Nellie and Ayesha love their new home!

Here’s another great success story for two DARG doggies, sent in by Jane and Chris Battersby-Lennard…

“Chris and I adopted these two beautiful hounds, Ella (neé Nellie) and Basie (neé Ayesha), almost six months ago. As they play in front of the fire this evening, I thought I’d drop a mail to let you know how wonderful they’ve been.

Ella and Basie were housed in the same pen at DARG when we went in in early January. They were good friends then and have been great together ever since.

When we got Basie she was very nervous, cowering all the way home and barking at everything, ‘just in case’. She was like a shadow for us for the first month or so. Over the last six months she’s slowly realised that the world is not a scary place, has become a happy, confident little dog and is finally recognizing that she might just be a lap dog after all. She is wonderfully protective of us, smart and sassy. I don’t think the squirrel obsession will ever fade though. She has however taught herself to sit down and calm herself is a squirrel passes our way on walks. The squirrels of Bergvliet heave a collective sigh of relief.

Ella, on the other hand, was never in doubt that she was a lap dog. Which was fine when she was a spaghetti-legged pup, but now (thanks to the hydrotherapy) as a 20kg, well-toned hound its a wee bit less comfortable. She’s the kind of dog that people on the street fall in love with and has an incurable curiosity. Never met a dog with such an interest in watching toilets flush, or any other plumbing. She’s a huge snuggle thief and is fully aware of her cute factor. We used to her “our little bundle of dofness”,but now we see that, like most blondes, the dumb is an act.

I look at the DARG site regularly and it breaks my heart to see the abuse these dogs and cats go through. The amazing thing is how they hold no record of wrongs. Everyday Ella and Basie let us know that they know that they’ve been rescued. A lick, a snuggle, a nose nuzzled in, glance back on a walk. Awesome creatures.

Keep up the good work at DARG.