Letters

Dear Di, John, Ian and Pat.

Thank you for your email. I hope you any your team are all well and enjoying the Christmas holidays.

Well, Rico, what can I say! We fell for Rico the moment we saw him, and that hasn't changed.....other than growing in strength.

He's an adorable chap, and we have a great time together. There isn't a day goes by when he doesn't make us laugh doing something daft! He has his little personal traits, like not being satisfied till he's given you a shoe as a gift when you come into the house - no matter whether you live here or are a guest!! His other thing is sneaking the kids trainers outside and trying to plant shoe trees.....there's always a clue when he comes in with a black nose.

Rosie, our older dog is 13 now. She's the lady of the house and Rico is brilliant with her....keeps her young at heart. Every night when Rosie has her meds Rico sits down patiently for his choccy drop thinking he's getting a tablet too. He is very habitual.

My girls, now aged 9 and 13, adore Rico and Rosie. Rico loves it when they have their friends over for play days and sleepovers, and is usually found in the middle of whatever they are playing with, or with his nose poking out between the sleeping bags having lots of fuss with the older girls.

He's in good health and is a bright, cheery dog. My eldest is getting very good at trimming his fur and enjoys grooming him. Rico loves the attention. My youngest loves playing with him.

I call Rico 'my lad' as he's such a lovely companion and perceptive loyal dog. He's certainly one of my best friends, and life wouldn't be the same without him.

I'm sure Rico's previous owner misses him very much, and I'm grateful to her for us having the opportunity to have Rico in our home.

With kind regards to you all

Michelle

Hi Pat

Hope you have had a good Christmas. Well it is 3 months since Molly joined our family and it is like she has always been here, Indie and Molly are now inseparable and follow each other everywhere. They have learnt to share their toys - although Molly enjoys destroying them much more than sharing - we had 30 when she arrived and now down to 8 haha. They even take toys to each and offer them - it is a joy to watch.

Have enclosed a photo of them cuddle up together.

Love

Steve & Sally, Molly and Indie xxxx

Dear John & Di

Thank you for your Christmas wishes and we hope that you have a wonderful festive season and a very happy 2015. You do such a fantastic job at CAESSR to find homes for these beautiful dogs.

We also wanted to say thank you again for rehoming Lindy with us. She seems completely at home now and very much part of our extended family who all think she is amazing and just right for us.

We started to let her run free after she had been with us for a month and her recall is excellent probably helped by a small treat as she loves her food. Sometimes she will chase a ball but seems more interested in meeting other dogs and people. Everyone is greeted like a long lost friend.

Happy Christmas to everyone involved at CAESSR

Alan and Maureen

"Hello to all at CAESSR,

My name's Todd and last week was my 2 year Toddiversary of living with the family you found for me.

I've had a lovely few months since I last wrote, especially enjoying all the sunbathing opportunities over the summer. I'm a bit of a sun-worshipper! I've continued to learn more sign language and as well as sit, come, stay and ball, I now know biscuit, walk, drop (my toy), bark and signs for when my dad and my nan have come for a visit. Who's says you can't communicate with deaf dogs?!

I'm a really happy little chap, and love nothing more than getting all snuggled on my bed, eating chicken and playing with my toys. I've sent some photos so you can see me enjoying some of my favourite things. That's me by our Christmas tree with the Christmas card that's been designed with my face on, I must be very handsome indeed.

Sending you all lots of wags and smiles (I'm not a very licky sort of dog) for Christmas and best wishes for the new year!

Love from

Todd xx

Just a quick note from Todd's people to say thank you for finding Todd for us, there's not a day that goes by when he doesn't make us smile. He's a little ray of sunshine and we utterly adore him. Thank you for all of the hard work you do to rescue and rehome these spaniels. Sending best wishes for 2015!

Emma & Andy

And here's a Merry Christmas from Hedvig whom we rehomed via you back in May 2010/2011 (then called Hatty).

We now live in Sweden and she's just had a new rescue brother, Basil the Welshie, join the family.

Happy Christmas from the snow of Northern Sweden!

We often hear from others that Hedvig is the most well behaved dog they've ever met, and we couldn't agree more.

Thanks for helping us find the best ESS we could have wished for!

Best

Lisa and Daniel

Dear Diana,

I owe you a big thank you for finding Dash for me - she is perfect. She is full of beans now and is into everything as she should be. She only barks when the door-bell rings and has a super recall. What more can you ask?

I love her to bits and she does me. I will be forever grateful.

