Learn About English Springer Spaniel Rescue WorkMeet Sandy Waldon Volunteer with ESSWSandy Waldon has a big heart! She is a dedicated volunteer doing English Springer Spaniel rescue work in the United Kingdom. I first met Sandy when she contacted me about a little King Charles Cavalier Spaniel that she had recently rescued. " Charlie's condition is dire ", she told me..."Can you help us?". Absolutely, I responded. I could sense the urgency in the tone of her email. Since then, we have been working together, to bring Charlie back to good health.
Here is Sandy Waldon with her own pack of English Springer Spaniels, and one Giant Schnauzer named ' Ellie '.
Sandy works tirelessly with a charitable organization in the UK called English Springer Spaniel Welfare. It is an English Springer Spaniel rescue charitable organization.She serves as Trustee & Committee Deputy National Co-ordinator for ESSW. I thought it might be fun, and very informative for you, if I wrote this page in the form of an interview with Sandy. She can tell the story better than I can.
English Springer Spaniel WelfareSandy...how did you get involved with English Springer Spaniels as a breed?I married someone who was a keen rough shooter. We got our first ESS to train for working, only 2 days after we were married! How were you inspired to work with English Springer Spaniel rescue? Now that could be a very long story. I had several friends from an English Springer Spaniel ESS online forum, and I got to know volunteers from the English Springer Spaniel Welfare organization. One morning a not very nice gamekeeper who worked a shoot next to our house, threw a very sad looking 11 month old Springer Spaniel bitch over our garden fence, saying..." if you don't want her, I'm going to shoot her". I bundled her into my arms. Her face was bleeding and her eyes were swollen where she had been kicked. I had to get her indoors safely. As I got her through the doorway he shouted out after me..." there's a strong possibility she's pregnant! " I took her inside, cleaned her up and gave her a good meal. She was in a pitiful state. She was very thin, half her ideal body weight, and we found out later she was also 5 weeks pregnant. I got on to my forum friends, and hoped someone could help get her a rescue/foster space. I had nowhere for her to stay. I already had 6 dogs living in the house, with one due to whelp very close to the this poor girl. How would I cope with two litters! If I could hold on to her for a few days, someone could arrange a foster home where she could have her pups and be safe. Well, the few days turned into a week, then 2, then 3. By this time we had a very strong bond. She wouldn't leave my side and followed me everywhere. She also became very protective of me. By now I could see that she would be very traumatized if moved away from me. She had total trust in me and was very wary of even my husband who saw her everyday. She was also just a week from whelping. Moving her so close to her due date, wasn't right as far as I was concerned. I had a call from the rescue and I had to work hard to convince them that I wanted to keep her. She was too scared to go anywhere else. I felt she could whelp here with me and feel safe. My other bitch was scanned 6 weeks after mating and we found she wasn't carrying pups. So in a way we felt this little girl was destined to stay with us. She went on to have 7 lovely pure Springer Spaniel puppies. We had no power due to the storms that morning, and she whelped by candlelight! So now I had 7 pups that needed homes.
I kept the little bitch. She was spayed once she had recovered and all the pups had left. She's still very protective, very wary of strangers especially men, although she now adores my husband. Seeing such a frightened little dog and knowing the cruelty she endured, seeing her turn around and flourish and wag her tail once more, made me determined to get myself more involved with English Springer Spaniel rescue. I am here today as busy as I have ever been in my life helping with a team of like minded volunteers and caring for the breed we love. What is the mandate of English Springer Spaniel Welfare?
Does English Springer Spaniel Welfare take in ' difficult cases'? There are many more aspects to English Springer Spaniel rescue. Dealing with dogs that are frightened, abused or confused. Very rarely are we asked to take in an aggressive English Springer Spaniel rescue. It's not in their nature to be aggressive. Like many dogs they are 9/10 made aggressive and not born aggressive. If we do have one that we feel we cannot work with, this will be determined by one of our experienced assessors, a qualified behaviorist and a vet. Then, we feel for the mental state of the dog, and for the safety of the public, it will be humanely put to sleep. Any dog that is aggressive is a troubled and unhappy dog. Be it through illness which cannot be cured, or mentally disturbed to the extent it cannot be rehabilitated, we feel the kindest thing to do for it, is to let it slip peacefully away, where it can fear no more. Sandy...how long have you been doing English Springer Spaniel rescue work? Describe a typical day for you, if you would? For about 5 years. Ever since I rescued the little, pregnant English Springer Spaniel bitch. We are all volunteers, but for a few of us it's almost a full time job working 7 days a week. Sometimes not getting off the phone until 10pm at night. You'd be amazed at how suddenly urgent having to re home a dog can be for some people, and they expect immediate help! All our volunteers give up their time freely. Many of us work evenings and weekends. If there's a call that an English Springer Spaniel needs help... we move fast! We are always looking for new volunteers. All are entitled to a FREE membership for the first year, and we publish a quarterly newsletter which features many of our re homed dogs. All dogs are vet checked. Many of the younger dogs that are totally ball obsessed are given the chance to work for the police, fire or armed forces. They go on to provide valuable help with searching for drugs and firearms and can help with sniffing out explosive devices. The English Springer Spaniels' nose is highly tuned for such work. We know that those we place for this work are very well looked after, and love the work they do. ...AND we do a lot of fund raising, it's the only way we can get money in to support English Springer Spaniel rescue in order to be able to re home the dogs. What type of fund raising do you do for English Springer Spaniel rescue? Many things...here are just a few examples:
How can other people support you in your efforts for English Springer Spaniel rescue? We rely solely on donations as we are a registered charity. If you feel you are in a position to adopt a rescue dog, or if you need help, a breed rescue is the best place to go. But please remember we cannot continue without funds, the same as any other charity. Thank you Sandy, that is great information about English Springer Spaniel Rescue. I know it will help others to understand and assist your efforts. By the way...what do you do for fun? This is amazing, rewarding, sometimes heartbreaking work, but I love it. In my spare time ( don't have much of that ) I do pastel portraits of dogs. All proceeds go to English Springer Spaniel Welfare. ...and we haven't had a holiday in 27 years.
Thank you so much for sharing your story with us Sandy! English Springer Spaniel Welfare eagerly and appreciatively accepts donations. Thank you! Grey Stone Return Pet Friendly Lodging B&B Supports English Springer Spaniel Welfare Return Home From English Springer Spaniel Rescue
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Please enjoy this wonderful photo of Billy our Shetland pony being led in by ' Pap ' one of our English Springer Spaniels.