Letters

Dear John and all at CAESSR,

It’s 5 years today since we brought Meg home, and she continues to be a joy. She’s nearly 9 now, but everyone she meets comments on how young she seems, and she is still absolutely full of beans. She loves her walks in the woods, although she never looks where she’s going as her nose is always on the ground. She is (like most spaniels) magnetically attracted to water, but she prefers to paddle rather than swim.

She remains generally in good health. She’s always had a bit of a leaky bladder (which the vet told us can sometimes happen in spayed bitches – something to do with hormones!) but that’s generally well controlled with medication, and her tendency to ‘unstable shoulders’ is a lot better since a course of hydrotherapy last year – thank goodness for pet insurance!

We are still so grateful to you for matching us up with our girl, and we have sent a donation via Paypal today to mark Meg’s anniversary.

Best wishes to you all,

Catherine, Tony, and Meg

​​Hi to all at Caesar,

Today is the one year anniversary Of Bernie joining our family. He is well and truly settled in with all four legs under the table.

It has been an interesting journey over the last twelve months watching Bernie settle into his forever home. At first he would take any opportunity to run away, we assume, to try to get back where he came from, never thought we would be able to let him off the lead. Now he is content to stay where ever we are, he is very gentle and loving. We love him to bits and John, my husband, who suffers from Alzheimer's, loves Bernie and says that he makes him laugh.

Bernie's favourite though is our son David, what a greeting he gets when he comes home. David is his registered owner. We have no history of where Bernie came from or why he was given up to be rehomed. It must have been very hard for his previous own to do so. We know that he came from Carlisle and from his vet's records that he is between 3 and 4 years old and he is a Sprocker. If you have any further details it would be nice to know them. Thank you Caesar for our wonderful Bernie.

Best wishes,

Marjorie, John, and David

Hello Ian, Di & John

We’ve now had Morgan for a week so I thought I’d give you a progress report. We have christened him Manic Morgan because he is ‘hyper’! We won’t be letting him off for a while because he wants to chase everything that moves, especially if it has feathers! But he enjoys charging round the garden and exploring the squirrel smells.

It has taken till now for him to actually stand still long enough to get a photo so I’m sending one of him in the garden doing his eagle statue impression! Plus another of him with his housemate Jasper. Luckily they got on really well together from day one.

This is our third rescue springer so we knew we’d have to put in weeks, if not months, of patient training, but he is such a gorgeous lad that it will be worth the effort. First will be learning to walk up to the park without pulling like a steam train! We’ll send another update in a few months.

Regards,

Mary & John

HI Di,

Tilly's settling in with us really well. She still follows us around the house a bit, but we don’t mind as she's getting used to us and her new home here in Leeds. She seems to be a happy little dog and is settling well into her new routine. She enjoys snuffling around in the garden and is getting used to being walked in our local park in Roundhay (which you may have seen in the World Triathlon coverage over this last weekend).

Tilly loves to roll about on the carpet in an evening and to shake her whale toy around when she's playing. Although quite excitable she responds to basic commands and is very friendly when we meet new people on our walks, she particularly likes it when other dog walkers make a fuss of her. She's a little nervous of new dogs if they run up to sniff at her, but I'm sure once she's settled in she'll be more confident. She also takes a keen interest in the squirrels, rabbits and the noisier birds we come across in the woods! Mum and Tilly get on well and enjoy each other's company during the day and I always get a very warm welcome when I arrive home from work!

We're very happy to have Tilly with us and can't believe what a lovely personality she has and how well she's fitted in. We're just in the process of planning a dog friendly holiday - hopefully in Devon where we can enjoy some coastal walks.

I've attached a picture of Tilly relaxing in our back garden. We'd be very happy for you to share this update with the couple who brought Tilly to you.

Thanks ever so much for all your help in finding Tilly for us - we couldn't want for a more lovely dog.

Best wishes.

Jean and Rebecca

Good Morning Di,

I just wanted you to know that Rolo is really doing well. We are over the moon with him.

He gets walked 3 times a day…approx. 3 miles a day. We took him with 5 other dogs with their respective owners last Saturday morning on a very large secure field and let him off for the very first time. He ran like the wind…it was so lovely to see him free…..he soon wore himself out, also playing with the other dogs. His recall is not the best, but we are taking him to a lady called Penny Hoare who is one of the best trainers…..in a secure field to train not only Rolo but ourselves.

On Sunday morning he was a completely different dog. Much calmer, happier…not that he wasn’t happy before…. but I feel he knows he will be let off the lead another time…..we are with him all the time…and he has come into my office with me on two days last week…and basically he is a perfect gentleman.

We love him to bits…. he has made our lives more complete…if that was possible.

I have registered him with the local vets and we have all the necessary flea things etc. I have updated his chip.

I just wanted to share that with you.

Terry and Barbara X

Di, Ian

A year ago (14th ) we picked up Dito from Stoke and our adventures together started!

Dito is a tremendous dog and settled down with us quite soon after getting him (although we had to understand each other’s boundaries!).

You may recall he had quite a damaged tail but the good news is his tail feathers have grown back and it is fully healed; we did want to send a picture of it but he won’t stop wagging it!