With best wishes from

Jean and Dash

Merry Christmas from Rufus and Millie.

They are a delight and really fill the gap left when our previous dog passed away.

Rufus has become really naughty and steals all the food we leave too close to edge of the kitchen worktop. We can't stay angry because of his big smile and wagging back end!

We took them to Sandsend near Whitby a few weeks ago and they absolutely loved it. They were romping around with all the other dogs on the beach, and even went in to the very cold sea.

Rufus got his own back on the antlers in the photo. He pawed them off his head and chewed them to bits.

Have a lovely Christmas. Lots of licks and woofs from Rufus and Millie.

Ian

I wanted to pass on an update about Star. She still remains nervous of cameras, which is very disappointing as all photos are therefore from the back!!! However, we are taking her back to her second home with us in Scotland for Christmas and so will come back with some photos, no matter how unflattering.

Star now has Jon completely under her spell. She has a conversation with him of either squeaks, barks, or growling, over every game. She is quiet with me and all others, albeit she still loves to play.

Incredibly loud squeaky toys are her favourite, in the house.

Outside she loves to play fetch with a ball. In Scotland she was for some time, nervous of water, but will now rush in to the sea with Jon and I paddling, so we foresee frozen toes, simply to have fun, in the next two weeks.

She and I take 5 mile walks in muddy countryside, then it becomes bath time, and a game with a towel for drying off, and warm fires. Jon would rather race with her around a football pitch, throw balls and then bring her back for crazy chases around the garden.

When she arrived with us, much loved by her previous owner, and with a letter asking that we take her to the next level, it remained a huge feeling of responsibility to ensure we did not let down either Star or her previous owner's wishes.

This will be our second Christmas with her, after she arrived with us in February 2013, very nervous and shy. She is a delight, so very loved, and sweet natured with strangers, friends and children alike. I hope we are fulfilling the expectations of her previous owner.

Happy Christmas to CAESSR volunteers and staff. Your work is brilliant, and brings so much joy.

Much love

Viks x

A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL

LOVE FROM

KELL - (who was dog number 57 way back in 2010), I'm still working happily 2 x half days each week in the shooting season and a spoilt pet all Summer !

Also a much admired PAT dog at the local nursing home where I drink tea and get stroked, fussed and cuddled.

Life is great thanks to CAESSR

Licks and XXXs

Kell

And a very happy Christmas to all of you too!

Many thanks for your message, Saddle is very well and ever grateful for his new home. Everyone loves him but he doesn't love men unless they have white hair! Father Christmas will be OK!

Wishing you all the very best for the season and hope that spaniels looking for new homes in 2015 will find their forever homes.

Please let me know when you are looking for photos for the next calendar and when Cards and calendars go on sale. I missed out this year which was a real shame.

Kind regards

Carol and Saddle

Hello to all at CAESSR and all who have adopted and taken into their homes these spaniels who needed a different lifestyle.

It must be so hard to give up a pet and friend because of a change of circumstances for those contacting Caessr for rehoming their loved ones and I know how you must be feeling now but rest assured they are well looked after, the same as you would have done given the chance.

We are off to our house in France on Boxing Day and hopefully when we return on 15th Jan will send you some photo's of Jamie on the move (without being blurred - he is very quick) as previous ones look as if he is lazy lying down or sitting all the time.

We want to take this opportunity to wish you the very best Seasons Greetings and an even better New Year.

Kindest regards

Jennifer Joseph & Jamie (3 Jays)

Dear Ian,

It was a lucky day when John phoned us to say Amber was looking for a new home! She is such a joy.

For the first two to three weeks she seemed to be watching and listening for her old owners to come and take her home and was very unhappy during the night with little enthusiasm for her food. However, she became very excited when she saw her lead and knew she was going for a walk. We were advised to use a crate to give her security for periods during the day and at night – she loves it and sleeps there every night.

From the start she was so well behaved and we realised she had been well trained by her original owners. She loved going in the car, asked to go out (not a single ‘accident’ in the house), excellent recall without the necessity of a treat, sat and waited to be told she could eat her food, and even waits for us to go through doors ahead of her!

Amber is very gentle, and as you can see in the photo loves her strokes and cuddles and we felt quite safe letting her sit with our young grandson. She loves being brushed, but soon yelps if I find the smallest tangle in her fur. In fact, she is inclined to yelp quite a lot at the smallest discomfort! She also talks a lot when she is excited.

