Dogmobile: March 2014

2014 Dogmobile

Well, hasn’t 2014 started off strong, LITERALLY I mean, with the weather. 

Pheew! Somehow the Dogmobile has managed to miss any real flooded areas so far with our venues, but we have been blown about a bit. Good job we’ve got lots of rope to hold our canopy down.

Rather than chunter on about what we’ve done so far this year, I thought a few pictures would tell the story just as well.

Enjoy!

 At Asda in Sittingbourne.

A wet day at Kings Heath, Birmingham.

Kings Heath Village Square.

Hanging on in the gales!

Rugby Clocktower.

Doggy donations from lovely Waitrose Salisbury customers!

Laura, Hannah and Viant from BBC Leicester Radio.

Bindy enjoying the sun at Waitrose Barry during a lull.

We hope to see you at a venue near you soon. Asda Cheltenham here we come!

Dogmobile: October

Just a very quick update from Dogmobile 1
 

Since arriving back from our Northern Ireland adventures, we’ve attended the Bucks County Show, plus the Wolsingham and Romsey shows. We’ve visited Cardiff City Centre and various Sainsburys, Tescos and Asda supermarkets from Edinburgh to the Midlands, Sussex and back again!

The Gang at Cardiff City Centre

In fact the last two venues we have attended have been BRILLIANT. Firstly we went to Chester Town Centre. We were situated right outside the Town Hall building (and what an impressive building that is), where we were inundated with interested people wondering what we were doing there as it was our first ever visit. The people of Chester were wonderful, donating lots of money to help our dogs, including at one point, what looked like a whole school descending on the square in front of our unit, and consequently descending on us. 

Chester Town Centre

Lara the 12yr old cross breed we had with us at the time was nearly bold after all the patting (but she did love it), and I was pinned to the back of the unit with the crowds of children coming on for info. What I thought was really nice, was they were all very well- mannered, polite and interested in what we were doing there, with most of them donating some of their dinner money to help our dogs which was lovely of them.  

Next we went to Tesco Crawley. They were marvellous considering since we’d arranged and got permission for this event earlier on in the year, the events co-ordinator had left, her replacement was off poorly and nobody else knew we were arriving!!

Thankfully, Emily the customer services manager was lovely and allowed us to pitch up, where we had the most amazing position in their carpark where everybody who went into Tesco could see us. (Thank you Emily and Tesco, you were wonderful.)

This had a massive knock on effect on how busy we were, as hundreds of people were able to come over to see us and say hello. Over 300 to be exact!! Brilliant!! What was even nicer, as this was another ‘first’ for us, loads of people said they were really pleased to see us at Tesco. They must have been because they helped fill three donation pots, plus we had a shopping trolley nearly full of food and treats bought from Tesco for our dogs at Shoreham as well. How cool is that!!

Indie at Tesco Crawley

Thank you customers and staff of Tesco Crawley you have just helped us make a lot of dogs lives a lot more comfortable whilst they are in our care! You also might like to know a dog has already been rehomed from our Shoreham centre, by somebody who visited us at Tesco Crawley. Brilliant!! Let’s hope there are many more to come.

 

Sorry, must dash - people to see, town centres to visit :)

Bye for now.

Update From The Dogmobile

Although you haven’t heard from me for a while, the Dogmobile has still been hard at work motoring around the UK. We're trying to let as many people as possible see some of the lovely dogs that are up for rehoming at our centres.

Newcastle

Since my last post, we have been to Newcastle City Centre, St Albans, Nantwich, Devon, across the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland and Aylesbury for the Bucks Show.

I have to say, after some really nice venues, the Nantwich Show turned out to be a bit tricky. When we arrived, there was another vehicle in our proposed pitch so we couldn't set up and nobody knew where the driver was.

It turns out they had sent our pitch allocations before they had actually measured the plots, then they found they hadn't quite got enough room for everybody. Eventually, after about 3 hours of waiting around, we were told the stand next to us would very kindly move, but wouldn't be able to do so until the following morning. So we left, expecting to have a clear pitch the following day, only to arrive in the morning that the stall next to us had moved, but in the meantime, an ice-cream van had parked there! So we waited another hour wait whilst they found the driver who had wandered off, and we were finally allowed to get in our pitch as the gates were opened to the public. Phew, hectic or what?!

Belfast City Hall

Thankfully, our trip to Northern Ireland ran like clockwork. No gales this year for the ferry over. No torrential rain. No floods whilst we were there. Just beautiful scenery, wonderful people and glorious weather (sort of).

