DIARY   January 2008 

 

 

Please note that due to the chaos that reigns at the Centre most days,  Mary will only provide sporadic entries for the diary. 

 

14/03 - I have great news for a change, some of our dogs are being rehomed to dear old england and have travelled already to a better life. Next week 10 of our dogs are going to england and I am delighted for them and the transport they travel in is so good and so comfortable and after only about 8 hours on the road they will be rehomed to special homes which have been vetted and all the necessary checks will be done.  

As I lived in England for so many years when I was nursing, I know that the English are more caring about their dogs and the people who I am in contact with now are like myself and are so caring and will only do what is right for our dogs.  

It is a great relief for us to know that their is some hope for us in the long term to reduce our workload and to be able to take in more dogs who really need us but which we were afraid to take in because we had so many. It is such a relief to be able to take in dogs who rreally neede us because we are not so worried about the amount of dogs here already.  

we ned to fundraise because the cost of transporting these dogs is very high, it will cost 70 euros per crate adn we have to funmd this. We will be using 5 crates next week and that will cost 350 Euros but in the long term view we will be saving on other costs and the dogs will hyave a better chance in life.  

Anyone who would sponsor even one crate would help us a lot. Even though we got a Dept.of Agriculture grant, for which we were so grateful for, there is no money to spare because we still have to do a big job on our drainage system and that could take all our grant and some more.  

it always seems about money but that is the reality.

 

 

 

.......Anyone who would sponsor 

even one crate for €70 

would help us a lot.........

 

05/03 We still have 6 collie puppies who are 8weeks old now and are due to travel this saturday the 8th. As I have spent months looking after 22 puppies and it has been a lot of work and I am so looking forward to spent time doing everything else which has been neglected such as this website. However we are expecting more puppies in the next few hours from a gorgous Chocolate lab type who was brought into us by the travellers and she did run away back to the halting site and I believe she WAS their dog and tried to stay with them but they didnt want her and finally she settled with us and is a darling and so happy now.She has found her place in the storeroom and she has all the comforts there and privacy as well so that suits us all.  

We have had a few really good success stories on rehoming and I am glad to say that our Brandy is finally settled with a good family after one year with us.However we now have aanother older golden lab who definitly came from a loving family and has all the behavours of a dog who was well used to the best of everything. Where are the owners of this great dog ???. He is not young and could be about 6 or 7 years old. That could be a problem for rehoming him but if there is anyone out there who is getting on in years themselves, this dog would make a wonderful companion. I feel so sorry for him.  

We have a sweet all white terrier came in yesterday and is already settled and I am sure that if we dont find his owner he will be rehomed quickly.We have other beautiful dogs but as I have lost the lead to our camera I cannot show these dogs . I always seem to have problems with photos of our dogs.  

Mary

 

 

29/01 - There is so much to report and of course the constant rain doesnt help.Its so beautiful today and all the animals are enjoying it. I have even persuaded the puppies to stay outside for a while and they are having so much fun.Talking about puppies, I have spent the last few mopnths shopping, cooking cleaning and loving the 22 puppies which we had for the last few months. thankfully we have rehomed a few but still have 6 gorgous labradores and 4 beautiful Greyhounds. All are about 14 weeks old and are ready to go. we also have 4 puppies in the office who are only 3 weeks old and we also have 6 newborn to a lovely dog called Cinders who I didnt even know was pregnant ( It think it was the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION ! ).  

Seriously we are going to have to advertise far and wide for homes for all these puppies when they are ready.  

in the last month we have taken in a very nice very well behaved young female Golder retreiver, with all the mannerisms of a well trained and loved family dog. I was expecting everyday to have the owner calling frantically for their dog but it didnt happen so after 3 weeks and advertising in local papers I let her go to a loving family who really wanted her and waited with me for the owner to turn up . Another big well cared for Golden labrador was found in Ballinagore which we took in and he is just very sweet and a typical family dog who is used to all the home comforts and begs me to let him stay indoors at night and was very upset when we tried to let him sleep out in one of the units under an infra red lamp with other dogs for company. He is not young and was very tired when he came to us. WHERE ARE HIS OWNERS AND WHERE ARE THE OWNERS OF THE GOLDEN RETREIVER WHICH WE REHOMED ???. I cannot understand how dogs like them are not claimed. What on earth is going on in the doggy world ???. These dogs I have spoken about are good dogs and seem to have no bad habits. When will it ever end ?.  

