Dogmobile
We currently have two Dogmobiles that travel the country, visiting county shows, town centres and supermarkets, showing people what great dogs rescue dogs are.
The bright yellow mobile units contain two comfy kennels for the dogs to lounge in for the day, (whilst looking for that perfect home), plus all sorts of other ‘doggy’ information leaflets and ‘goodies’ are on board.
Keep checking this page for the latest Dogmobile events, and to follow driver Cathy’s blog below about the fun they have and the different places she visits.
Meet the Dogmobile Crew
Hello, my name is Cathy and I am the manager of Dogmobile 1. This is me and my able assistant Laura! We're pictured above.
We ‘motor’ around the country doing ‘the bizz!’, and I’m going to hopefully update you about all the goings on with Dogmobile 1 throughout the year. So stay tuned!
The blog has moved!
You can also see old posts below:
BAD WEATHER
MAY 2012
What did I say about the weather?
There we were in the middle of a drought and we were having shows cancelled due to too much rain... can you believe it?
Anyhow, we have managed to still get around. We had a lovely two days at Asda Caerphilly, the Bridemere Garden Centre near Nantwich, Cheshire and the East Anglian Game Fair. That was fun! It had rained quite a lot in Norwich, and the ground was really boggy. It was very cold and rainy both days and the ground was getting more and more churned up and muddy. By the end of the two days most of us were being towed off our pitches with a tractor because our vehicles were stuck! Just to add insult to injury, our towing hook snapped off just as we were being towed out! Luckily we managed to get onto terra firma without it... just!
Lots of people still braved the weather and came and said hello to us. Somebody who I was really pleased to see again was ‘Oscar’ and his owners. Oscar is an English Setter who was rehomed after being seen on our unit a few years ago. They come every year to say hello to us which is brilliant. Oscar is one of the lucky ones who’s found that perfect home. Let’s hope the Dogmobile does the same for many more dogs in the future.
We’ve just come back from the Otley show. It’s a lovely little show near Leeds. Once again it wasn’t the best of weather, very cold and cloudy, but lots of people still supported the show. We met two very happy families who had rehomed dogs from our Leeds centre. That’s Biscuit a Whippet with Debbie and Nozar, plus Cass a Rottie x Mastiff with Mr and Mrs Dahr. It’s so lovely to see dogs that have been rehomed from us all settled and happy in their new life.
It really makes all the hard work the staff at Dogs Trust do worth it when you see that waggy tail going to their new home.
Keep your eyes peeled... we may be visiting near you soon!
Sun, sun, sun!
APRIL 2012
Having just had a really cold spell at the start of the year where we had frozen water in the taps on the unit, we have just had one of the sunniest and mildest periods out... no wonder we all catch colds! One minute we’re in our thermals, the next we’re in our shorts, then we’re caught out again in our shorts in snow!
I don’t know whether I’m coming or going at the moment. Luckily our last two venues were in the warm spring sunshine... bliss!
The week before last we were outside Asda, Sittingbourne where we were promoting our Canterbury centre. We had a Lurcher and a Trailhound out with us for those two days. (That’s ‘Cassie’ the Trailhound in the picture, sniffing around on one of her walks.)
The people that saw us there were so nice, and generous as well. We collected loads of money AND dog food donations over the two days. Thank you everybody. Donations are very much appreciated and it’s always lovely to see you.
Last week we went to a garden centre in Barnstaple, Devon. Again the weather was brilliant. If we shut our eyes, we could have almost imagined we were at the seaside with the seagulls screeching overhead and the sun on our faces. ‘Tilly’ the little dog we had with us there had a brilliant couple of days showing herself off to everybody and enjoying all the fuss she got. She even had some people interested in her, so fingers crossed eh?
Back to reality with a bump this week I’m afraid. I’ve just dug out the thermals again for our next venue... BRRR! Roll on summer…
Don’t forget though, if you need any information about rehoming a dog from Dogs Trust, and you see the Dogmobile in your area, please come and say hello. We don’t bite, and you might even meet your perfect ‘doggy’ companion on board with us!!
Lovely days in St Albans and Salisbury
MARCH 2012
St Albans... what can I say? Well, what I can say is that it has got to be one of the nicest, busiest town centre events we’ve ever done, with some of the nicest people we’ve ever met.
The people there were so supportive and generous we had a wonderful two days.
We had people saying they had been supporters of Dogs Trust for years and were really pleased to see us in their area promoting rehoming. We had people donating doggy treats, unwanted doggy toys and clean bedding for our ‘pooches’ at Harefield, and thanks to their generosity, we raised hundreds of pounds as well.
Thank you people of St Albans, it was a pleasure to meet you all.
After a very busy two days, the rehoming centre at Harefield had a ‘manic’ weekend and I’ve since heard, four dogs were rehomed due to people visiting us on the Dogmobile, of which one was a Greyhound who came out with us on the unit! How cool is that?? You could say, her day out shopping in the town centre got her what she’d always dreamed of... a loving new home!
