Did you know that we offer rescue spaces to dogs in need of help finding forever homes?
As a predominantly training company, especially one who generally works with complex behavioral cases, it is not uncommon that we come across dogs in need of new homes or clients who simply can't cope with their dog anymore. Over the years, we've been approached by both clients and those who aren't with support in finding dogs a new home and on the odd occasion we have agree'd to help, especially offering behavioral support to other rescue facilities who have challenging dogs needing training to help them get ready for a new home.
However, this has very much been on the sidelines as something we've offered as and when it's needed until recently when we decided to create a rescue project that we can build on for these dogs that we see a more structured rehoming process and so this is the start of the Holistic Hounds rehoming project!
I have a huge heart for rescue and I have always dreamed of opening up my own rescue center in the future specifically for dog with behavioural problems who need professional training and support to help them find a forever home. So when we created Holistic Hounds and begun creating a business model to encompass other dog related businesses under one roof, we decided to create a model to begin growing into a rescue project. So the end goal would be to create a rescue charity that is more tailored to working with and catering for dogs who need training in order to help them find a perfect forever home but creating this is a big step and so we could still help dogs in the meantime, we decided to offer limited spaces alongside the business model so we can begin to help dogs as we look towards creating a charity when we have all the knowledge to do so.
Over the years offering rescue spaces is something we did every now and then for clients of ours who were unable to continue with the training but not publicised that this is something we offer until recently when we decided to stop taking on residential cases who would stay with us for intense training. Although we really enjoyed doing this for clients and saw some great results with dogs and their owners, it is a big commitment and takes up a LOT of time and energy for everyone in the home, dogs included. After offering this for many years and looking towards moving into our first home together, we decided to take a break from residential training and as a result decided to publicly offer a rescue space instead!
In the past we'd taken on Digby, Kalle and Kira as ex clients dogs who needed new homes and had successfully rehomed both Digby and Kira to new forever homes! Kalle ended up staying with us until he passed away in 2021 after we took him on and found out he had lung cancer. He was given 6 months to live and so we decided he would spend that time with a familiar home and family where he spent a remarkable 3 and a half years with us! He was the first of our rescue cases to need a long term placement but is something that is sometimes much needed within the rescue community.
We had also partnered with other rescue facilities to offer training support for those in need in order to get them ready for a new home and so Baloo and Odin were in partnership with two other rescues that we helped to train and rehome with their support. Both stayed within the family with Odin staying with us and Baloo going to a family member and supporting other rescues is something we continue to offer as part of our program as after all - we all want the same thing!
Then at the start of 2023 - we officially opened up our rescue project to the public!
Our first public case was Pablo!
Pablo came to us after an unknown back problem caused him to bite 2 people and his owners simply couldn't trust him anymore. He joined us in April 2023 and quickly became a hit with the whole team who fell in love with his wonderful personality! We ended up deciding Pablo would stay with us in July 2023 - shock horror but he is most definitely our last (for now!).
Then Otto came along in June 2023 after another local dog trainer recommended his owners contact us for rehoming. Otto was very nervous of people and had snapped when pushed by people he didn't know or wasn't comfortable with and his owners were concerned about him snapping around their young child. Luckily for Otto, we had some clients who had expressed interest in the past in adopting a Dachshund and after contacting them to see if they were interested - it was a solid yes! After some training to help him feel more comfortable and grow in confidence, he was adopted in October 2023!
Next up was Finn who came to us in August 2023! Finn came to us after his previous owners were not able to give him the time he needed and due to a change in circumstances, were not home as much as they were before. Being a young Beagle mix with next to no training, Finn was not a complex case to work with and took to his training with a spring in his step - literally! Finn is currently out on trial to a potential new home and if all continues to go well, will be officially adopted as of the first week in December!
Then we had our last case of 2023 - Luna! Luna is a dog we know very well as she was originally a clients dog we have been working with for a short while now. She actually has no behavioral issues other than having a bit of a prey drive but her previous owner has another dog of the same mix who does have some behavioral issues and her owner was struggling to manage both of them. So she made the difficult decision to rehome Luna as she knew she would have a great chance of finding a new home and she needed to focus on her other dogs issues without the stress of dealing with both of them. So this lovely girl joined us right at the end of October 2023 and was snapped up by our very own admin Manager Sally and her family who fell in love and adopted her just before Christmas!
So what's next?
Well the goal has always been to open up a rescue charity so we can continue to help more dogs on a larger scale and so we've been working hard behind the scenes to get things set up and ready to launch!
Things are nearly ready and so I'll be launching our rescue charity later this year once we've got all the paperwork sorted and the charity up and running and we'll introduce you to what we've been building once everything is ready but for now, we'll continue to help dogs on a smaller scale as much as we can.
Keep an eye on our social media to see when the charity is launched and to keep up to date with the dogs we are working with too!
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