We have just rehomed one of our labrador puppies and a;though I am delighted to get a loving home there is a certaon amount of worry as to how the puppy will settle in.

 

 

12/01 - We just received this email from a satisfied "customer"...................... 

Dear Mary, i just came across your website tonight, I got two adorable puppies off yourself 3 yrs ago and just wanted to send you some pics and let you know how they are getting on, little leo (the one in the solo pic) is a great charactor, he has recently been dignosed with a heart problem, he will be on tablets for life but as you can see from the photos he is doing very well, jessie is fantastic, she is 'the boss' of the house and a great little guard dog! They are both doing fantastic, thank you very much.  Debbie Harte 

They certainly look very much at home, Debbie - glad it all worked out for you, and thanks for letting us know. 

 

08/01- Hello everybody, I am sorry it has taken so long to get back to the diary. whenever I do not do the diary,i get complaints because people really want to know what is happening here but there is always so much going on and time is the the problem. Sometimes these last few weeks when I have made time I am too tired as its been a particully busy christmas with so many puppies who constantly need feeding or cleaning as well as all the rest and the difficult weather does not help.  

Our Dogs who live openly as a big bunch are so ready to do mischeif and whenever we leave a door open or slipup in any way,they POUNCE and distruct and in the last few days they have wrecked the tool shed and have decided to also unplant all the Bulbs I have planterd for the Spring.  

There is NOTHING that they wiil not do and all the time we are trying to outwit them but they are intelligent and clever and get there before us. it drives me mad and I just have to accept it when they do something else that I do not like and the latest thing they did was to RAID the office and remove all the papers off the desk and ruined any thank you letters I had written to people who so generously gave us donations of food or money .  

Back to the puppies; We still have 13 puppies to rehome and yesterday i decided that their diet of Fresh Chicken and rice was too expensive and I decided to put them on a diet of puppy nuts and puppy meat but today we have been cleraning up diarrhoea all day so they are back to Chicken and rice which is costing us at least 20 Euros per day and they love it and there is no other way we can feed them which suits them as well.  

Sadly today, Poo bah today went to sleep as his life was no longer good and he was only 12 years old but was not well for some time.I felt sad but not so sad as he had a good life with us since he was a puppy and I could not see him suffer from ? old age or whatever. he is no longer suffering and I am glad.  

Please Log on tomorrow as I wiil have lots of pictures of our dogs to show you, and I will have lots to tell you about what we are at now.  

mary

 

 

13/12- another very busy day, we had several people calling for puppies but theybwanted them for Christmas and with great difficulty i persuaded them to come to us after xmas and they went away dissapointed because they couldnt have a puppy for their little darlings for Christmas day,. how can they be so unaware of the whole thing that a puppy is for life and not just for Christmas. Can you imagine bringing a little puppy into your home on the day when every child is enjoying their new toys and the poor little puppy is eating everything and pooing everywhere when the mother of the house is trying to get the dinner ready and there is chaoes and the little puppy is trying to chew the pieces of the new game or their best and new shoes and in the end it will be " get that puppy out of here " and it is so sad.  

It is sad for us because we have to try to find homes for so many lovely puppies after Christmas and as the puppies get older and no longer look like babies the problem is to rehome them when they no longer look like adorable babies. it is a struggle and will always be until until the whole attitude to animal welfare changes dramitically in this country .I am now appealing once again for help to feed the animals over Christmas because we have now more that we ever had and it is so costly to feed them all. Our little greyhound puppies are so thin and delicate and on the advice of our vet we must feed them on a low residue diet of Chicken and rice which we are doing and they love it but it means tha twe are running a "Restaurant" with so many mouths to feed and so many different diets to prepare, four times daily. I honestly feel that in all the years we have been here this is the most difficult it has ever been.  

mary

 

 

12/12 -hi everyone I tried to send pics to gary tonight but they were enormous and would have taken24 hours to send so I cancelled them until I have spoken to my mentor Gary who will talk me through on how to send small pictures of all our wonderful dogs and our 21 puppies. All are doing well and I am glad to say I have vaccinated them now so they hopefully will be out of danger in the next 6 days. Its always a worry withn puppies who are so vunerable to all the different infections out there when they are so young.  

