The Poodle Pack

I adopted Peanut in January 2020 and Bean in 2022 from a charity called Underdog International and Harbin SHS, China.  SHS stands for slaughter house survivors and is run by a group of expats and volunteers as a non profit charity in Harbin, China.  These amazing people save thousands of dogs and cats from the meat trade, rehabilitate them and if they are healthy enough to travel, enable people like me to bring them over to the UK to live a better life. I have a close relationship with this charity and have been nick-named SHS London after adopting three dogs in total now! 

Peanut arrived before China went into lockdown pre covid and if he hadn't made that flight I honestly do not think he would have survived. After passing my home check and paying the adoption fees, I had to wait for all of the vaccinations, quarantine period and passports to be arranged.  Even then, until someone can transport the dogs on the long three day journey from China to the UK, including three flights, a long car journey from France and eventually to my home, these dogs cannot travel.  Everything has to be organised and arranged before they make the life changing journey and I have heard so many stories of flight cancellations, transfers being held up and plans having to change at the last minute.  I was on tenterhooks throughout his journey and the amazing people who volunteered to bring my fur babies to me are angels in my mind. No one really knows about the lives of the dogs before being sold into the meat industry but it wasn't pleasant.  Peanut has many indications of spending the first part of his life in a cage too small for him to stand up in, which has affected how he grew, giving him a slight lopsided appearance! Making him perfect in my eyes.  He was extremely timid, underweight and covered in old sores.

I have also fostered for SHS Harbin and cried when Pickle (another poodle) arrived with no tail, and after his first groom I noticed a cigarette burn on his back.  All have had to have dental surgery and many rotten teeth removed.  I had to desensitise each one to allow me to brush them and baths or water in general are not their favourite activity.

I do need to state that the charity rehabilitated all of my dogs to the best of their ability and a full bill of health has to be passed before they can make the long journey overseas. The trauma and health problems were all caused before being rescued by the charity and if it wasn't for such kind souls like the SHS team, Underdog International and the amazing lady who found Pickle dumped in Beijing, they would not be here today.

I had been warned of how much emotional and physical trauma each dog may have gone through and to expect it to be a long process for them to trust humans, adapt to their new surroundings, the UK temperature and having a place to call home.  I spoke with the charity home checking team, researched rehabilitating rescue dogs and read up as much as possible, I was prepared for the upset tummies, toilet training, lead training, behaviour problems and food guarding, but some of the things I had not anticipated, like climbing stairs, learning how to play with a toy, being cuddled and accepting that from now on they didn't have to forage and fight for food, something that took a while and even now I monitor each dog when they eat. One of my foster dogs was found dumped on the streets with a note around his neck explaining he was no longer wanted, so it took a while for him to realise he would never go hungry again. Bean barked whenever I turned the television on, he didn't know what it was  and it scared him, we had a very quiet first few evenings and Peanut hated all men to start with.

I cannot focus on what these poor pups went through and only on what I can offer them now as it is too upsetting.

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