Angel Crofton

GOODBYE SWEET ANGEL (2nd JULY 2021)

An extremely sad Lorraine told us, “Kathryn had recently received the devastating news that her time with Angel was severely limited. At 4.25pm today, Angel was guided by the other angels to be reunited with her dearly missed brothers over the Bridge. Please keep her and my dearest soul sister Kathryn in your thoughts. xx”

THOUGHTS FROM KATHRYN (10.7.2021)

Today, Charlie is 14! wow what a milestone.

Last year, my mum, Laurel, Angel, Gromit, Buddy, Sadie and Clementine were alive to help celebrate. This year, Laurel, Hardy, Buddy, Cooper, Gromit, Balthazar and Angel celebrate in heaven.

My mum is in a nursing home but Charlie, Sadie, Queenie and Clementine will celebrate with friends as we equally celebrate Jan and Andy’s birthdays and Lorraine and Andy’s wedding anniversary.

It is certainly a couple of years to reflect on, sad ones, devastating ones, and tough ones. The rain on my parade hasn’t ended Charlie isn’t well and neither is Sadie. We are all in cheerful moods today, so, for today at least, we will make the sunshine. Happy Birthday wonderful Charlie.

KATHRYN REMEMBERS (20.7. 2021)

Kathryn said “I haven’t yet been able to write a full memorial for her as it is just too difficult but I will one day. It does help when we have good friends who know what it is like and how much grief that we endure when our little one passes, especially, when, in Angel’s case, it took almost two years for her to put her demons to rest. However, Angel knew she was loved and she was finally happy in her own skin. 

I smile when I remember how she was a barterer (she would grab something and then decide you could have it back if you gave her something of a higher value in exchange). She was a chewer of every left shoe she could get her paws on, as well as some nice blankets. 

She was a lover, who loved every dog that came through the door regardless of whether it was temporary or not. 

She was Charlie’s mate and he is lost without her but, with a couple of new fosters, he is starting to live again. 

She was unique, a minx, who had the loudest bark until Sadie brought it up a notch. 

She was gentle, annoying, stubborn, difficult, wonderful, a little crazy and the sweetest girl alive. 
Angel is in Heaven now with so many others, but, their love given to us is a gift, and the grief when they are gone is the payment for that gift”.

ANGEL HAS BEEN A MUCH LOVED SPONSOR DOG

Angel was very happy to be a sponsor dog on behalf of all the other dogs who, through no fault of their own, find themselves unwanted and unneeded.

She knew that the money she raised would help pay for other dogs like her to be transported to the UK, to be treated by vets for any problems they might have and to get a second chance at life and find a home where they could be cherished and loved.

MANY THANKS TO ANGEL’S SPONSORERS

Maria Dean
Kathryn Crofton
Laurel, Hardy, Charlie and Angel
Rita Moohan
Tina Kingham
Christopher Waters
Maura Coyle
Pat Arnold
Pauline Jefferey
Shane Wakefield
Jennifer Small

ANGEL’S HISTORY

Angel was called Penny when she was surrendered to IRR by her loving family as they no could no longer give her the time she needed. She lived outside and had had very little interaction with other dogs with no social skills. She had a few behavioural issues which had to be ironed out before being rehomed. She spent a week at the Dog Ranch www.thedogranch.ie with Keith and Rhonda and their dogs where she very quickly learned a few boundaries and how to live with a pack. Angel is a pale cream coloured pure bred golden retriever who is spayed, micro-chipped and vaccinated.

She was slighty overweight due to so little exercise but will soon drop this when she gets into a daily exercise regime again. She is a lovely, big, strong, friendly dog who will probably be best suited to a home without cats or very young children due to her energetic and boisterous nature.

ANGEL HAS FOUND HER FOREVER HOME (December 2011)

1st UPDATE FROM ANGEL’S FOREVER HOME (December 2011)

Angel now lives very happily with Kathryn in Dublin together with golden retrievers Hardy, Laurel and her best friend Charlie. She is very settled in her new environment enjoying her long runs on the beach with her 3 golden boys before Kathryn goes to work in the morning, then again in the evening when Kathryn returns. Angel has learned how good life can be and is now enjoying becoming a very integral part of a pack. She is a much calmer, happier girl now and will continue to learn from Kathryn’s three retriever boys.