I will send you some pics of my babies whom I have bottle fed for 6 weeks and they are so well and if anything happened to them at this stage I would be heartbroken.My little one who was injured is a little madam and just knows how much she is loved and I call her a "drama Queen " because after feeding she likes a cuddle and makes the sweetest little noises as if to say " am so happy and so comfortable "..  

apart from all that nice news I am so angry that in spite of getting a man to empty the drains, our yard is flooded again and I paid him for it !. The equipment he came with didnt reach the problem and I said ! I will pay you half and you come back and finish the job but he said pay me now Missus and I will be back so I think I will cancel the cheque until he does come back.its not his fault ,its the Boss man who is responsible.  

I had a call today from a very dear friend whom I havnt heard from for 10 years and funnily enough, I was thinking about him yesterday and today I got the call. it was great to talk about old times ( not that I am that old, I hasten to add) (liar).  

I also have just spoken to my lovely family today so heres to the Mc Inerneys in Iona, glasnevin have a great xmas and keep the emails coming and keep reading the diary. I love you all and look forward to seeing you all soon.  

Mary,

 

 

09/12 - hi folks, we are busier than ever and everything is flooded and the water is into room 3 now ,but I will call the "drain " man tomorrow and get him to do a quick fix on the system hopefully.  

Our big news is that we now have 21, yes 21 puppies and they ARE A LOT OF WORK. There are 15 of them in room 1 and the other 5 are in the office making a big mess but there is nowhere else warm and safe enough for such young puppies.There are 4 greyhound puppies who came back to us from the people who rehomed Pandora and she was pregnant before she came to us obviously, and they are so thin and needy . I wormed them last night and there was a LOT of worms expelled so I hope the puppies will thrive from here on in.My two bottle babies are with them because they are all about the same age and size.  

All the others are well and able to mix and as you can imagine the whole place is full of you know what every time I go in to them. Its a major cleanup job and I have to be well prepared EG; A mop and bucket, bin bags, clean blankets, newspapers, and disinfectants and with 15 puppies milling around me its very difficult to do anything. I have a plan for tomorrow to put the puppies into a small pen until I have finished cleaning. We were supposed to make this pen today but couldnt necause of the awful weather. Anyway they are warm under their lamp and they all cuddle together. I need lots more blankets because its impossible to wash and dry so many and I will go to Dunnes tomorrow and get some more but I will still have to wash the old ones as we couldnt leave a dirty pile lying about . I am afraid to use the dryer because our ESB bill will be huge already with all the lamps.  

Yesterday there was a beautiful dog tied to the gate at 10 am and today a woman brought in a golden Labrador she found near Belvedere.Although we say we are not taking in any more dogs for a while they keep coming as there is nowhere else for them to go.  

The 8 extra puppies we have since yesterday were rescued by a lovely lady who was deeply concerned about the mother who was terribly thin and although she spoke to the owner, they would not give up the dog but agreed to surrender the puppies who were ok and better than we expected considering the state of the mother,but Ann Deering , the rescuer will see to it that the mother will receive vet. care and will be spayed and she also gave us a very generous donation because she was so grateful for the help we were able to give her.  

Thankfull Alan Chapman came today and put an extra sheet of perspex on the aviary so my precious birds will be ok. I would love to complete the roof of the Aviary as we had left part of it open but now I think with all the bad weather we are expecting we do not need that opening on the roof.  

One of our dogs has just been taken to the VeT with a severe eye infection or injury and will loose her eye tomorrow. I am so sad about that because she is a lovely young collie, full of life and will now have to get used to only one eye.  

