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 :)

Tried and Tested - Dogs Trust Grooming Range

So there are definitely some perks to working at Dogs Trust! When the boss here in Dogs Trust asked me if I would like to sample some of our new grooming products on my beloved Bailey, I jumped at a chance. Being a long haired dog (he's a Japanese Spitz), Bailey requires quite a bit of grooming and was well overdue a wash!



My beautiful boy, Bailey :)



The range of products covers both puppies and adult dogs, with "no-tears" formulas for puppy eyes! I chose 4 products for Bailey and off we went to the bathroom.

These are the products from the range which I chose for Bailey.
Anti Odour Basil and Rosemary Shampoo, Detangle and Enhance Palm and Jojoba Oil Conditioner, Aloe and Papaya No Tears Spritz and the Paw Protection Cream.

The shampoo smells really refreshing, with it's Basil & Rosemary scent. I wet Bailey's hair first and applied the shampoo. It lathered really well and it doesn't need to be diluted down like some of the other shampoos on the market, which was super handy and made the product easy to use. Bailey gets quite dirty in certain places, usually the long hair at the backs of his legs, so I gave those areas an extra shampoo and rinse to make sure he was squeeky clean!

I was quite intrigued by the conditioner as this wasn't a product I'd used on my dogs before. For those of us humans who use conditioner in our own hair, you will know that the aim is to make your hair soft, silky and more manageable, so I was hoping the Dogs Trust product would have the same effect on my long haired pooch.

I'm not going to lie, I smothered him in the stuff!! It smelled AMAZING - it's Palm and Jojoba oil based, which I would gladly use in my own hair (and if I'm ever stuck, I just might....!). I rubbed it in just like I would in my own hair and rinsed thoroughly. I spent a little extra time rinsing the conditioner as his hair was just so soft, I wasn't sure if all the product was out - guess that was a good thing though!

So my baby was nice and clean now, I towel dried the excess water from his coat and let him have a shake - I'm sure he enjoyed getting his revenge by soaking me too! We went downstairs and got the drier out - I can't just let him dry naturally as he would get all knotty. I use a selection of brushes on Bailey's coat and whilst brushing and drying, his hair did smell really clean, with a really sweet scent. His hair also was easier to comb which made drying time a lot quicker! Yay :)

What do you think he is thinking?!

When he was all dry, I trimmed his nails (don't do this if you're not super confident as it's really easy to cut them too short, which will make them bleed - your vet or local groomer can do this for you!) and applied the paw protection cream. Bailey gets two walks a day, usually in one of our local parks so he wouldn't be on rough terrain a whole lot. Still I thought I may as well complete his pampering with it!

I imagine this product would be great for dogs who are out and about a whole lot more. In saying that, it really is very moisturising. CONFESSION: I've been using it as a hand cream the past couple of days as it's been on my desk. With ingredients like sweet almond and wheatgerm oil, it's a product I think might even benefit on people with really dry skin. If anyone tries this, let me know what you think! 

The whole "pampering" experience was finished off with a few spritzes of the No Tears Spritz - there's a couple of different scents available I think. We used Aloe and Papaya which was really nice. Bailey had just been washed so smelled pretty good anyway so I imagine this product would benefit more between washes, just to keep your dogs smelling nice!

I think the best thing about the product range as a whole is that none of the products contain sulphates or parabens which a lot of products do, which any sciencey people will know are not good for human skin, never mind doggy skin! Products with these ingredients can cause irritations to dogs (and humans) with sensitive skin so make sure to take care when purchasing beauty products for yourselves and your doggies!

Bailey and I took part in a photo shoot a few days later to launch the products!

The products are actually really good value too, ranging from €6.99 - €7.99. The whole range can be bought at Maxi Zoo stores nationwide - check on their website here for your nearest store http://www.maxizoo.ie/stores.html

33% of all profits go to Dogs Trust :)

The whole range of products are now available in Maxi Zoo stores nationwide.

If you make a purchase, do let us know what you think!