Five SASS Foster Spotties and a Campervan!
After losing our beautiful Lottie (our 2ndNOEDW rescue Dally) in 2017 at aged 10 and far too soon, we were bereft and our lives were empty without her. As we had made the decision that Lottie would be our last forever spotty, due to our future plans to spend much time travelling abroad (pre-covid!!), we needed to fill that void in our lives somehow, so when I chanced upon SASS and read all about the fantastic work that Elli and other members were doing to help spotties in Spain, I thought we could help out somehow. We had been home checked and passed as a suitable foster home by NOEDW and Elli approved us too.
We have now fostered 5 SASS spots in the past 2 years and it has been wonderful, challenging, emotional but ultimately fantastically rewarding as they have all found the most perfect families to be adopted by. Enough about us…lets talk spotties!
In December 2018 I saw a post about the handsome Vincente and offered to foster him and he came to us in April 2019 until June 2019
Pretty Hetty (Hetty-hula-hoops as I nicknamed her) came to us for 4 weeks initially after two failed adoptions and stayed for 4 months from Oct 2019 until Feb 2020
We had the lovely little Estrella (now Ella) for 2 weeks in June 2020 and she was quickly followed by the dashing Django who we only had for three days due to paperwork restrictions stopping him going straight to his mum and dad.
Our last beautiful foster girl was Kira (Ella’s mum!) who stayed with us for three weeks in Nov-Dec 2020
We have been blessed to have kept in touch with all five families, watching the progress of each spotty and so we planned a Foster Spotty Reunion Campervan Trip, seeing each spotty and their mums and dads. They have all gone to live in the Midlands and Southern England, and it was going to be a challenge to book camping sites, arrange dates to meet and where to go, but it all fell into place. We packed up the campervan with dog treats, presents and had an SASS mascot for the trip, a lovely knitted Dally who we called Urshi, after our campervan, and off we set……….
Our last foster girl, Kira, was the first one we saw again and we met her with Scarlett and Jacob in the lovely Birches Valley Country Park on a very hot day. What struck us both was how so very fit and healthy Kira looked, with a shining coat and gleaming white teeth. She was a cuddle-bug when she came to us and was just the same as I know that Scarlett and Jacob have provided her with the most wonderful loving home. She still remained a little wary of other dogs coming near her, but they both reassured her in a very soft and calm voice that she is okay. After a lovely walk, and a cool dip in the lake for Kira to check out the geese, we stopped for coffee. Whilst the guys went for coffee, Scarlett popped to her car for Kira’s water and Kira never took her eyes of her……she knows who she belongs to and who belongs to her. Such a sweetie, it was hard to leave but I told Kira that I would be meeting her little pup Ella in a few days time. A match made in heaven for this family.
The following day we met Hetty with Pete and Jane in the Clent Hills. Unsure if she would remember us and after giving us a double take when let off the lead, we were amazed at the welcome and massive spotty smile she gave us. Hetty had been our biggest challenge as a foster, but had made so much progress that she found herself in the perfect home as Pete walks her for miles each day and Jane is the disciplinarian, especially around food! We spent the whole day with them in the beautiful area of Bewdley. Hetty was so well behaved with dogs, children, but still kept her eyes open for any chance of a snack, and when we sat down by the River Severn to have fish and chips, she took her chance at stealing some of mine when I was busy talking about her! She has lots of caravan holidays with her mum and dad and a lovely big family to fuss over her. Pete shared with us that Hetty had put the light back into his life after losing their beloved spotty Ozzy. She has a fantastic life after such a turbulent past…Well done Hetty….you deserve it.
After a long hot drive to Canterbury, we met up with Sally and the lovely little Ella (Kira’s pup – beautiful like her mum), who was quite wary of us at first, well it had been a year, but then gave us a fuss. Her coat is silky soft and she had certainly filled out from the skinny little spotty that had arrived at ours. Sally took us to walk around the lovely town of Sandwich and Ella showed us how friendly and intelligent she is, greeting other dogs, but giving them space to decide if they wanted to play or not. She is super-fast off lead and has great recall and socialisation skills. We spent a lovely summers evening in Sally’s garden meeting Ella’s lovely big sister Rosie. They play so well together with Rosie winning the tug of war games. Sally told us that Ella has given Rosie a new lease of life. Pure Happiness!
Time to move on to East Sussex and meet Vincente, or Centi for short. I had found it difficult to part with him in 2019 as he was our first foster and if it hadn’t gone so well, I may not have fostered again. We were literally knocked over by his greeting and yet another smiling Dally. Two big muddy paws placed on my chest with lots of licking. He had grown even more handsome if that was possible and beautifully trained. Darrell and Roger adore this boy and have given him an amazing home. They talk to him so calmly and quietly and he obeys the slightest of hand signals. He loved the squeaky toy I gave him as I remembered he did. We had a fabulous walk along the beach at Cuckmere Haven, with Centi expending all his energy chasing anything that moved, but returning to Roger at his whistle or soft command. We enjoyed a full day of being with the three guys and their fabulous hospitality and we had talked none stop doggy talk which was like a doggy therapy session…just fantastic.
Our last stop was to meet up with Suzy and Mark in Oxford and the dashing Django. Django had some injuries and signs of previous interactions with other dogs that were not so positive when he came to us, and so it was overwhelmingly emotional for us to see that all his scars are gone and his coat and eyes are gleaming with health. Suzy and Mark put everything they can in to training this young man and their determination to give him the best life is admirable. We absolutely enjoyed a two hour walk with them on Woodcote Common, and he apparently fell asleep in the car almost immediately with all the stimulation and energy he had received and expelled. He is one super strong boy, but Suzy and Mark handle him extremely well. He is definitely one to watch for his future progress…being such a clever and intelligent young boy. He is an absolute credit to his mum and dad. It was also his 1st Gotcha Day!! Congrats to Django, Suzy and Mark.
So we have just returned from 10 wonderful days travelling nearly 700 miles, seeing 5 beautiful spotties and their mums and dads and we are happily covered in white hairs again!! Thank you to all the families in making this trip possible and so memorable for us. I cried quite a bit….but only very very happy tears!!
Sue & Chris McCarthy
