Happy Christmas to all our supporters and thank you for your support, good wishes and of course the presents we've received recently for staff and dogs. It's all very much appreciated.
2009 has been another succesful year. Whilst there have no doubt been many collies we've been unable to help, by the end of this month almost 500 collies will have found new homes. This year we do seem to have seen a high number of collies with problems of all levels so to be able to find so many good homes is very rewarding.
Our Christmas Party in November was very busy (again) and raised just short of £2000 so well done to everyone who came along. Trustees realise that we may have now outgrown the Village Hall we've been using for many years and we will be considering this at our next meeting in early January. We have one very exciting idea in mind and subject to the agreement of all Trustees there will be more news on this soon.
2009 has also seen advances in giving staff a greater insight into dog behaviour and reviews of our rehoming and kennel practises have also resulted in changes for the better. This is always on going as we realise that we should always be looking to see how we can improve. Whilst not wishing to change for changes sake we never stop learning.
On a personal level it's been a pleasure speaking to so many of you, whether it be personally, on the phone, by email or on Facebook and Twitter. I know that the work we do helps so many unfortunate collies but also helps change the lives of many people for the better and we look forward to doing more of the same in 2010.
All the staff, Trustees and of course the collies who will share Christmas with us wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Bye for now
Ben
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Christmas Party
A reminder our annual party is on 29th November at Little Haywood Village Hall from 11am to 3pm. All the usual activities and refreshments, fun dog show (weather permitting) and of course Santa will be calling in to give all the dogs a present.
Tracey has finally finished wrapping all the surprise parcels in the office and doesn't want to see any more wrapping paper for months - when you see how many she's wrapped you'll understand why !!
Still lots of dogs coming in but homing has kept pace this year. No doubt it will slow down now as we approach Christmas. You'll all be delighted to know that following his appearance on The Paul O'Grady Show last month, Bono found a new home and has settled in very well.
Don't forget there's lots of Christmas cards and presents on the website and still plenty of time to order.
If you prefer a more high tech Christmas card then do follow the link to Charity Greetings and when every card, cards or boxed set you buy means a donation comes direct to us if you choose us as your charity.
Bye for now
Ben
Tracey has finally finished wrapping all the surprise parcels in the office and doesn't want to see any more wrapping paper for months - when you see how many she's wrapped you'll understand why !!
Still lots of dogs coming in but homing has kept pace this year. No doubt it will slow down now as we approach Christmas. You'll all be delighted to know that following his appearance on The Paul O'Grady Show last month, Bono found a new home and has settled in very well.
Don't forget there's lots of Christmas cards and presents on the website and still plenty of time to order.
If you prefer a more high tech Christmas card then do follow the link to Charity Greetings and when every card, cards or boxed set you buy means a donation comes direct to us if you choose us as your charity.
Bye for now
Ben
Monday, 19 October 2009
Exciting news
Can't believe it's 3 weeks since the last blog. Twitter and Facebook followers will already be aware but do make sure you tune into Paul O'Grady Show on Channel 4 Thursday 22nd October.
We were approached last week to see if we had any suitable dogs for featuring on the show and Bono, a deaf chap who came to us from another rescue was the lucky one. The show has been recorded today so we're looking forward to seeing him with his celebrity guest handler on Thursday.
Otherwise it's still busy, plenty of dogs finding homes and we're able to help many individual owners as a result as well as the rescues that ask us.
Cbristmas orders have also been coming in thick and fast. With the potential postal strike we would recommend getting your order in sooner rather than later. We will watch the situation and if necessary use alternative postal services to get parcels to our customers.
Finally don't forget our Christmas Party is on 29th November, usual venue (will soon be here!!)
Bye for now
Ben
We were approached last week to see if we had any suitable dogs for featuring on the show and Bono, a deaf chap who came to us from another rescue was the lucky one. The show has been recorded today so we're looking forward to seeing him with his celebrity guest handler on Thursday.
Otherwise it's still busy, plenty of dogs finding homes and we're able to help many individual owners as a result as well as the rescues that ask us.
Cbristmas orders have also been coming in thick and fast. With the potential postal strike we would recommend getting your order in sooner rather than later. We will watch the situation and if necessary use alternative postal services to get parcels to our customers.
Finally don't forget our Christmas Party is on 29th November, usual venue (will soon be here!!)
Bye for now
Ben
Monday, 28 September 2009
Colour Coding review
Regular visitors to the website and the centre will no doubt be well aware of our colour coding system which helps potential new owners identify suitable dogs for their needs, experience and capabilities as well as for use in the kennels by staff and volunteers.
After being in use for 18 months we felt is was time to take a fresh look and as a result we've made some slight changes. The defination of the colours has changed slightly and is in more detail, more importantly we've reduced the colours from four to three as we found it was sometimes difficult to decide between blue and purple and there was some concern that perhaps people were being put off purple dogs before they knew a little more about the reasons for this classification.