Not all bad news we have got the GRANT !!!!. I am so thankful that we now can afford so many urgent things like the drains and new fencing and a new window for the Goat shed and new gates ( for our sanity ). We can pay our very patient vets and can clear all our outstanding bills and buy some more kennels for the dogs who like to sleep outside. We will be buying our Kennels from that great couple who have already donated 2 kennels to us for which we are so grateful. They are D&C PET HOMES and I am happy that the work they do is superb. They have a great range of Dog kennels and catterys and Wood Chalets to die for.Their number is 085 1168016. Fax05786 84595.Web.www.dandcpethomes.com. if you ever want anything in this line try them.  

Diary too long Gary will be complaining !.  

Mary  

More info later.

 

 

Fri 7/12 - hi everyone its a lousy day and we are sitting in the office replying to emails and offers of help. We do need help today to stop the rain because we are all soaked and the dogs are already in bed since 4pm under the lamps, which they love. our ESB bills will be huge but we cannot avoid that problem at this time. we also have heaters on continuously in the office and upstairs because the puppies need the heat. david from D & C pet homes has offered all kinds of help and has already been here and is doing so much to help !. He moves FAST and has laready contacted other people to help. thanks a lot David and Caroline,its great to know you.  

Hello Nadine Walsh we talked to you on your bibo site, also thank you and others who are offering help. Freinds of Animals have made such good friends over the years and I want everyone to know that without Gary Toolans help and advise and the website , I would not be able to do this. Penny Toolan has supported us in all sorts of ways not least making beautiful blankets .Penny and Gary built our units  and theie daughters Sarah and Emma have also supported us in many ways.  

Simone Haas has helped us financially and generously and Allan chapman has been here for us every Sunday for the past 6 years. Only for Brenda mc Mahon we would not have the accounts to present to the Department for our grant and she keeps this going all year long . Irene Rosalind and Margaret and so many others have all contributed to this centre and through our mutual love and respect for Animals we have all become friends now for which I and Sonah am deeply grateful. My long time dear friend Geraldine Butler was here for years until she opened her own lovely Cattery and she does so much work for kittens who come into her in various stages of ill health and neglect.  

I cannot mention all our supporters but you all know that every little help you give us is essential and appreciated and I want you all to know that without you this centre wouldnt have existed for the last 12 years.  

I wish you all that you wish for yourselves this christmas and the new year. Mary

 

 

Thur 06/12 At last I have installed a Nursery in the form of a large galvanised cage which we used outside for feeding and which just fits into the office and takes up half of the space but its worth it so I can isolate the " poos" to some extent. Of course I will not be keeping the puppies in there for long periods,,just as long as we need to be able to clean up . I have put in a platform for them to climb on and every one of the nine puppies are on it at the moment and they are so happy in their new quarters.Even my little bottle fed ones are mixing in together.This afternoon I took in 4 of our greyhounds puppies which have been fostered by Caroline Tully who took Pandora the greyhound and landed up with five puppies as well because we didnt know Pandora was pregnant. Even the vet didnt know less that 48 hours before she produced. i have no experience of greyhound puppies so although they look long and narrower than the others they may not be greyhounds because we know nothing about their daddy.  

The rain is very heavy now and is flooding the yard and I really cannot wait to get our drains fixed. Since the weather got colder and wetter the dogs have all moved in together and some of the rooms are empty so we have closed them off which will reduce cleaning time. Once the lamps go on each evening around this time the dogs are glad to go to bed and they look so cosy all together; its their instinctto live as a pack after all.  