We were most surprised, however, to find that she is not at all interested in toys or a ball. When we try to encourage her to play, she sits and looks at us quizzically but we cannot find any way of encouraging her. We feel she would benefit from the mental stimulation of play and wonder if she has always been like this. Did she have toys as a puppy?

She is certainly not a greedy dog, and does not pester us for food at all when we are eating. In fact, she loves her meals but is not than keen on ‘treats’. We have tried her with marrow bones and other bones which we feel would be good for her teeth – but she is totally uninterested and just walks away.

We have had one problem, which started about three weeks ago. After a walk, she started lifting her back leg, and has spent most of her time running around on 3 legs.

We have taken her to the vet, had Xrays which show no bone damage, and she has been on anti-inflammatory drugs, but is still hopping around. We have even been told not to let her off the lead for 6 weeks so that she doesn’t run hard and cause more damage. This is a great shame.

We have been taking her to a local ‘doggy nursery’ as a way of socialising her, where she mixes very well with other dogs. Strangely enough, however, when she is with us she barks vociferously when she meets another dog!

We love Amber very much and can’t believe she has only been with us for less than three months. She is so pretty and so friendly and enchants everyone she meets, and the tail never stops wagging. We can’t imagine life without her now!

We should be very pleased if you could contact her previous owners to see if they can shed some light on the points I have raised.

Thank you for your continued interest in Amber and we all send you the Seasons Greetings.

Regards

Wendy and Hugh

Dear John and Harley's new owner John!

It has now been just over a year since we made the heart wrenching decision to find Harley a new home so we were overjoyed to read your letter and hear about how much joy and love he has given you and you to him. Harley is an amazing dog who we loved very much but we knew that he needed to be with someone who could give him all the time, love and attention he deserved and upsettingly we realised with having a new baby we could no longer do this.

We genuinely just wanted Harley to have the best life possible and your letter has reassured me that that is exactly what he has found with you. There is so much that we miss about him and we regularly talk about his amazing intelligence, especially when playing hide and seek, and the fact that he gave the best cuddles in the world.

Please give him a big Christmas cuddle from us and if you have any recent photos we would love to see them.

Thank you so much CAESSR for finding Harley such a perfect forever home.

Happy Christmas

Love

Tess and Neil

Hello Everyone,

Ted here I just wanted to update you.

On December the 17th I will have been in my home for a whole year!!!!!! We have had lots of bouncy fun and lots of scrummy food. Jake and Jess (my two springer friends and partners in crime) and I have been all over the country in the lorry with the horses. Sometimes we stay away in the lorry as well. Mum says she must be mad to take the horses, her son and two springers and a sprollie away. It gets quite cosy !!!! To help us all on our way I like to sing, for some strange reason no one else likes to join in, very boring of them. It is great fun living on a farm and the springers have taught me what they call mousing. They love it and get very excited, staring down little holes in the ground and then they start digging to make the hole bigger. I join in but I am not quite sure what they are up to. A bit over rated if you ask me. Jake is a whizzo thief though and if he pinches something Mum never knows exactly who has done it and we all three of us sit there and look innocent ha ha.

All in all we have a lot of fun and as always I am grateful to Caessr, the dog warden, the ladies who brought me to Caessr to Ann at the kennels oh and everyone who helped me. Mum says she is really grateful as well.

We all ( Mum, Richard, Jess Jake and I ) just wanted to wish all the people and all the dogs involved with Caessr a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a GREAT 2015 ( I did offer to come and sing to you all but for some reason no one thought it was a good idea ) Lot of bounces and licks,

Ted

Ps I hope you like the pictures of me working on the farm

Dear Di and previous owner of Sasha …….

Just letting you know how Sasha is getting on. Well basically she could not have suited us better! She is a sweetie! She has settled really well. We were nervous about letting her off the lead in case she did not come back and went after all the lovely smells, birds and squirrels in our local wood. But she is so good and comes back when called…… ( sometimes a bit slow ) and loves her treat reward.

We have bought one of those ball throwing gadgets which saves our arms aching as she just loves a ball. My son has play fights with her which she adores and my daughter chats and cuddles her.

We are teaching her new commands and learning what she could already do. She is fantastic at sitting, lying down and we have been working on getting her to turn around which she is doing well…. may try roll over next!! Did she by any chance jump into your arms?

She really is such a lovely personality and temperament so hope this news makes her previous owners happy knowing that she is already one of the pack and loved to bits.