His recall is great off the lead as long as you call him when he has finished exploring and is on his way back anyway.

He is a fabulous house dog, we won’t be burgled whilst Dito is in the house and he has settled down well on sofas and beds.

He is a bit 50/50 with other dogs but has a few friends one of whom is Spike who is pictured with Dito in Brampton Wood. We are considering taking on another Spaniel and think that this may help Dito out with the remaining 50% so think younger female would suit if you had any candidates?

We would love to make a small donation to thank you for Dito and the work you do so if you could provide your bank account details we will transfer the money?

We hope you like the photo’s we have hundreds to choose from but am sure you get swamped with these we particularly like his remembrance day collar.

Kind Regards,

Sara & Jonathan

Hello Diana,

I'm just sending an update regarding Jess settling in. I was hoping you could contact her previous owner, Richard and tell him how well she is doing.

We are so pleased with her and already love her to bits. She has settled into her new life very well. She goes on at least three good walks each day, loves the woods and the river which is very close by. Today she went in the river for a swim, trying to catch the ducks.

The only thing she is still finding difficult is travelling in the car. I know Richard said she was an excitable traveller but that is an understatement, she barks for the whole journey along with trying to dig through the boot. We bought her a crate because we didn't receive one when we collected her but she still finds it very tricky. We are taking her on very short journeys each day to try and get her used to it and letting her go in the crate whilst it isn't in the car but she doesn't want to.

Could you please ask Richard if he has any little tips that he could pass on to help? Apart from that she is doing really well and we are keeping her stimulated with lots of training which she loves.

I hope Richard will feel better now knowing she is very happy, as are we, he obviously took good care of her.

Diana, If you could pass this on to Richard I'd be very grateful and hopefully he might have some suggestions for travelling.

Debbie

Dear Diane and Ian,

Just wanted to send you a few photos of Raffi, he's settling in very well. We feel so lucky to have him. I know it must have been so hard to give him up but he will get so much love here.

He's already been into the dental practice waiting room to meet some patients! They love him too. T

hank you again,

Sarah

Hello both,

Thought you might like a quick Monty update before this morning's walk! He continues to be absolutely delightful. Now his coat and feathers have grown back in we have discovered he has very lovely curly hair and extremely tufty hobbit feet!

He and Spud are best of friends and all is well here - one attached pic shows Monty's haul of treasure which he has been hiding under Spud's bed. He is a real magpie! He had his first train journey recently, up to my parents in Northumberland and behaved beautifully.

All best from us, especially Monts xx

Helen

Hi All, Ted here.

Just catching you up with my adventures. Life as usual is busy on the farm and of course travelling with the horses in the lorry. We all stayed away in the lorry when we did a 3 day show in Wales recently. Jake and I have had to teach Pepper our new sister how to behave there. We have a wizzo time, going for long walks in the evenings and lots of new smells. At home Pepper is slowly getting to grips with all the cows and the horses. I am fine with them now, not bothered, I just like to do a detour round them. There always seems to be something interesting to look at a little way away from them.

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My gardening continues to give me much pleasure, I just don't know how Mum coped before I came here, I do so much digging for her, particularly in the pots, they are great fun. Another thing Mum and I like to do is read all the letters from the other CAESSR dogs. It is so great to see so many happy dogs in new forever homes. It was lovely to see Alfie on his boat, how cool is that ! He came to visit our farm soon after going to live with his new Mum. We also loved the letter from Shirley in May , because her dog looked just like me!!! Mum has tried to get a picture of my right side to show Shirley, but Mum is so slow with her camera and so we sent these instead, and yes the older I get, it may be possible to see that maybe I am not quite a purebred springer. Mum is also hopeless at technology so please could you put them on the Gallery please Ian.

I really hope that the dogs needing homes soon find themselves in a happy new life like me, and Mum says I make her very happy as well, though she did mutter something about pots but she doesn't mind really.

As always many thanks to all the lovely people at CAESSR.

lots of licks and bounces

Ted

Dear CAESSR folks,

Thank you so much for allowing us to adopt 'Bailey' (now Lucy). She is such a super little dog.

She howled a bit on the way home and once or twice while we had lunch, but after a snooze on the settee we haven't heard it again. She has settled amazingly well. I had expected a disturbed night but there was not a sound after the light went off and we had to wake her in the morning.

I have a new shadow, except when I open the back door and she shoots out to inspect the garden for next door's cats. Once satisfied that we have the garden to ourselves normal business can resume. She does seem to respond more to signals than to calling, but then she isn't used to our voices yet.

I have received the microchipping form and she is booked in to see our vet tomorrow.

I am very, very happy with her and she has even melted my husbands heart, which is no mean achievement.

We have had a few walks on the lead. She seems quite happy on the extended lead but really pulled on a short heel length. Today I tried the Halti collar. She didn't like it much but it cured the pulling when we got onto the road.

We have introduced her to a couple of the local dogs and all was well. She wasn't bothered by their size or noise.

I do feel for the previous owner, it must have been very hard to give her up.

Kind regards to all,

Betty