Update regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

Update regarding COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

As per the latest government guidelines we have made the decision to close the Tia kennels and site to visitors with immediate effect. However, we will still be rehoming dogs but BY APPOINTMENT ONLY.

We have to ensure we minimise the risk of exposure to COVID-19 for all staff to maintain the support needed by all animals currently homed at Tia.

To make an appointment to rehome a dog please contact us on 01302 772935.

Thank you for your understanding in these challenging times.

Country-wide dog vomiting outbreak

There is an awful bug going around and it has been for a couple of months. It is all over the country and you can read more about it here and here.

My house dogs have all had it and no idea where they picked it up…It involves sickness and horrible diarrhea. It can last for between 2 and 5 days….and sometimes requires hospitalisation.

Just so everyone is aware….

Abandoned Greyhound Barnsley

Abandoned Greyhound Barnsley

Currant,  AKA Rafas Wee Lick. Raced at Kinsley for a brief period, was found straying in Barnsley 10 days ago in need of some serious feeding. At the height of her blessed short career Currant weighed 27kgs, whereas this morning she tripped the scales at barely 21.6kgs and let’s not forget this abandoned scrap has been eating for England for a good week.
We would like to thank the kennel where she has been kept safe for calling us and also all of you out there for your donations and concern. Angela, you are a star.
Quite simply we have no idea where she has been kept. If she has been bred from the litter wasn’t registered and frankly, her form was too dreadful for even Mr Micawber to discover a glimmer of potential. Currant was whelped in 2013. Where the hell has she been? Anyone?
Maybe the rehoming officer that she is registered to could enlighten us? Mark?
Please Donate to help abandoned Greyhound Dot

Please Donate to help abandoned Greyhound Dot

Update from Donaldson’s Vets. Dot is brighter today, she has had no more vomiting. She is still on a drip and antibiotics. She is a bit brighter and is eating.
Fingers crossed for this old girl…

My heart is breaking tonight.
Over 12 yrs old. She has been in this state for years.
Sore bleeding feet from horrendously overgrown nails, filthy ears and rotten teeth. How can this happen? Poor poor girl.
As I write she is being rushed to the vets.
Neglected. Greyhound welfare issues never go away, neither do we.
Please help us help her
Please share
I hope she survives…Please Donate to help abandoned Greyhound Dot

Tia shop features in ‘Meet the Richardsons’

Tia shop features in ‘Meet the Richardsons’

When comedian Jon Richardson goes looking for a bargain he knows exactly where to go – Tia charity shops!

UKTV are broadcasting the first series of ‘Meet the Richardsons’, starring comedians Jon Richardson and Lucy Beaumont. As part of the first episode Jon needs to purchase a monkey costume and ends up getting the ‘sale of the century’ from the Tia shop in Hebden Bridge! Both the interior and exterior of the shop are featured and look fantastic.

If you want to see it yourself you can watch the first episode through UKTV on-demand online. You’ll need to sign up with UKTV before you can watch it.

Merlin’s magical new life

Merlin’s magical new life

Andrea and Ben rehomed Tia boy Merlin (who was called Katsu whilst at Tia) and have sent us an update on how he’s settled in with them and his new sister, Roxy.

Merlin was very nervous when we got him, and for first few months he would pull really hard on the lead when anyone walked past in the park or on the street because he was desperate to avoid them and get home to safety. His confidence has increased massively in the past 6 months, and now he really enjoys going out on walks, and loves getting cuddles and treats from people he knows.

He is very(!!) energetic – must be the greyhound in him:). Fortunately he loves walking as much as we do, although as you will see from the photos, he also spends a lot of time in the house lying on his back with his legs in the air. He’s quite obedient, and we’re now able to let him off lead in the park, where he just does big collie circles around us. He loves to chase and be chased by other dogs, and has really good social skills. We get asked on a daily basis what ‘breed’ he is, and you can see people trying to figure it out when they see him. Everyone loves his long saluki ears!

Roxy loves him too (most of the time), although at age 8 she’s not able to keep up with his collie stamina and agility. The dogs got their passports before Christmas, and we all went to the south of France in the campervan. One of the photos is Merlin and Roxy at the Pont du Gard.

Best of all Merlin is incredibly goofy, sweet, and cuddly, and has been no trouble at all apart from normal puppy cheekiness (and chewing the remote control and several pens before we realised he was a chewer!). He’s gained weight slowly and isn’t nearly as skinny as when we got him.

Thanks very much for filling the huge hole left when Copper died. As usual you managed to find the perfect dog for us

!

Right, we are not happy.

Right, we are not happy.

We expect to see a dog in this state coming off the flapping track or from a pound, not from a registered trainer. In fairness, the transporter and the GBGB aren’t happy either, the former blazing, the latter arrived within the hour after our phone call.

