The DogCast Radio blog

True love can be hard to find these days, but there is none truer than that lavished on us by our dogs. To celebrate this dogged devotion, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home in Old Windsor is holding a special Valentine’s Day event on Saturday 11th February. Dog lovers – and their four legged best friends – are welcome to visit the centre and revel in Puppy Love.

Leading welfare charity Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is calling for punishments for animal cruelty crimes to be taken more seriously, as the Government once again ignored demands for appropriate sentences in its response to a Westminster Committee report on animal welfare released today.

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home has announced that HRH The Duchess of Cornwall is going to be their new Royal Patron. The announcement was made on the day the Duchess made her first visit to the Home’s Old Windsor centre in Berkshire.

During a tour of the rescue and rehoming centre, the Duchess met Vet nurses, receptionists, kennel and cattery staff as well some of the Battersea residents who are looking for forever homes.

Battersea’s Chief Executive Claire Horton said:

The Mayhew Animal Home is celebrating the fact that one of its longest stay residents has finally found a forever home. Poor Prince had spent almost a year – 330 days – at the home before he found his happily ever after.

Prince, an American Akita, left an impression on the home though, and even has his own “pawtrait” to commemorate his time there. That painting is now being auctioned to raise money to support The Mayhew’s vital work rescuing animals in need.

We’ve covered quite a few unusual dogs in need of a forever home on DogCast Radio, but I can’t recall one quite like Jodie before. Jodie is an older Staffordshire bull terrier, and as such is not an uncommon resident of a rescue shelter. But Jodie is extremely unusual in one respect – she is a hermaphrodite. This means that she has the reproductive organs of both sexes.

The RSPCA took Jodie in when her previous owner abandoned her, and they are now seeking a special home for her. The search is proving to be a challenge.

A headline caught my eye today, that a dog was adopted by a senior home after her owner passed away. Clicking on the link to find out more, it emerged that poor Izzy was left homeless when her elderly owner died after they both went to live in an assisted living facility in Tennessee, USA.

Her owner's family were unable to take Izzy in, and that's the point at which so many dogs find themselves entering the rescue system, facing an uncertain future. Incredibly luckily for Izzy, that's not what happened to her, because she has become so popular with seniors in the home, as well as with staff and visitors, she is now the home's official meeter and greeter.

What more could a dog want? Well obviously, I'm sure

If, like many dog lovers, you oppose breed specific legislation this campaign is one you’ll want to support.

Born Innocent, an organisation which lobbies against BSL legislation, is today asking the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) “Where is the Love?” for our dogs. The organisation is urging Defra to #Haveaheart and consider the plight of dogs who fall foul of the BSL laws.

Organisations and individuals from around the world have backed the charity in its aim to put an end to the controversial legislation which currently prohibits four types of dogs being kept in the UK. In the four months since the campaign was launched, people have flocked to support the petition. In fact more than 52,000 people have backed the RSPCAs opposition of BSL – and that’s just in the last four months.

Here’s a “pupdate” on the six tiny Lurcher puppies who were dumped in a bucket late in 2016. The tiny, five week old pups were dumped on a doorstep a few days before Christmas 2016. Due to the timing of their discovery, the youngsters were named after Santa’s reindeer, after being taken to the RSPCA.

The litter of puppies are recovering from their ordeal, although one puppy – Dasher - very sadly died of parvo within a few days of being rescued. The surviving puppies are doing very well, thankfully.