Phil

Dear John,

You probably will not remember my wife and I amongst the many people with whom you come into contact over a CAESSR year, but we have reason to feel very grateful for the work that you do.

It is just over a year now (6th Dec) since I contacted you on the internet and we came down to see you, and more importantly Harley. He is a liver and white Cocker that looks more like a small Springer than a cocker to me. Be that as it may, his papers say that he is a Cocker, and that does not really matter. What does matter is that he is the best companion that I could have wished for. He is intelligent, nosey, obedient, active, excited, affectionate, healthy, reliable with other dogs etc.

In a full year has never shown any aggression, in fact I cannot for the life of me think of any reason why anyone would have wanted to get rid of him. They must have been very upset at forced circumstances.

He spends virtually his whole life in our company, and when we are forced to leave him for some reason he goes to a friend and neighbour who has a big, daft labradoodle that has become a great friend of Harley’s. It is great to watch them behaving as young puppies together.

He really enjoys his long walks, where he seems to have unlimited energy. We have always had a dog - in fact Harley is our third Spaniel in a row, but never have we had one that has become such a part of our lives. In short, it was one of the best days of my life when Harley became a part of it.

Thanks again.

John

Hi John, Di and all at CAESSR

Its just over a week since we picked Belle up from the kennels. She has settled into a new routine very quickly and has firmly established herself as one of the family.

Belle has made lots of new friends both doggy and human. Loki shares his toys with her and she greets everyone with a toy in her mouth, she loves to be outside and loves running on the field.

The abscess on her tooth is still infected and the vet has prescribed some more antibiotics, hopefully it will clear this time.

We have tried to take some pictures of her but she doesn't sit still long enough!

Thank you for introducing Belle to us

Christine, Bob,Loki (spaniel) and Belle

Hi Di

Here a picture of Gandalf taken in our garden.

He is much more settled and happy today and is very playful - especially playing fetch with his favourite green bone. Harvey is also more accepting and they have been getting along well today.

We have also had a new tag engraved and he looks very smart with it on.

We'll keep in touch and send more photos and news after Christmas.

Best Regards

Sue

Hi Di,

Monty has settled in well, Milly has accepted him now he knows she is the boss!!

I will send more photo's and keep you updated.

Lynda

Hi John, Di and all at CAESSR,

It is now just over 5 weeks since we picked up Alfie from the boarding kennels. He is a sweet affectionate dog that likes cuddles though he is very mischievous. He likes nothing better than stealing slippers, shoes, socks and running off with them in the hope that you will chase him around the house. We gave him some old slippers to run around with but he prefers to take the newer ones though after a couple of days we stopped chasing him and he comes back wondering where we are and we can then take the item off him.

He seems to have settled in very quickly. We were a bit apprehensive about him meeting the cats but it all went very well. It could be because he is quite a bit smaller than all the other dogs we have had and they are quite happy for him to settle down by them, though it is a bit of a squeeze with two cats and two dogs trying all to get on the sofa with us sitting on it as well.

We have taken him out on our usual route and met all the regulars who think he is lovely and he is very sociable with the other dogs. We have not let him off on the track as there are quite a few holes in the fences but we have been letting him off on the range, where we can keep an eye on him and it is lovely seeing him stretch his legs. He has played with a few of the dogs we meet and already knows who will give him treats. Charlie plays with him for about 5 minutes but because Alfie is quicker and faster he soon gives up.

His recall is usually good but when out on the range if he finds something interesting to sniff then he will come back when he is ready. Charlie is still the same with pheasants.

We have never had a dog with food obsession as Alfie. He is a quick learner and knows he should not be under our feet when preparing and cooking food and he is already staying in the area where he can still see us but not be under our feet, though he does still try inching forwards. The same with the cat food, we have to watch him and make sure he doesn’t dash forward but he is waiting until we pick the bowl up which is a very big improvement. He is also settling down while we are eating instead of trying to get on the table. As to his own food he still jumps where the food is being prepared and we are slowly trying to stop him, but this is another area where he has really excelled in that he will now sit and wait while we put his bowl down, though he does still eat as though we have never given him his breakfast.

We have also taken him to the vets to have him neutered and again the staff all said what a lovely dog he is so he is winning everyone over. He has recovered well and there are no problems, he was raring to go the morning after the operation but had to stay on the lead for a few days, which he wasn’t happy with.

Could you please let his previous owners know that he has settled well and seems happy and we are really pleased with him as he has already wormed his way into our affections.

Dave and Sharon