This little girl raced no less than 35 times in 10 months. She isn’t even three yet. Trapped seven times back in August 18, so he might as well have kenneled her at the bloody track.

Eday was carrying a leg when she arrived, her face red raw from wearing a strap muzzle. Well you can see the damage for yourself, she’ll almost certainly carry the scars for the rest of her life. Yes we did ring him. He cannot account for the lameness, but put the strap on because she snapped at another dog. Some of these scars are old. Eday isn’t very big really, 26.5kgs on a big panties day and frankly this little scrap isn’t in great nick. She has mange on her backside together with a secondary infection and as we aren’t in the habit of rehoming dogs in this condition, Eday will be with us for a while. No, it isn’t bald bum syndrome it is mange! She also stinks……or did.

This is totally unacceptable.

Petal: Tia’s very own luvvie

Petal: Tia’s very own luvvie

Perhaps some of you saw ‘Vera’ last night based at Sunderland Stadium. Maybe you recall our Petal, found straying in the Leeds area just a few weeks after her sister Elvira was discovered in the same area. Petal is now in a loving home but before she left us without a backward glance, opportunity knocked with a small cameo in ‘Vera’.
Her nerves got the better of her during the racing (scared of the man) and a big rough boy became her understudy for that bit but Petal acted like a trooper in the end. More to the point, she didn’t give any boring speeches and just went back to bed.
Well done Petal.

Absent friends 2019

It is a bit late perhaps – the calendar says its the 20th – but Tia always likes to say goodbye properly to those who are now waiting on the Rainbow Bridge. (God, I hope there is one)

Chester and Millie. They sure as hell are not on the bridge as their Dad had been camped out waiting for years. We miss you though, you great drooling, smelly, farting lumps.

Gabriella and Callaghan, Barely three years old and a huge shock. They deteriorated rapidly and slipped through our fingers.

The garage lot. We know that sooner rather than later we will lose them but it still hurts so much. Danni with his rotting feet, Lewis and Ross. It is a bit quieter without the last it has to be admitted. Don’t bite the angels will you, or you might end up somewhere hot! We miss the unarmed combat in the mornings.

Beauty, 31 year old shire and Ana, a gypsy cob who was too weak to make it. In fact too many gypsy cobs too mention. Foals too weak to stand, horrific neglect, some dying before we had time to name them. Also this week, Gentle Jack. His send off was filled with love.

More doves courtesy of the buzzard.

Finally on a lighter note, the old white van was put out of its misery. Any one unfortunate to suffer permanent injury from its dubious suspension will be pleased to hear that the ‘Chicken Run’ toys and the book “Kilted Yoga” were safely transferred to the new charabanc prior to the low loader arriving. We had a lump in our throats.

Her end was pain free.

The back-room boys & girls

Forgive us, we have been run off our slingbacks these past few weeks. Having our hands full with the Sheffield 13, our focus has slipped a bit regarding our manners. We’ll address that now.

I would like to personally thank all of our volunteers for their unfailing support over the year and particularly of late. I am well aware that this sounds like the usual end of year message but it is true. We simply could not do it without you guys rising to the occasion time and time again, New Years Day being a textbook example. The usual suspects teamed up with newer faces, all coming to bale us out when hangovers rendered some crucial people missing in action.

Tia Rescue has a back bone of supporters that other rescues would give their right arm for. Possessing a huge range of skills, they stay the course and accept that sometimes we fail to give credit where it is undoubtedly due. A friend and I once tried to calculate how many greyhound rescues are no longer around and lost count. The crippling costs in effort, finance and heartbreak takes its toll. If every dog in our kennel found a home, we could fill it again within a week. That is what we are up against and it won’t get any easier.

Take the Xmas Tree Festival folk. Every year without fanfare, Zak’s slaves buy a tree in their local church as do other charities and then supporters get together and use it as a means of fund raising and promoting their chosen charity. This year they have raised £334.54 which is the highest they have done and I think they quite enjoyed chatting to people about owning a greyhound. This amount is over triple that of their nearest animal rescue, the RSPCA. Can you imagine that! Talk about David and Goliath.

We are an independent Yorkshire based charity (only just, Nottinghamshire is a field away),yet our tribe come from all over the UK. Emails fly between people who know each other well, though have never met. Others alert us to situations, frequently saving the life of an animal which we then forget to let them know the outcome. To all those who do this task, we thank you. So many dogs and horses are saved this way. Another no-drama group are the Social Sunday walkers, who quietly fly the flag whilst socialising the new arrivals, forging new contacts and promoting the breed. They epitomise our type of supporter; they just do it.

Perhaps this above all is what makes you all so special. Just getting on with it and not for Brownie points, likes, virtue signalling or playing to the gallery. God knows some of you should have a medal simply for putting up with me.

So to all the backroom lot, you know who you are…….

my deep deep thanks.

Debs.