Our next stop was outside the Guildhall in Salisbury Market Square. The weather was kind to us again, and we had a steady flow of people come and visit us. One of which was Norman Gould and his newly acquired Dogs Trust dog ‘Willow’ (pictured below).
Norman is a part time member of staff at our Salisbury rehoming centre at Newton Tony. He is going to take part in the London Marathon on behalf of Dogs Trust. Talk about dedication. Not only does he work in the kennels for us, but he was out and about Salisbury on his day off fundraising for us as well…phew!
Well done Norman! We wish you all the best on the day!
Bye for now, speak again soon!
Brrr! It's been a bit chilly!
FEBRUARY 2012
Well, the year has continued to go well!
We have been to Asda Canterbury on the Sturry Road promoting our Canterbury centre.
We had a really busy two days. It rained rather a lot the second day, but that didn’t stop people coming to see us and two dogs were rehomed due to us being there!
Then we motored up to Birmingham City Centre where we were outside the Council Offices in Victoria square promoting our Kenilworth centre. They were another two very cold days, but some good interest!
Basingstoke Market Place was our next stop, where we had the two coldest days of all. Overnight, the water froze in our taps on the unit. It formed ice in our water containers and froze the water solid in the ‘doggy water bowl’ we put out during the day! Luckily the dogs were warm and snuggly in their dog coats, blankets and heating in the unit!
Tesco Southam wasn’t much better weather-wise either! We had snow to contend with this time. One of our batteries had lost its charge in the cold and wouldn’t start the generator even though it was fully charged last time; luckily we had a spare so all was well! We did have a little snowdrift around the back of the unit in the morning though which was different as we’ve not had that before!
At least it felt slightly warmer (or were we just getting used to it??), and the dogs enjoyed playing in the snow on their walks anyway!
Can’t wait to see what exciting things the next venue brings…
Until then, bye for now!
Happy New Year!
JANUARY 2012
Well another exciting year has begun.
The Dogmobile is all raring and ready to motor around the country again, trying to help more dogs find a new loving home.
We have already set off at a cracking pace when we went to Asda Walsgrave in Coventry last week.
We had a really busy two days. We had a brilliant spot right outside the store so nobody could miss us. We had three beautiful dogs on board enjoying their days out and the sunshine shone. What more could we ask? Well I did ask that we try and help as many dogs as possible find a new home this year, and already my wish has been granted, because three dogs have been booked to people who came and saw us at Asda!
Brilliant, I hope this is just the beginning...
Until next time,
Cathy and Laura
An update before the festive season!
DECEMBER 2011
Well, as the year draws to a slow close, the Dogmobile has continued to motor up and down the country visiting Wales, Scotland and Kent where we’ve helped rehome a few more dogs and made even more people aware of our rehoming centres.
I’m afraid to say, we’ve also had our exhaust sawn off and pinched for a second time this year as well!! The sad thing is I don’t think the people doing it realise it isn’t the piece of exhaust they think they’re getting, so it’s just causing a load of hassle and costing our charity a load of money for very little gain.
On a lighter note, we are already looking forward to next year, where we will hopefully be able to help even more dogs find that loving home they have always dreamed about, especially with our new Loughborough centre opening!
Keep a look out, we could be visiting a town near you soon!!
Bye for now and Happy Christmas!
-Cathy
THIEVES STRUCK THE DOGMOBILE!
OCTOBER 2011
Can you believe it...? Having parked the unit up after a very long drive back from our last show, somebody stole the exhaust off it!
In the few days it had been parked waiting to go on our next event, somebody had crawled underneath and sawn part of the exhaust off! We think they’d taken the catalytic converter, as apparently there is money to be found selling these on and it’s a fast growing problem the police say.
Not only is it despicable that somebody would steal something like this, but even worse from a charity who relies solely on donations and fundraising by hardworking volunteers and supporters. Not only was it a real inconvenience, it could have cost the charity money because we very nearly lost the money we paid for our pitch at the show we were about to go to that weekend.
If it hadn’t been for the speedy intervention of the guys at my local garage (thanks again, guys!), we would not have been going and missed the opportunity to try and help a few more dogs find a loving new home.
Anyhow, thankfully we are back on the road now and we’ve been motoring up and down the country to the Autumn fair at Ardingly near our Shoreham centre, where the weather was glorious for a change; Asda Pudsey for our Leeds centre, where we had to tie the canopy down with rope as it was soooo windy; and we’ve just been to Slough High Street for the very first time for our Harefield centre.
Most of the summer shows have finished now, so we’ll probably be popping up at a supermarket near you soon. Look out for us, and remember to come and say "hi!"
Here we are again, another whistle stop tour of our latest adventures!
