March Summary :)

Wow can you believe it’s nearly April already?? Feels like just yesterday I was writing a January round up blog! And what fabulous weather we are having too! Make sure to keep an eye on your dogs when the weather is so nice, give them plenty of water and access to shade. Do not leave your dog in a car whilst you pop into a shop etc, this can have fatal consequences!

Anyway - I think the biggest story in Dogs Trust of late has been the tale of Bronx. Bronx is a teeny Staffordshire Bull Terrier who went missing whilst out with his owners well over a year ago. Nobody knows where the little guy was, but he found himself in a rescue centre in Cork, who then sent him to ourselves to try and rehome.

Within 24 hours of arrival at a Dogs Trust rehoming centre, the new dog will receive a full health check by our centre vet. This check includes scanning the dog for a microchip. If the dog is found to be chipped, Dogs Trust will contact the original source of the dog (e.g. local authority pound) to determine whether the details on the chip have been followed up. Every rehoming facility, rescue group, and dog pound may have a different intake policy but at Dogs Trust, one of the first checks carried out is to scan the dog for a microchip.

Luckily for Bronx, he was microchipped and we were able to contact the O’Connor family in Cork to let them know that we had their dog. To say they were overjoyed is an understatement! They were straight up to Dublin to collect their missing boy and couldn’t thank us enough.

We issued a press release with the details of this story and the attention it received was unprecedented! We had calls here from journalists (both TV and press) looking for more info on this amazing story. It ended up featuring in the Irish Mirror, the Irish Examiner, the Irish Independent, the Evening Echo and then the RTE news too! Last night, he was even invited to be a guest on the Craig Doyle show where he got to meet Nicky Byrne from Westlife!!! So I think it’s safe to say, he’s quite the little superstar these days!

I think the most important thing to take from this story is the importance of having your dog microchipped. This can be done at your local vet and will prevent so much heartache if your dog happens to get lost.

For more info on microchipping, here’s a link to our website http://www.dogstrust.ie/az/m/microchipping/default.aspx

We have also had our TV3 slots on IrelandAM again this month! Did you all see the time where Jedward joined us? Those guys are crazy but super sweet and big doggy lovers! Here’s a link to the past two shows we have been on!

http://www.tv3.ie/ireland_am.php?video=46402&locID=1.65.74

http://www.tv3.ie/ireland_am.php?video=45685&locID=1.65.74

Of course, we are obviously busy rehoming dogs, with 192 gone to forever homes already this year! We have approx 164 dogs in the centre at the moment, 53 of those being puppies. We love to hear how all the dogs are getting on so any of you who have adopted, please do send in pics or post on our Facebook page!

If any of you have been thinking of doing the Flora Women's Mini Marathon this year, please think of sup
porting Dogs Trust. We are completely reliant on fundraised money to keep the centre up and running, which helps us to help so many unwanted Irish dogs. We have lovely yellow t-shirts and sponsor cards, as well as Waggy Walk hats to give out on the day. If you have registered to do the mini marathon, email us with your registration number, name, address and t-shirt size  to minimarathon@dogstrust.ie and we can get a pack out to you! If you have any queries, you can email or call (01) 879 1824.

Just to finish up, some of you may have read an article recently in the Irish Examiner in relation to Dogs Trust's plans to open a centre in Cork. It is very early days and we really do appreciate all your support in our efforts to open up in Cork in the future!
 This is our current statement on the issue -
" Further to the article in Friday's Irish Examiner we would like to clarify that Dogs Trust has made a formal offer to the CSPCA Committee to take over the operation of the Mahon facility and run it as a Dogs Trust rehoming centre. Dogs Trust will not be applying to run the Dog Warden service on behalf of Cork City Council. It is our understanding that this function may be taken on by Cork County C...ouncil. Recent comments in the media by a Cork City Councillor that the City Council must provide their own dog pound is incorrect. An example of this is the shared dog pound between Kilkenny and Carlow which is situated in Co.Kilkenny. Dogs Trust sole concern in this matter is for the welfare of the puppies and dogs in Cork city and county. We have been inundated with messages of support which we hugely appreciate - we hope to be in a position in the near future to welcome you to Dogs Trust Cork. Thank you - Dogs Trust."

We shall leave you on that note. Enjoy the fabulous weather whilst we have it!

Molly, Sparky & Jamie playing in the sun :)