Daisy the dog went to rehab – success story from Balmore rehoming centre in Caithness

The Scottish SPCA (SSPCA) has launched a new fundraising campaign and shared a local success story from the Caithness and Sutherland Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre.

Scotland’s animal welfare charity experienced unprecedented levels of demand on its services after responding to an average of over 235 reports of animals in need every single day over 2021. The charity has also experienced an increase in average days in care for all types of animals due to the impact of Covid-19 on animal cruelty prosecutions, meaning many of its nine rescue centres have been at capacity.

Many of those calls are due to the public’s increasing appetite for lockdown pups stretching the Society’s resources as they fight to tackle the barbaric puppy trade, with over 200 puppies seized from low-welfare breeders since the beginning of 2020.

The SSPCA has also seen an increase in calls from owners who are struggling to afford veterinary care and those struggling to cope with the behavioural issues animals purchased during lockdown now have.

The charity does not put healthy animals to sleep so those who come in to the centres with challenging behavioural or medical problems can be with them for months or even years while the team rehabilitate and care for them until the animal is ready to be rehomed or released back into the wild.

One such animal was Daisy the foxhound who was bred as part of the multimillion pound, low-welfare puppy trade and advertised as a beagle online by puppy dealers. The sellers didn’t provide any pictures of her parents and delivered her straight to her unsuspecting new owners claiming they were visiting family nearby.

The family took her to the vet as she was suffering from coughing fits only to discover she had false vaccination records and an unregistered microchip. Due to being unvaccinated Daisy had caught kennel cough and then had to be quarantined for 21 days.

As Daisy grew older it became clear she was much too big to be a beagle and when her owners realised she was a foxhound, they had to make the heart-breaking decision to give her up as they couldn’t provide the space or stimulation the breed needs.

At the time Daisy was 18-months-old and already showing a lot of behavioural issues. She was sadly rehomed and returned twice as she needed so much mental and physical stimulation.

Daisy would tug leads, clothes and take gloves off people's hands. It was clear she wasn’t trying to be aggressive, she was just trying to play, but it was inappropriate and because she was a big dog it could be intimidating.

The team at the charity’s Caithness and Sutherland Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre set up a tailored rehab programme for Daisy, working to show her ways to redirect this playful behaviour in an appropriate way. They also paired her up with one of the other dogs at the centre to play with so she could burn off energy.

All the hard work the team put in paid off as Daisy has now found a loving new forever home with a family that includes another foxhound named Max.

Manager of the Caithness and Sutherland Animal Rescue and Rehoming Centre, Christine Urquhart said, “The past two years have been a really challenging time for the team.

“Throughout the pandemic it’s been business as usual here and we’ve been busier than ever. Last year we cared for 189 animals at our centre alone. We always do our best to help every animal, like Daisy, who come in to our care and make sure they find the perfect home, no matter how long that process takes.

“We’re so grateful to all our supporters as we wouldn’t be able to do this work without them. We’d be so grateful for anything people can spare and we know the animals in our care will be too.”

To find out more about the campaign and donate to the SSPCA, visit bit.ly/3MG8xEW