SEPTEMBER 2011
Since my last posting, we’ve visited the North Devon Show where when we arrived our pitch was in a grassy dip and one of the very few areas that was ‘boggy’. We tried to drive into our space where we got stuck and the wheels were just spinning mud everywhere! We got towed out and luckily there was a tractor driving around with tonnes of wood chippings in a trailer which ‘dumped’ a load for us to spread around. Laura and I plus one or two of the event staff spent the next half an hour throwing wood chippings around to soak up the mud. You’ll never believe the places wood chippings can get into!
The day of the show was lovely. The sun shone and fun was had by all. We’ve got a new venture starting up with Pets at Home Ilfracombe where we will be able to promote our Ilfracombe rehoming centre from inside the Pets at Home store there. Bas and Heather two of the new staff that will be working there came and helped us on the unit for the day to learn how we promote the centres. They soon got into the ‘swing ’of things and hopefully learnt a few things in the process.
Next we dropped into the new shop at Ilfracombe to see how things were going with the Pets at Home store staff. The shop’s great. They have a dog at the store to promote just like on the dogmobile, and by the looks of it, it is working already with many people visiting them.
Next we attended Canterbury’s Open Day where we had the most horrendous rainstorm and winds. We had water cascading into the unit from every tiny gap the rain could find! Luckily it didn’t last long.
This was followed by West Calder's Open Day where the weather was VERY windy AGAIN and even blew two tents away!
Following this we went to The Bucks County Show near Aylesbury, where the weather was kind to us for a change, then Wolsingham Show for our Darlington Centre where we had ‘Mac’ a twelve year old, one eyed arthritic Cocker Spaniel with us for the day.
He was wonderful and a family fell so much in love with him from seeing him on the unit, they went straight up to the centre and booked him. AAAH Bless, he should be happily living his new life with his wonderful family by now
Next up was the Romsey Show where ‘Rags’ a Lurcher was rehomed from a family seeing her at the show, woo hoo! It was really busy as the weather stayed mainly dry for us this year, so no mud was seen thankfully.
There does seem to be theme with the weather lately though. We had our first visit to our Ballymena centre in N.Ireland for ten years after this. We were due to go on the ferry on the Sunday, only to hear that was when we were due to get the tail end of a hurricane hitting the UK over… yes, you’ve guessed it, N.Ireland and Scotland!
Would you believe it a hurricane on a ferry! We were NOT looking forward to that I can tell you. The Gods must have eventually taken pity on us, because we were able to get across before the hurricane hit on the Monday and they then suspended all ferry crossing on the Irish sea... phew!
During our time in N. Ireland we met some lovely people at Asda Larne and Asda Ballyclare. It was really nice to get to see our Ballymena centre after so long as well. Thankfully the winds let up for the duration of our stay and we were able to have a calm few days’ venues and an even calmer journey back across on the ferry. I don’t particularly want to go through all that stress again I can tell you.
Finally, getting us up to date, we have just attended the Surrey Country Fair at Loseley park near Guildford. It was a lovely autumn day, very warm and sunny. We had two Irish Setters on the unit who have been with the Harefield centre for approximately 6 months so far. They were looking for a home as a pair as they have always lived together. They are retired working dogs, 9 years old and need lots of space to run around in. This usually puts people off rehoming them as they think that two older dogs would be a bit too much responsibility for them. Luckily there seemed to be a lot of interest in them at this show, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed for them.
Well, that’s it again for now. Until next time, BYE!
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s the Dogmobile!
AUGUST 2011
My goodness, what a blur the past couple of months have been....
After speaking to you last time, we’ve not really stopped. Only just managing to say ‘hi’ to our partners whilst washing our uniforms before we’re off again!
After visiting Old Barn Nurseries near our Shoreham centre, we went to the Sussex Country Fair where we met Anna Parvard with Dickens (pictured right) whom she got from our Canterbury centre after talking to me last year. Thinking she couldn’t have a dog because of her lifestyle, I suggested a few alternative ways she could manage this and BINGO, she rehomed Dickens as you can see in the photo. Anna was thrilled. As you can see, it had rained all day before the show and for the first day, and so you can see what the showground was like after most of the vehicles were towed on... URGH!
Next we visited the Cheshire show, where we saw some familiar faces who came and said hello to us again which was great (Hi, thanks for the coffee, you know who you are)! From there we helped out at the Evesham Open Day (Boy! Was that HOT)! Next was the Royal Norfolk Show, followed by the Newport show, where we met Louise Davis and Murphy a 5 year old black Lab that she rehomed from our Shrewsbury centre (she loves him to bits and visa versa)!
Motoring on from here, we helped out at the Kenilworth Open Day (another scorcher), followed by the Kent County Show which was a complete ‘wash-out’ two days out of the three (as you can see from the photo of Laura in the middle of a torrential downpour)! Then came the CLA Game Fair at Blenheim Palace, Oxon, the Nantwich Show where we were stuck in a traffic jam for 2.5 hours and I locked my keys in the back of the Dogmobile! Then the Thame show last Saturday.
I’m just washing my uniform AGAIN before we go to the North Devon Show on Wednesday... PHEW!
For more tales from the Dogmobile...
Continue reading past entries!