Small Dog Rescue
This was the brainchild of Pat Kaye. Having lost one of her dogs to illness whilst living in Spain in 2005 she went on to become very active in a variety of dog rescue activities and has remained so ever since.
Initially Pat was involved with Finding Romanian dogs homes after seeing how badly they are treated in overseas countries. She started working with the Romanian Rescue Appeal. This led to her also working with Chihuahua Rescue, Rommie rescue and other rescues.
Pat established Small Dog Rescue in 2016. The fact is that many of the dogs that come over to the UK and rehomed by rescue associations are dogs, which are rescued from killing sheds. Countries like Romania, The Azores and the Spanish Mainland have a huge problem with homeless dogs and people like Pat and SDR are an essential part of finding them homes here in the UK.
Since establishing Small Dog rescue Pat has concentrated on smaller breed dogs these are easier to home and since 2016 Pat and her small team which consist of admin, home checkers and fosterers who take dogs in to live with their families have rescued and rehomed over 250 dogs. In January 2018 SDR have rescued over 24 dogs. The task is ever increasing and needs the dedication of people like Pat Kaye and her team. SDR rely entirely on donations or Pat and her team use their own money to help the little dogs find safety.
To adopt a SD rescue dog costs around £250 to £300 depending where the dog is coming from, this covers pet passport, vet checks, vaccinations, micro chipping, spaying/neutering and travel to the UK. Sometimes especially with dogs that have skin conditions or long coated dogs they also need the attention of groomers. The dogs are taken from the killing sheds to a foster family in the country of rescue and then all the health matters are attended to. Meantime Pats UK based admin are busy advertising and contacting potential adopters to find a forever home. Many of the rescued dogs are with a fosterer whilst home visits are carried out to be sure that the dog is going to a suitable safe loving home. One of the key features of Pat and her teams’ works is that if after adopting a dog things do not work out for whatever reason then the dog will be returned to SDR and go through the process again to find another potential family.
Pat has foster carers all over the country but tries to keep local to Sussex/Surrey if possible. We are always on the look out for fosterer’s willing to take in a small dog until a forever home is found.
Sometimes foster families have a dog for as short a time as 48 hours but in other cases it can be longer. The fosterer will assess the dog eg how it is with cats etc. But mostly their job is to give the dog love and security and make the dog feel welcome and safe.
