Sandie

FIRST CO-ORDINATOR IN IRELAND AND OUR FOUNDER

Sandie lives, breathes and sleeps with her doggy cap on. Her phone never stopped ringing and she often had to drive to the other side of Ireland at the drop of a hat to pick up a dog in trouble. She witnessed life at the sharp end, where conditions were abhorrent.

She regularly had to go into the Pounds, to collect dogs who were signed out to her and, there, she had to see the rows of innocent faces of dogs who were not going to be as lucky as the dogs she rescued. It is heartbreaking having to leave all those dogs behind and, knowing their inevitable fate, it takes it’s toll but nobody can save them all:((

Many times, Sandie nursed sick dogs back to health like Shannon who was rescued in January 2004 and became the mascot for Irish Retriever Rescue when it was formed. She had been living in filthy conditions in a small concrete pen with her mother and brother to whom she had recently had a litter of pups.

She weighed 17 kilos and was terrified of human contact and couldn’t make eye contact. Sudden movements and loud noises made her stand rigid with fear. She had very little hair on her body and she was covered in sores, lesions and small nodules all over her body.

Friends said she should be put her to sleep but Sandie couldn’t do that without giving her a shot at life by letting her see that not all humans were to be feared.

She was too frightened to take her to the vet so friends donated products such as Aloe Vera, Propolis Creme, Aloe Juice and a Detox and, gradually, she began her physical recovery.

Sandie left it very much to her other 6 dogs to do the emotional healing, which they were very successful at and it was through watching their interaction with humans that she learnt to trust them so much so that, within a short time, she greeted visitors with a wag of the tail and was very happy to see people.

Shannon’s physical and emotional scars healed but, sadly, because she was so mal-nourished as a pup, she could put on little weight and, in December 2004, she was diagnosed with Osteoporosis. Fortunately, her fantastic vet mainly treated her homeopathically and with other natural products.

Her condition could not be reversed but, by taking the natural treatments for the rest of her life, Sandie and her vet tried to arrest her condition. Her early treatment had ravaged her body in so many ways that, unfortunately, all was not bright for her future and, sadly, in March 2006, Shannon died.

There were many times when Sandie had to say “goodbye” to dogs who were too ill to be helped but she comforted herself knowing, at least, they had felt the warmth of her loving arms as they passed over, rather than dying, afraid and alone, in appalling conditions or in the Pound into which they had been abandoned.

Many dogs have lived in Sandie’s house over the years, mostly foster dogs that she had rescued but, at the time of this picture, Sandie was also sharing her home with these Forever Dogs, Anouska, Tina, Jordan, Barkley, Monty & Molly (all Golden Retrievers) as well as Isabelle (Dachshund) and Jessica (Lab/Pointer Cross).

Most of the IRR dogs were fostered by Sandie before making their journey to safety across the Irish Sea but some, like Barkley and Jessica and her Forever Foster Dogs never left!

Her own dogs always welcomed new dogs into their home and helped with the important process of rehabilitation. They also loved it when human friends came to visit. Isabelle, the Dachshund, was herself a rescue with a very sad history but she liked to make sure she got centre stage attention. She also had a party piece of disappearing into the wardrobe when she suffered with phantom pregnancies.

Anouska had a hip score of 83 and had never ever seen a vet in her life. Jordan and Tina are daughter and Mum not that you’d ever tell. IRR Barkley was healthy but quite mad and loved to carry things in his mouth, preferably in pairs or even 2 pairs!!!!

Isabelle loved to cuddle one of her sisters or brother (if Sandie wasn’t around) whilst sleeping. Jessica and Isabelle especially loved to cuddle up together

Monty and Molly joined the family in 2009

Molly had been incontinent all of her life. Her previous owner had taken her to the Veterinary College as a 16-week-old pup but he didn’t proceed with any treatment recommended by them. As she lived outside, it had never really been a problem for him but it was getting to the stage where he had to change her bedding (probably straw) every 3-4 days!!!

Poor Molly was full of fleas and very timid when she first arrived. When she lay on Sandie’s tiled floor she was wet up to her shoulders.

Needless to say, Sandie wasn’t going to say “no” to the poor girl and she became a Forever Foster

Her treatments included acupuncture and, once she felt settled, Molly became a very outgoing little lady who just wanted to have fun. She got on well with all Sandie’s dogs but was convinced she was top dog and didn’t like her sleep to be disturbed (not unlike her Mum really).

Molly was such a joy to have around that her incontinence was no problem at all for Sandie. Having a tiled floor throughout her bungalow meant a bucket and mop kept at hand always did the job. Molly got used to her baths so that was no longer a struggle either and she grew to love her home comforts like sleeping on the sofa always cuddled up to another dog.

Sandie was alerted to a stray Golden Retriever the day before she was due to leave Dublin for the Annual Reunion so she had to arrange foster care for Monty whilst she was away. That evening, when Alison picked him up, Sandie learned that he had Demodex Mange. When Sandie returned from the Reunion on the Monday evening, Alison took him to Sandie and she was totally shocked by his condition.

It was obvious that Monty and Sandie were in for a long hard slog as she was determined that he was going to be treated naturally so Monty also became a Forever Foster dog. Homeopathy and acupuncture were also part of his treatments.

Monty, however, was not as good a patient as Molly and he resisted by growling and moaning very loudly as well as being determined to get down from the table at all costs.

His skin gradually improved and, like Molly, he became the cuddliest of dogs as well as getting chilling off to a fine art.

After many years of rescuing dogs before and during IRR’s time, because of health reasons, Sandie could no longer foster which meant our dogs had to begin to go into kennels which broke Sandie’s heart.

A short time afterwards, having found someone else who would take over the Irish side of IRR, she retired from the rescue altogether.