A Keep Canines Cosy update: we've been inundated!

We're almost speechless.

Our Hope Project has been busy assisting dog owners who are homeless or in housing crisis since 1994. This is certainly not the first year that the small but dedicated team has relied on the generosity and thoughtfulness of volunteers and donors to stuff stockings, ensuring that both dogs and owners get a little festive cheer over Christmas. But the response to this year's call out for knitted coats has been absolutely unprecedented.

Word travelled further than ever before, with boosts from the wonderfully supportive knitting and craft press as well as a much-appreciated tweet from John Barrowman helping to keep the momentum going. Knitting groups put signs up in shops and spurred each other on, individuals tweeted us weekly updates on their progress and every week a stack of requests for patterns came in through the inbox as people spotted the campaign on this blog, on Facebook or Twitter, in their favourite reads or in our supporter magazine, Wag!.

Over 1,000 volunteers answered the call, and we're so grateful to each and every one. And if you missed it this year or want to have another go, we will undoubtedly be putting the word out again next year - watch this space next Autumn!


Clare Kivlehan, who manages the project, says:

“The response from the public has been amazing. We have received hundreds of beautifully knitted jumpers of all shapes and sizes from people all over the UK who want to makes sure that dogs in less fortunate circumstances are well looked after this Christmas. 

Many knitters even knitted scarves for the dog owners and wrote personal letters to go with their gifts. We are delighted we can make the festive season a little brighter this year with the addition of some cosy dog jumpers in the hampers.”

Here you can see some lucky dogs, all of whom belong to Dogs Trust HQ staff, testing out the goods before they get packed into hampers. 

In the meantime, if your knitting fingers are feeling restless why not:

• Knit a blanket for your local centre (you're welcome to drop in and deliver it during opening hours or pop one in the post)
  
• Start a stack for next year's Hope Project appeal (!)
  
• Handcraft some gorgeous goods to sell and raise funds for us on eBay

If you know anyone who could benefit from the assistance of the Hope Project, please share with them the information from our website.

Dogs Trust Honours 2012: Celebrating Dogs!

This Monday was our Dogs Trust Honours awards, an annual celebration of the absolute wonder that is dogs. Categories including Dogged Devotion and Dog's Best Friend found very worthy finalists and winners, having been judged by our fabulous celebrity panel*, and Mirror readers and Dogs Trust supporters weighed in on the truly extraordinary tales that made up the nominees for Hero Service Dog and Hero Pet Dog.

The evening, held at the Honourable Artillery Company, was hosted by dog-loving Dragon Deborah Meaden, and saw the winning dogs, their families and a host of wonderful celebrity supporters come together.

Attendees and award presenters included Brix Smith Start, Funda Onal, Ben de Lisi, Kaye Adams, David van Day and Sue Moxley, Brian Murphy and Linda Regan, Marc Abraham, Dawn Porter, Kevin Sacre and Camilla Dallerup, Sarah-Jane Honeywell, Matthew Wright, Abi Titmuss, Meg Matthews, Lynette Peck Bateman and Nick Bateman.

Guests mingled over teacup cocktails and sweet treats and were willingly upstaged by their canine companions, from Gladys and Pixie the Smith Start pug superstars to ex-Dogs Trust Harefield Underdog star Sven Sacre. Lynette was delighted to be able to bring ex-Dogs Trust Canterbury sweetie Polar - we simply wouldn't be doing it right if we couldn't make it a dog-friendly event! The dogs got their very own butlers serving canine-conscious snacks.

Last but not least, we have to give a special mention to long-term supporter John Barrowman - that's our Digital Marketing Manager Jacqui grabbing a picture with while she was busy running around tweeting the event! Note Charlie having a good look at Homer, our logo dog... Former Dogs Trust Bridgend resident Charlie was himself a winner in the Media Mutt category.

Dogs Trust Bridgend is celebrating Charlie's win by listing lots of personal items and clothes kindly donated by Charlie's pet John on eBay in the second sale from the phenomenal donation made to our Cowbridge charity shop. Get bidding - there are swimming trunks in there!


And now, of course, the reason all these wonderful people came together: the winners!

Dogged Devotion in association with Live With... - dogs that provided extraordinary emotional or medical support to owners

Winner: Ajay

Ajay has been a constant source of companionship and support to the Brown-Griffin family through some incredibly tough times. Ajay originally came to live with them as Tony's (the mother) seizure alert dog and would warn her before she suffered an epileptic fit. Soon after Ajay joined the family they discovered they were expecting a child with a potentially fatal heart condition. Ajay was present during the birth and stayed in hospital with the family, even sleeping by newborn Mimi's cot; he also offered constant support during the little girl's heart reconstruction surgery. After the birth Tony suffered catastrophic bleeds in her eyes and was registered blind. Ajay quickly became her guide dog, without any special training, as well as still fulfilling his previous role. Ajay has now retired due to hip dysplasia but is casting a watchful over Tony's new working dog Hetty.