Nothing about the Grant yet. This is a most anxious time for us all because we do pin our hopes on getting this grant although we are warned every year that we must not assume that we will receive this grant . Heres hoping  

Mary

 

 

Mon 3/12 Hectic day today.I did a hugh job on the yard and walls which were very dirty and lo behold anyone who splashes them again without cleaning them down.Some people think that its very hard work in the yard but I think its easy if it is done properly EACH TIME.I hate the place looking shabby and it does look awful just now with blocked drains and the heavy rainfall we have had recently.I would love the place to look smart but it is very difficult under the circumstances and there isnt enough hours in the day to get around to everything. Thankfully Margaret came today and did so much work and cleaned the office after the mucky puppies.Speaking of puppies; As we will have 12 puppies with us for the next month I am trying to work out a" Nursery" where the puppies will be happy and I can contain the mess in a managable area. So far I havnt come up with a solution but I am thinking about it.  

A lovely man John Gormly, has arranged for us to get dog food from Super Value in Mullingar and Sonah collected it to day and its great and will keep us going for another week at least. John also has more food for us but we couldnt collect it because we had another puncture on the way and I will phone John and explain. I am so grateful for all the help which people are offering .  

David from D & C. Pet homes has donated two gorgous kennels which the dogs love !. Yesterday our famous Miss Bones was missing and we couldnt find her anywhere. she wasnt there at feeding time and she loves her dinner so we were really worried. today we found her at the back of the cookhouse, she got in there and couldnt get out. She looked so lost and confused when we found her and had spent a night out in all that rain.we brought her in and she immediately took over the big new kennel and she had a hot chicken and rice dinner and immediately went to sleep and I have just checked on her and she is fine.I have only known David and Caroline for a few days and they have done so much for us already.David is organising a Sky Dive and we are looking for any mad eejit to jump out of a plane and sponsor us ???. david has all the info and its all safe and carefully planned.  

My two babies are doing so well and my little angel who was injured is perfect and the scabs have fallen of the wound so she is much more comfortable.  

As I may have mentioned Sam had fostered 3 puppies who were brought into us in a very hungry state. They were also bottle fed for two weeks and were well weaned. They are with my 2 babies and when I was feeding my little ones, one of the 3 grabbed the bottle and proceeded to enjoy it very much. So me being the very strict person that I am ( not ) I let the three of them GO BACK ON THE BOTTLE and they are loving it.Whatever brings them comfort and nourishment then its ok by me.  

I will keep them here now as Sam has done her bit and has a lot of animals of her own to look after.  

dont forget, keep in touch and maybe think about a standing order ( there she is talking about money again )  

talk to you tomorrow Mary

Please note we now have a PayPal donation facility on the "front" page - it takes all credit cards (NOT Laser) and all details are passed via a secure site - we never even see your details.  Your help would be appreciated, as financially, things get a bit hairy when the cold weather comes, due to the heat lamps being on every night.

 

Fri 30/11 - Hi everyone, this has been a VERY SPECIAL DAY. I had a radio interview on radio 3 and following that interview, I had people offering to help in so many ways and I am so grateful for all offers of help. I am looking forward to following up on all those offers and in meeting those people who so kindly are willing to give of their time or money to keep this rescue centre going. i cannot do it without help and for the first time since we started 12 years ago I am accepting every one who wants to help in any way however small.Please keep your offers of help going and hopefully we will see the results very soon.  

On to news about the animals; Thankfully we had the Farrier to trim the goats feet and he did a very good job; Goats feet grow very long especially where they are on soft ground and in the wild they would not grow so fast because they traditionally would be on rocky ground and they would eat a very harsh diet .The bad news is that I have heard that there are two goats in Multifarnham who are in trouble and I will attend to that after I have finished this diary  

As mentioned before I have 9 puppies , two of which I am still bottle feeding, and this evening all of them pulled a pillow apart and there is fluff everywhere and they are all lying in the remains of the pillow and are so happy. It is so funny to see the devastation they are lying in, all asleep and content after their rampage so I will clear up tomorrow when I have the energy. I do so love looking after puppies but they are SO MESSY.  

My little babies who are being bottle fed need worming and I think I will do that tomorrow . I was waiting to let them thrive before I unsettled them with worming but they are now due. I have a bottle ready for them tonight and when they have drank that they will be so content and I will slip a wormer in and see the results tomorrow.  