Rehoming still continues to keep us busy and of course that means we can call more dogs in that need our help.
Have you noticed the dark nights now drawing in? Soon comes around doesn't it, beofer you know about it we'll be talking about Christmas!! Speaking of which advance warning of our Christmas Party on Sunday 29th November :-)
Bye for now
Ben
After being in use for 18 months we felt is was time to take a fresh look and as a result we've made some slight changes. The defination of the colours has changed slightly and is in more detail, more importantly we've reduced the colours from four to three as we found it was sometimes difficult to decide between blue and purple and there was some concern that perhaps people were being put off purple dogs before they knew a little more about the reasons for this classification.
Rehoming still continues to keep us busy and of course that means we can call more dogs in that need our help.
Have you noticed the dark nights now drawing in? Soon comes around doesn't it, beofer you know about it we'll be talking about Christmas!! Speaking of which advance warning of our Christmas Party on Sunday 29th November :-)
Bye for now
Ben
Saturday, 5 September 2009
Holiday time
Those of you who follow us elsewhere will know Sir Reilly and his humans are taking their annual holiday during September and arrived at our first weeks base today. A lovely log cabin near Melrose. Next week we move onto the Isle of Skye for a week. Reilly will be posting photos and updates through Facebook and Twitter.
Back at the centre homing has continued to be busy, 7 new guests came in on Friday and there's chance we may have the patter of tiny feet in a few weeks - watch this space!!
Bye for now
Ben
Back at the centre homing has continued to be busy, 7 new guests came in on Friday and there's chance we may have the patter of tiny feet in a few weeks - watch this space!!
Bye for now
Ben
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Happy Days
It's a really busy time at the moment. Plenty of dogs are still finding new homes and as a result we are able to call in lots as well. In addition our new computer software is coming along nicely. It's a steep learning curve for us all but we're enjoying the experience, even if it doesn't always go according to plan.
As part of this we had to improve our internet access so it was available in Reception and I managed to avoid the showers on Saturday to get this sorted giving a good signal throughout the Reception area. Along with other computer improvements, I'm certainly living up to my unofficial title as our IT expert (but believe you me it's very much with a small e!!)
We've now recovered from all the tiling work and hopefully after the building improvements we've made over the last few years we can have a bit of a rest now, although maintenance jobs are always cropping up. I've just come back from replacing a tap washer in the Boarding block !!
Plenty of shows being attended as well. I shall be a Catton Park with the Collie Shop on Sunday for an agility show, and we have a big show in Northamptonshire the following weekend.
And then in September I get to escape for two weeks - lucky aren't I :-)
Bye for now
Ben
As part of this we had to improve our internet access so it was available in Reception and I managed to avoid the showers on Saturday to get this sorted giving a good signal throughout the Reception area. Along with other computer improvements, I'm certainly living up to my unofficial title as our IT expert (but believe you me it's very much with a small e!!)
We've now recovered from all the tiling work and hopefully after the building improvements we've made over the last few years we can have a bit of a rest now, although maintenance jobs are always cropping up. I've just come back from replacing a tap washer in the Boarding block !!
Plenty of shows being attended as well. I shall be a Catton Park with the Collie Shop on Sunday for an agility show, and we have a big show in Northamptonshire the following weekend.
And then in September I get to escape for two weeks - lucky aren't I :-)
Bye for now
Ben
Sunday, 26 July 2009
Tiling finsihed
Well the tiling is finished and all the kennels look really wonderful. With their new beds the dogs have real clean and comfortable rooms now.
It won't take long to fill up to our normal capacity now that the work is finished so this week will be busy arranging dogs coming in no doubt.
With 150 following us on Facebook and 139 on Twitter they continue to attract interest in our work and it might just be coincidence but visits to the website and especially the Collie Shop have also increased.
If you will be using the motorways this summer and looking for somewhere other than a service area to take a break and exercise your dog then do take a look at the new book in The Collie Shop - Motorway Walks - short walks for drivers and dogs. It's certainly become a very popular item already.
The BBQ summer they forecast hasn't quite made much of an appearance here at Colton and our new water butts have shown just how much rainwater falls on the house roof and the special needs kennel block !!
Bye for now
Ben
It won't take long to fill up to our normal capacity now that the work is finished so this week will be busy arranging dogs coming in no doubt.
With 150 following us on Facebook and 139 on Twitter they continue to attract interest in our work and it might just be coincidence but visits to the website and especially the Collie Shop have also increased.
If you will be using the motorways this summer and looking for somewhere other than a service area to take a break and exercise your dog then do take a look at the new book in The Collie Shop - Motorway Walks - short walks for drivers and dogs. It's certainly become a very popular item already.
The BBQ summer they forecast hasn't quite made much of an appearance here at Colton and our new water butts have shown just how much rainwater falls on the house roof and the special needs kennel block !!
Bye for now
Ben
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