Dog's Best Friend in association with Dogs Today - a human who has gone the extra mile for dogs

Winner: Carlos Parreira

Carlos Parreira was nominated by his colleague at Little Dog Rescue. Carlos demonstrates a huge commitment to dog welfare and at only 15 years old has helped improve the quality of many dogs' lives. Carlos has been volunteering at the kennels for the past three years and has taken on caring for several elderly dogs. His commitment to the cause also saw him complete a bike ride from John O'Groats to Lands End for the rescue centre when he was 14. Carlos' dedication to animals is second to none and he gives up most of his spare time to help his four-legged friends.









Hero Dogs in association with  The Mirror  - rewarding spectacular acts of bravery or courageous feats


Winner, Pet Dog: Izzy

Izzy was nominated for saving the life of her diabetic owner's life, David Robinson, not once, but twice! On the first occasion she alerted David's wife Julie that something was wrong in the bathroom. After forcing her way into the room Julie found David unconscious on the floor, thankfully Izzy prevented an unimaginable situation and her instinct saved his life. The hairy hero then went onto show such dedication again when David had a hypoglycaemic attack in his sleep. Izzy is not a trained diabetic alert dog, she has quite simply become a little lifesaver with incredibly loyalty.









Winner, Service Dog: Aman

Aman is a police dog for the Suffolk Police and last year displayed true heroics when he was stabbed multiple times by an armed man. The stabbing happened after Aman had been sent into challenge the man in line with his training and whilst holding onto the assailant's arm he received repeated stab wounds to his body, causing serious blood loss. The man also stabbed Aman's handler during the ensuing struggle. Despite both having significant injuries they both continued to assist their colleagues in the eventual restraint and disarming of the subject. Both survived the attack and continue to work together.









Media Mutt - dogs in the public eye

Winner: Charlie (see above!)

Take a look at our Facebook album of the event to see more of the wonderful winners and celebrity guests - I particularly love those Meaden / Barrowman smooches!

Want to read more? (Of course you do!)

Check out our Hero Dog sponsors the Mirror and their wonderful account of the night. Lynette Peck Bateman has also already posted her simply lovely post (pun intended!) on her Lovely's Vintage blog, and you can see Marc 'the vet' Abraham's Facebook album of snaps from the night here.

Update: More blogtastic fabulousness from Lynette here, and John Barrowman's website has a lovely celebration of Charlie's win too!


* The judging panel:

Head Judge - Clarissa Baldwin, OBE (Chief Executive, Dogs Trust)
Deborah Meaden
Paul and Jackie Ross
Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford
Ben de Lisi
Dawn Porter
Richard Caring

Dogs Trust News Roundup

Hello hello. It's been a little quiet in our social sphere of late as we've been working hard on the kind of behind-the-scenes stuff that is not very flashy or visible but none-the-less very necessary. Here's a quick run down of what's been going on that you might or might not know about.

Waggy Walks

You should have heard about this one! The digital team (minus Lo who sadly can't make it) is getting ready for the six-mile trek around Finsbury Park on Sunday and is fundraising furiously. Many thanks to those who have already chipped in. At work, we've been organising emails to thousands of people encouraging them to join the near-4,000 who have already signed up for the walk. You can still come along on the day if you haven't registered; just come along to the starting point of the walk between 9 and 10am to let us know you're walking. Check out the website to find the event nearest to you.

New Website

We've been mumbling about a new website for some time now, and it looks as though we'll be able to reveal all by the end of the year. But as the various pre-launch milestones come thick and fast we're furiously working away, making lists and - like Santa - checking them twice, to ensure that copy is accurate, links work and all the new features we're dying to show off work properly. Stick with us - we think you'll like what's coming!

ICAWC

The International Companion Animal Welfare Conference has just been and gone, bringing together 280 delegates from 38 countries and 107 animal welfare groups. Covering everything from veterinary issues to shelter management and fundraising, the expert speakers did a fantastic job in sharing information that is key to those trying to help animals around the world. Jacqui was there to do her bit by running a workshop all about digital marketing and website building on restricted budgets. The presentations are now available online for viewing and download; watch the website for details about the 2010 conference.

Q&A

Meanwhile, Jacqui, Lo and I might be quieter than normal at the moment, but we are definitely listening and responding to all your questions, be they in our supporter inbox, on Facebook, via Twitter, through Bebo, at the DoggySnaps forum or on any of our other online pages. Please keep questions and comments coming; we're always happy to help.

By the way, remember I told you that John Barrowman's fans made a generous donation in honour of his debut in La Cage aux Folles? Well we also just received a whopping £1451.90 from the eBay auction of two pairs of his tights from his last panto season (there was a website-related delay which meant it's only been confirmed now). It's official: we love the man and we love his fans!

John Barrowman shows off fans' fundraising efforts for Dogs Trust

John Barrowman's fans raised over a thousand pounds for Dogs Trust to mark his opening night in La Cage aux Folles in the West End. Here he is at the theatre with the certificate we sent him to mark their wonderful generosity.



Thanks for the support John and fans!

[www.johnbarrowman.com]