The four puppies with their mother in the office were wormed yesterday and it is shocking to see the amount of worms that puppies have . Anyway they are all ok now and I will worm them again in 3 weeks time before we start to rehome them.  

I am still getting calls every day to take in more dogs and I will have to continue to refuse. Today our neighbour told us he saw a car draw up to the centre and a big brown dog was put out onto the road and the car raced away. We searched for this poor dog but we did not find it and I can only imagine that the dog ran after the car and I dont know anything after that. When you think, I was on Radio talking about animal welfare and there was a horrible stupid and cruel person dumping a dog outside, who didnt have the guts to call into us for fear he might have had to take some responsibility for the poor animal. We will keep watching for this dog because when they are dumped here they usually stay around hoping someone will come back for them; I have seen this so many times and the dog just doesnt know that it has been dumped and waits hopefully. It is so sad.  

Hello to Lisa in Australia, great to hear from you ,keep in touch, and again thanks to all who have offered their support. Dont forget the Standing Order thing , it would be a big help.  

Goodnight Mary. P.S i am glad Biggins won the celebrity get me out of here, I enjoyed watching it.

 

Mary says -" Dont forget the Standing Order thing , it would be a big help". Download a form here.... 

Or how about a one-off donation here?

 

Thur 29/11 Thank you so much to all who contcted me in the last week with offers of volunteering and money.  

I have been extremely busy this last week and in spite of saying we are not taking any more dogs for the moment we are still having to take dogs who arrive terrified in the boot of a car and we know that if we do not take tham they will be dumped or worse. We are being emotionally blackmailed every day because we care but even so it is a terrible burden when faced with so many dogs needing our help.  

If you read this Richard from Limerick, I could not get back to you because I did not have your address but now I have your phone no. I will tell you all about my two little babes who I am completely in love with now. After getting up each night for the last few weeks to bottle feed and mother i just canot imagine life without them now !!!. The little one with the injury is just wonderful and she knows she is special and I love her. Her stitches came out on Sunday last but she still has a large scab over the wound which I am trying to soften with baby oil but she doesnt seem to feel uncomfortable and actually enjoys me cleaning her scar.as you know I also have another four puppies with their mother and they are so fit and well but Mum is now loosing interest in them and I am feeding them and they are pooping everywhere and because they are resident in the office its a big cleanup every day and the awful thought is that all these puppies and three more will be with us till after Christmas and will give us a lot of work keeping them clean and happy.  

Once again because of the heavy rainfall the main yard is under water and the dogs hate it and so do we. Hopefully if we get a grant from the Dept. of Agriculture this year we can get our drains done and it will be very expensive but well worth it.the last estimate we got was 4000 Euros and I hope it does not get any higher.Unfortunately the Grant will not solve all our problems and ther is still the future of the centre to really consider and if we are not here where will all the animals go who need us.  

It could be so simple if we had some kind of a steady income and thst was why we were asking for people to set up standing orders for even a small amount so that we could rely on at least that each month. I feel ashamed to be always going on about money matters but money makes the world go round and keeps rescue centres going.Thank you all again for your good wishes i will reply individually soon.  

Mary.

Thank you so much to all who contacted me in the last week with offers of volunteering and money.

 

Fri 23/11 - it has been as usual a very busy day aand so many people came for dogs but all of them were not suitable for one reason or another. So many people want a dog but they are out working from 9 antil 6pm and they are determined to get a dog and they say that the dog will be ok and they know people who have dogs who are out all day and they think that is ok. It is very hard to convince them that it is not ok and although we will not give them a dog, they will get a dog from somewhere else.  

Folks, I meant it when I said that we cannot continue to run this centre without a fundraising group because there is so much to do here on a daily basis and I do not have the energy or the time to fundraise.I am giving this centre until christmas to sort out the fundraising and then I am closing the centre to any new dogs and will finally close down this place . iTs not fair that my husband and i have the burden for all the animals who need us.Remember, we have saved so many animals since our beginning 12 years ago but its now down to the people who bring dogs or other animals to us to keep this centre going .I am so sorrry to be saying this but I have no choice. Either we have a support system or not.  

mary