IRR Sponsor Dogs
For many years, we have had a few dogs who have required on-going medical treatment which needed extra special care and attention. These are our Forever Foster dogs.
We also have very special dogs many of whom have often had their own severe problems, usually because of their previous treatment, but who have been lucky enough to have been adopted by the most devoted IRR team members and supporters.
These unselfish dogs have been delighted to be our wonderful Sponsor Dogs who have been happy to share their brilliant lives with their generous Sponsors. By doing this, they have raised much needed funds to enable IRR to help many other needy dogs when nobody else cared.
Sadly, Our Sponsor Dogs Are No Longer Able to Accept New Sponsors
Please accept our apologies but, unfortunately, for several reasons, mostly bereavements, our Sponsor Dogs were no longer able to accept any new Sponsors so from 1st January 2019, Sponsorships were no longer renewed.
All existing Sponsorships were be honoured, where possible, but the last official newsletter and card went out at Christmas 2019.
An exception was Connie who had to retire earlier due to the ill health of her lovely Mum, Belinda, for which she apologized in A Message from Connie Of course, sadly, subsequently Belinda passed away.
Gizzie remembered many of the early Sponsor Dogs in his PAWITRY
IRR would like to thank all the much-valued Sponsors and, of course, the Sponsor Dogs and their wonderful owners who have, generously, given their time and have spent their own money on cards and postage etc so every penny of donations went to help the needy IRR dogs.
Our Surviving Sponsor Dogs
The Sponsor Dogs Who Crossed Rainbow Bridge in 2019
Sponsor Dogs Who Had Already Crossed Rainbow Bridge
THE STORY OF A VERY SPECIAL SPONSORSHIP
Hilary Cassidy and Eric Wilson were married on 3 September 2008.
They decided to forsake the usual wedding favours for something a little bit different to celebrate their wedding as they have been lifelong lovers and owners of Golden Retrievers. They had recently lost their own beautiful Golden Retriever, Honey, aged 15yrs, and all of this was dedicated to her memory, as a fitting tribute to their very special friend.
We were delighted that they very generously chose to sponsor our IRR dogs for one year and in accordance with their wishes, we added their names to all our existing sponsor dogs at the time. We also included Zach and Bertie (who had officially retired but were happy to be reinstated for this very special sponsorship) making a total of 15 dogs.
We awarded honorary sponsorship to 5 other Goldens for this occasion, namely Danny, Honey, Bunny, Connie and Penny to make the number of dogs up to 20, one for each table.
Connie and Penny went on to become full-time Sponsor Dogs.
Sadly, Zach, Penny, Danny and Honeyall went to join Zena, Jimmy, Pudsey, Nugget and Bouncer on the other side of Rainbow Bridge.
Penny 
Danny 
Honey 
Bunny 
Connie
THE WEDDING BREAKFAST
The 20 wedding tables accommodated 8 guests on each. Every table had a picture of a Sponsor Dog, in the form of a wedding congratulations card which was signed by the guests and every guest was given a small gift from our range of merchandise such as a key ring, fridge magnet, notebook or bookmark. Hilary and Eric also had the usual sponsorship certificates for each dog and were absolutely delighted with everything.
IRR were really grateful to Belinda and Terry, our marvellous merchandise wizards, for all their hard work and to the willing owners of our Sponsor Dogs who help them to write their letters and send their cards to their sponsors.
Because of Hilary and Eric’s generosity, we were able to pay for the transportation, neutering and micro-chipping of a rescue dog from Ireland so another life was saved thanks to them.
Sponsorship started on 20 August 2008 which was also Hilary’s birthday so all the dogs’ paws were busy putting pen to paper to send their birthday wishes and to introduce themselves. They also sent quarterly updates and cards for Eric’s birthday and for Christmas and, of course, in this case, to congratulate the very special, happy couple on their First Wedding Anniversary.
We all sent Hilary and Eric our very best wishes and heartfelt congratulations on the occasion of their wedding and could not thank them enough for their very kind and generous support of Irish Retriever Rescue.
We were delighted that they, very generously, chose to sponsor our IRR dogs for one year and in accordance with their wishes, we added their names to all our existing sponsor dogs at the time.
HOW WE SPENT DONATIONS BACK IN 2008
- A £10 sponsorship paid for us to microchip a dog or purchase a bottle of flower essences to help our dogs overcome their past traumas gently and naturally.
- Three people sponsoring gave us £30 to pay for a bioflow collar for an elderly dog.
- Six people sponsoring gave us £60 to pay for arthritis medication for our forever fosters.
- Nine people sponsoring gave us £90 to pay for the transport of another dog over from Ireland.
- Ten people sponsoring gave us £100 for a male dog to be castrated.
- Sixteen people sponsoring gave us £160 to pay for spaying a bitch.
Vet bills can be crippling but we always did and still do our best for every dog.
Occasionally, dogs sometimes need major surgery whilst others just need a short course of medication, but every £10 of sponsor money helped to lessen our load.
Every penny still counts, so bless you all for your generosity and for sponsoring our dogs.
Another way to help, and at the same time, have a lovely personal gift or one for a friend, was by buying merchandise.
Originally, this had all been lovingly created for us by two extremely creative and talented adopters, the wonderful Belinda and Terry.
We thank them so much for all they do.
We were so grateful to them for all they continued to do until 2019 when Belinda passed away after a very long battle with cancer.