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In January 2003 I was contacted by Vesna Jones of Greek Animal Rescue in London, she had heard about the plight of Kef and Angelina and had arranged for them to go to the animal shelter in Wurzburg in Germany. At the same time she offered to ask if the two boys, Paddy and Murphy could be homed as well. This was the first inkling we had that this method of re-homing was available, and we jumped at the chance.
We arranged to take the 4 dogs in February of this year using the camper van, (we knew it would come in handy for our retirement).
Arriving at Wurzburg we were met by Claudia. We were very impressed by the set up there; they carry out strict home checks and they will not allow pups to go to a home that has not owned a dog before. All these four were found homes in a very short time.
The shelter is very professional and something we could only dream of - it is so well laid out, and clean, they have around 15 people working there at any time. There is the most beautiful animal cemetery and they have a policy of NEVER putting a healthy animal to sleep. They have several dogs that they keep there who can never be homed for a variety of reasons.
The second trip was in June of this year, we took 2 dogs and a cat to England, plus Rags, Heidi, Scoopy, Scrappy and Molly to Wurzburg plus two dogs for Kidizo an animal charity on the mainland. It was a bit crowded but very successful. Scoopy and Scrappy had been chosen before we even left Germany.
Claudia in the meantime had contacted another German group who home dogs from Spain, Portugal and Greece. They work a little differently as they advertise the animal on the internet, and then do the home checks to make sure that the dog fits the owners needs and that the owners are suitable, The dogs are kept at Gabys house for a few days in order for her to make sure they are as we describe them, and the owners collect them from there.
The last trip was in October of this year when we took 12 dogs in total, all have been homed and have settled in well, we have some nice emails from their new owners.
We are hoping to make enough money to take at least 10 dogs in early March and another batch in late March. We will need two trips as we have promised to take some for GAR who will then contribute towards the cost.
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