of them have only known love, treats (including the odd marmite sandwich), sofa surfing and being spoilt since they have been with us!
Bea now has to put up with my sausage dog Slinky which as you can see, isn’t so much of a chore for her!
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