I can’t wait to go again, especially as ‘Scooter’ the Terrier we had with us found a home from somebody seeing him on the Dogmobile.

Aaaah bless! That’s what makes all the hard work all the Dogs Trust staff put in worthwhile.

Maybe the Dogmobile will see you at a venue near where you live soon. If you do spot us, come and say hello, we’d love to have a chat! Bye for now.

Dogmobile Update - July 2013

Some of you may be familiar with our Dogmobile, two mobile units that travel the country, visiting county shows, town centres and supermarkets, showing people what great dogs rescue dogs are. The bright yellow Dogmobiles contain two comfy kennels for the dogs to lounge in for the day, (whilst looking for that perfect home), plus all sorts of other ‘doggy’ information leaflets and ‘goodies’ are on board.  Cathy, Dogmobile 1 Manager, is always here to keep you in the loop about all that is happening in the mobile unit world... :)

__________________________________________________________


Hi, Cathy here!

I’ve just touched base to drop you a line about the Kent County Show we’ve just been to with the Dogmobile.

We had a great time, with two out of the three days being the hottest days of the year so far! (A far cry from the washout last years show was).

 

Everybody was walking around smiling eating ice-creams or strawberries and cream, not having to carry brollies and raincoats for a change! It was so nice.

Dogs Trust Chairman Mr Philip Daubeny and Mr Tim Pearey another of our Trustees were enjoying the show with friends on the Sunday and they popped over to say hello.

Philip, John, Tim, Olivia, Stanley, Otis & Hebe!

Dogs Trust had a Free ‘Doggie Crèche’ at the showground this year. It was the first time we had done it, and it was a roaring success. We had plenty of hot, tired dogs getting a couple of hours well-earned rest and a cooling paddle in the paddling pools. They LOVED it!

Talking of the sun, it’s actually been around for a few of our events recently - Stirling Town Centre in Scotland, Cheshire Show, and the Norfolk Show where I met Jake Humphrey and couldn’t resist getting a photo with him!

Fudge at Stirling Town Centre

 

Amway, I’ll let the pictures do the talking. Here’s hoping the warm weather stays around for a few more months………. maybe till November??

Chipping at the Norfolk Show

Elsa at the Cheshire Show

 

Jake Humphrey

Otis at the Cheshire Show

Stirling Town Centre

Stirling Town Centre

 Thanks!

 

Another update from the Dogmobile - 2013

Some of you may be familiar with our Dogmobile, two mobile units that travel the country, visiting county shows, town centres and supermarkets, showing people what great dogs rescue dogs are. The bright yellow Dogmobiles contain two comfy kennels for the dogs to lounge in for the day, (whilst looking for that perfect home), plus all sorts of other ‘doggy’ information leaflets and ‘goodies’ are on board.  Cathy, Dogmobile 1 Manager, is always here to keep you in the loop about all that is happening in the mobile unit world... :)

__________________________________________________________

SUN...

I can’t quite remember when it was now but it wasn’t that long ago…

I distinctly remember sitting outside the unit at Asda Sittingbourne, Kent, with a beautiful Lurcher called ‘Axel’, we were relaxing and enjoying the lovely warm day. We were even in our short sleeves it was that warm!!

Axel

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen much of it since again. In fact it feels like winter today!

We did however manage to nearly get away with a completely dry East Anglian Game Fair this year which was great, It certainly brought the crowds out this year. We had ‘Rebel’ a lovely Greyhound looking for a home. He loved all the fuss he was getting, not letting some people leave as he was leaning on them so much. Talk about ‘pushy’!

East Anglian Game Fair

 

We’ve also been to a completely new show this year, called the Cowpie Show which was near Dorking, Surrey. I was a bit concerned when I first drove to the show to put the Dogmobile in, as all the roads were literally ‘lanes’ with twists and turns and small bridges to cross. Not the easiest of roads to negotiate in the unit I can tell you! The roads just kept getting smaller and smaller until suddenly I turned into this road and saw a field full of stalls and a fairground being erected. Goodness knows how most of their trucks got there, but there they were!! It was kind of surreal to be one moment driving round these beautiful country lanes, and the next, turning into a field in the middle of nowhere, bustling with activity with trucks, stands being erected, fairground music blaring and lots of people coming and going!

It was a great day though, and for once the sun shone all day until the last half hour, when the heavens opened and cleared the showground pretty swiftly. 

Everybody seemed to have a great day out and I even saw a Police Dog on a Tricycle!! (Not a real one obviously, but the kids didn’t know that). 

If you are planning on visiting any of the shows we are attending this summer, please pack some sunshine in your bags :)

Many thanks

Cathy