Dogs providing hope during befriending week

We recently received a story from a Communicare supporter and thought it so lovely, we just had to share:

Joey was a rescue dog, re-homed to a loving family keen to give him all he needed to recover from his terrible start in life. However, despite loads of 1:1 individual care as an only dog, he continued to be timid and unhappy to the point that his vet recommended considering putting him down as he was “suicidal”.

His distraught canine foster parent, stepping in to try to help, explained the situation to a friend and colleague, who suggested bringing Joey for a “play date” with his dog Mila. The afternoon went well, the dogs enjoyed being together. Joey came back for a second visit, then a third. Next came a sleep over – and Joey didn’t go home after breakfast!

Mila has welcomed Joey into her life and taught him how a dog should behave. It is still taking time to persuade him that it isn’t necessary to systematically transfer everything removable (including small items of furniture etc) daily into the garden! And sometimes Mila’s view of how a dog should behave may not coincide with her human family’s ideas, as the photo shows when they discovered a large bag of knitting wool.

However, people meeting Joey now consider him to be one of the most enthusiastic dogs in the world!

So what can we learn from Joey’s story? It might take time for you to find the friend where you can make this kind of difference, but why not volunteer with us to see if we can help?

You can also find more interesting thoughts linking dogs to volunteering in this article.

To get involved, call 023 8021 6016 or visit our volunteering page for more info.