Penny Jones Animal Hospice

The dog was given a name, PHOENIX, and this dear boy was reborn.  He put weight on and started to grow hair.  His mind was all over the place but with patience, love and the will to live he transformed into a beautiful, happy dog for about two years.  He gave me so much joy and knowing I was trying to do the same for him the bond was incredible, as was the transformation.

This is when I wondered, what happens to all the old dogs no-one sees, the ones deemed too old to be rehomed/cared for?

When dear PHOENIX passed away I promised him I would carry on helping the forgotten dogs, the old dogs, dogs that were a burden and dogs that carried so much baggage or suffered from so much trauma...  in remembrance of him.

Since that day hundreds and hundreds of dogs (and other domestic animals) have passed through our doors, and over time many will be mentioned here.  Every dog is special in their own way, but some I will highlight for them to be seen as not being just a dog but a very special soul.

I was asked if I could help a black, disabled dog (in Romania).  This was quite a few years ago, and sadly people's outlook has never changed.  Black dogs are taboo abroad and disabled ones even more so.  This made the chance of MAX getting a home nil.  He would end his life in the inhumane dog shelters where there is no love, no care - nothing - just constant howling and crying of desperate dogs slowly losing their minds.

So MAX arrived, and because we had a MAX (or two) he soon was called SHERPIE because he was a Sherpie X.

Yes, he is black and yes, he has deformed back legs.  He also has tiny, titchy ears and huge lips.  He runs with a lop-sided gait and tries to lick us to death with his big slobbery mouth, and on top of all that he is the most amazing boy.

I say to him:  "God ran out of ears and long legs SHERPIE, but he gave you the biggest heart and the most loving soul", and his whole body jumps up and down with love.  He runs(?) in his fashion round the garden every day with his friends and there isn`t an ounce of aggression in him.  We feel humbled and privileged to be part of this wonderful boy's life.

She was called LAURA (first photo) and when she arrived she became the sweetest natured girl and soon found a loving home.  I always keep in touch with fellow rescuers and adopters and I knew her puppies were safe and found homes - one in the UK.

 

Many, many months later I was approached by the original rescuer in Romania - could I help a puppy who was being prepared to be sent back to Romania!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Sent back to the place they had escaped a terrible life from.  And why?  The puppy was aggressive!  I don`t take puppies as they are so easily rehomed and loved but this little chap disturbed me and I asked more questions.  Who, why, where, etc, and I found out it was one of Laura's puppies.  Needless to say I said "yes".

So BAILEY arrived through my friend and animal transporter Gee Jones (more about Gee another time).

BAILEY was naturally stressed but I realised right away he was blind!  Hence the aggressiveness through fear of the unknown.

BAILEY is still with us as he is still aggressive with strangers but such a brave, bouncy, beautiful (and every other positive adjective beginning with B) boy.  He knows every inch of the garden and plays all day with his friends LILY and TOTO.

We generally don't rescue/help young dogs as so many people look for puppies and young dogs to adopt.  However, when my friend in Romania asked if I could help another dog albeit a young one, I asked for details.

I've had many dogs through this friend and he is so genuine and honest.  Some, I have to add, are not, and are in rescue for a business.

So the details of this young boy... barely a year old, he was found tied up and beaten.  He had been rescued but he was blind.  There have been many, many blind dogs at PJ and they manage absolutely fine.  I then saw the photos and was once again sickened by the lack of humanity in the world.  I immediately said "yes" and gave him a name - MATCH.

MATCH arrived and I'd been warned he had a few problems.  I'd promised I wouldn't go back on my word on a dog not many people would look at twice.  In addition to blindness his other main problem was he couldn't hear - blind and deaf!  He was a skinny little lad and walked round in circles, which were probably the size the chain dictated.

Where to start?  Food didn't help as it was as though his sense of smell had also disappeared, but patience and cuddles day after day started to show a slight improvement.  We couldn't put him with any other dogs as he had no sense of where he was or they were, and would walk over them/into them and push them over.

After the slight improvement we got a clicker, and just as we were giving up, one morning Match responded.  Such a small step, but the thrill of knowing he was improving!  Weeks later he could be moved into a different place with another little dog.  There were dandelions and other smells, and slowly he started sniffing -  slowly he could see shadows, but best of all he came to us for cuddles.

Fast forward and MATCH has found his match!  One of our volunteers has adopted him and he lives quite happily with other adopted PJ dogs.

I take dogs from different sources, different countries, and as the saying goes: LOVE HAS NO BOUNDARIES.  These dogs didn't ask to be born to lives of misery and persecution.  UK dogs arrive also but there are quite a few animal rescues locally, leaving spaces at PJ to help others  -  HOPE being one.

I was alerted to HOPE by my friend in Egypt.

No-one (vets/rescue) thought this dear dog would survive.  HOPE had been raped by a man and from that day suffered sepsis, an infected uterus, inflamed stomach and intestines, kidney and liver damage and jaundice.

I was asked, if HOPE survived could I take her on, and I said yes!  This was spring 2025, and once she arrived her beauty and love found her a home with a friend a mile down the road (along with another PJ dog).

Before and after - this is why we help them...

OGI needed a place of safety from the cruel streets of Macedonia and I offered him that at Penny Jones.

OGI had been thrown from an upstairs window, set on fire on the streets, and used as a bait dog for fighting before escaping to live again on the streets.  His bed was a pile of cardboard.  Given his size and nature he would soon be back with the bait and fighting dogs if a rescue wasn't forthcoming.

However, nothing went to plan and the transport was cancelled two days before he could leave.

I asked a good friend, GEE JONES, if he could help.  Now Gee is a voluntary pet transporter and has brought a few dogs up to me from southern England, which is where they usually arrive after journeying to the UK from abroad.  But in this case there wasn't just OGI: there were five more dogs on the same transport!

Gee said he would drive to Macedonia - and he did and he brought back six dogs.  What an amazing man, and he showed us all there are still many kind and good people working hard in the background...

I was asked if I could help an old boy in a shelter in Romania: I saw the photos, then the videos, and said yes.

He was always on his own but in one photo  I saw a little snout and asked, "Who does the little snout belong to?"

"Oh, a small dog... been in there a long while and no-one wants her as she bites!"

"I'll have her please as a companion for the boy I'm getting..."

I was then told (having still not seen a photo) that she was so thin and so weak, and no-one could do anything with her as she bit everyone.  She had been assessed previously at the vets and I was asked if I wanted to reconsider my decision to take her as she had dysplastic conformation, subluxation and narrowing of the joint space at the level of both knees, infections in her mouth, giardiasis, and a hernia.  She was terrified of everything and everyone and would bite.

This little girl was soon on the transport and two years later she now runs round the garden, fit and healthy, and she loves her friends and cuddles.  Meet ANGEL...

It isn't just about us rescuing dogs in need: sometimes we need the love of the dogs ourselves, as was the case with LUKAS.

He wasn't a well little boy after a terrible life in eastern Europe, and soon it was palliative care for him.

LUKAS lived in my house and we had such a strong bond.  I was going through a terrible time myself and questioned whether I should/could carry on with rescue.  Many of my rescue friends from all over the UK and Europe suffer from illness, burnout, and lack of financial support - and I was one of them.

This is the post that I posted on Facebook after promising LUKAS I would give my life to rescuing other little boys like him and not walk away, even though I was on the point of mental and physical exhaustion.