2nd UPDATE FROM ANGEL’S FOREVER HOME (January 2012)

When I first met Penny she was about to be adopted by someone else. Circumstances decreed that she was a little too much to handle. To be honest, the minute I saw her I was disappointed, in fact I could have kicked myself. All I could think of was ‘just like Charlie – so very like Charlie. Oh, well, too late, such a shame, but I hope she has a great home.’

I live with my mum who is in her eighties and have three male Goldens, Laurel, Hardy and Charlie, all brothers. Charlie belonged to someone who also couldn’t look after him and I am blessed to be his mum. Charlie was always the ‘third wheel’. He was different. He loved the ball, running around like a lunatic and chasing balloons and bubbles, just like Penny. Laurel and Hardy are happy in each other’s company pulling each other around by the ears
.
What can I say? I just knew. Penny was going to be Charlie’s Angel. She was his female counterpart. Charlie and herself are glued to the hip. She arrived a bundle of beans, nervous, naturally, head shy and unsocialised with both dogs and people. It took some time, a ‘one to one’ walk in the morning and evening broke the back of it. She adores Charlie. The first night I bought her a separate bed with pink duvet and pink fleece and the boys were in their own bed. She was having none of it and started making her nest in the boys’ bed. All of the dogs now walk together in unison. They are a really cohesive unit. When Charlie wasn’t well, (and he isn’t completely recovered yet), she stayed up all night kissing him, licking him and smooching beside him.

I brought Penny and the boys to the private stud farm where my horse is just outside Dublin, she was scared of the horses but eventually took everything in her stride. Most of my friends are girls and she is very comfortable around them, she is however, a different dog around men – completely different. There was a man there and she was terrified, cowering with her tail between her legs and glued herself to the side of the wall. It was only when I put my scent on his hand that she accepted him, though not completely. I feel that this is an issue which must be addressed in a happy, carefree atmosphere. That is what I am trying to do at the weekends. I know a couple who bring their Golden down to play on the beach with my dogs as well as lots of other Goldens and am hoping that this fear of men will subside in time.

I renamed her Angel, and she is completely at home with my other male Golden’s, her ‘brothers’, Laurel, Hardy and Charlie who love their new ‘sister’. Now that Angel is part of the family, they are all starting their life together, a journey of new smells and sounds, of discovering the beach and getting absolutely mucky in the 300 acres around the local university campus! Angel will blossom into the most fantastic girl because the future is bright and the possibilities endless. There was always someone missing and we didn’t know who it was until Angel came, her happiness is infectious, we are so blessed to have her in our family.

3rd UPDATE FROM ANGEL’S FOREVER HOME (April 2012)

Since Angel’s last update I am delighted to say that she has made incredible progress with her fear of men. She still has a little way to go but her intense fear has regressed about 80%. Angel’s happiness has without doubt increased and is more infectious than ever, so much so in fact, that if any of the rest of her ‘brothers’ Laurel, Hardy and Charlie are feeling down for whatever reason, she bounces around reminding them that, just because it’s lashing rain is no reason to feel depressed. There are lots of wonderful things to do INDOORS!!

I have always believed that dogs heal each other and to see how this works is truly amazing. Angel doesn’t like to see her ‘brothers’ mock fighting or getting too rough with each other, and without me having to intervene, she will remind them in no uncertain terms that that type of behaviour is unacceptable and to ‘get with the programme’. She really is their ‘Guardian Angel’.

Angel has also helped my brother’s dog ‘Balthazar’, a beautiful 18 month Old English Sheepdog, who was incredibly nervous and grumpy in company and didn’t want to associate with more than one dog at a time. I look after him three or four times a week and he has also ‘got with the programme’; his character, largely due to Angel, has almost overnight become much more positive, outgoing and fun-loving. He is in fact, a different dog.

Angel, Charlie, Laurel, Hardy and Balthazar go to doggy day care at ‘positivedogtraining’ in Sandyford, Co. Dublin with Suzi Walsh three times a week. They go from 07.30 to 6.00pm and appear on the photos in their facebook page. They absolutely love it. They are stimulated, challenged and have lots of fun socializing with lots of other dogs under strict supervision. I was right in thinking that Angel would blossom but, I didn’t think it would be so soon and that she would help an awkward, nervous, grumpy and fearful Old English Sheepdog to blossom too, so you could say that Angel has rescued all of us and continues to do so filling our home with love and the importance of helping each other reach their maximum potential through fun, bouncing around like a looney and the simple feeling of life isn’t just good, it’s grrrrreat!!

4th UPDATE FROM ANGEL’S FOREVER HOME (December 2012)

Angel will be celebrating a year with us on 14th December 2012 as that’s the day I took her home. Party time!! Angel’s happiness is as infectious as ever and her smile is so broad that she has wrinkles on the side of her mouth. Angel’s fear of men has regressed further and although not 100% is heading swiftly in that direction. Laurel, Hardy, and Charlie are mad about their ‘sister’ and are completely at ease in each others company.

Angel has calmed down considerably but still bounces around like a loony. I love that about her, she bounces about whether it’s raining or sunny reminding everybody that we should treasure every day as though it were our last, making each day count. It’s as though she is ‘in love with life’. She has developed into a ‘lickaroo’ licking you from head to toe. I truly, have never seen a dog so infected with happiness.

Angel still doesn’t like to see her ‘brothers’ mock fighting or getting too rough with each other and is the referee without any fear. They of course, do what she wants and stop immediately. They have stopped going to ‘positivedogtraining’ in Sandyford, Co. Dublin. We go for long walks instead now and they seem to enjoy that just as much. My mum is at home with them during the day and they look after her. They sleep in the kitchen on big soft beds, with lots of soft blankets, next to the radiator. Angel has a perfect spot and plants her bottom next to the radiator and snoozes.

Charlie as ever, is her knight in shining armour, and when you see Angel, Charlie is never far behind. I am quite amazed how two dogs could bond so closely with each other. They are bubble and ball fanatics and suit each other perfectly. Angel is absolutely mad about Charlie and he is equally nutty about her. Right now, I would say that life is pretty perfect and I know that they think so too!

5th UPDATE FROM ANGEL’S FOREVER HOME (October 2013)

Almost another year has passed since Angel came to live with us. So many things have happened. She tends to be wary of newcomers initially, whether male or female, until she realizes that they mean no harm and then she settles. I think that ‘wariness’ will always be there. She is incredibly protective of the ‘pack’ and sees it as her duty to warn me or her ‘brothers’ of unfamiliar people approaching the house.

When a familiar dog or friend comes to visit, Angel flips into ‘whoppee mode’ chasing her tail and wagging it so furiously, you would think the energy required would be able to light up a house! She has really blossomed. I am still mesmerized as how happy is and how well she fits in with us all. She is still a devoted ‘lickaroo’ making sure we still get our daily bath of licks – brothers included.

I have long since been acutely aware of how intelligent Angel is, and so decided to see if she would be able to get into the Dog Club run by the Dublin Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (DSPCA) and so after working with her, she passed her test with flying colours. She then took part in the Good Citizen Canine course and subsequent exam run by the Irish Kennel Club and again, received full marks, completing each part of the exam with perfect precision and is awaiting her rosette and certificate.

Angel is currently doing the DSPCA Agility Training which she loves once a week. She is kept, physically, emotionally and mentally challenged. She attends the DSPCA Doggy Day Care three times a week with her brothers. They do everything from scent games to learning new tricks. She greets me in the morning with a wagging tail, a lick or two or three and a broad smile. On other mornings and evenings we go for walks in UCD or the beach, paddling and chasing the waves with her brothers. She is very much ‘in love with life’ and I believe she truly knows how much she is loved and how we couldn’t possibly imagine life without our perfect Angel.

6TH UPDATE FROM ANGEL’S FOREVER HOME (May 2015)

Kathryn says “Angel’s last update was October 2013 so that’s more than 18 months ago. Time flies. She is still as happy as Larry and loves Charlie as much as ever. Charlie, being 8yrs in July, has started to slow down a bit but Angel keeps him going and won’t let him stop for a minute.

It has been a manic year for IRR but that doesn’t stop Angel having to put in her two cents worth. This year, we haven’t done street collecting, which is a shame as Angel and her brothers love it, but, hopefully, we will get some done soon and the DSPCA daycare is always a favourite. We are also hoping to get a break and go down the country but that depends on how busy we are. Nevertheless, we have promised Angel and her brothers that we will have a holiday this year, even if it is just a short break.

We are looking forward to the IRR PAWS walk in Belfast on 21st June where Angel and her brothers will take part with Heather Hawthorne, the Northern Ireland IRR Co-ordinator,
and her wonderful dog, Pepper. Angel still loves paw writing to her many sponsors and hopes to get more in order to raise more money for the many Golden Retrievers that need help.