So it has been a few days since my last post about Blue Cross (I’ve had a horrid bug so have been tucked up in bed, which is not ideal when you’re meant to be hitting the road with your dog pal!) He’s been a most excellent nurse, you’ll be pleased to learn (if that means seeking out any accidentally dropped tissues like a heat seeking missile and then shredding them, lending nicely to his nickname ‘Ted the Shred’ or thinking it makes me feel better when he body slams my chest aka have a cuddle!) Dachshunds can be heavier than they look! The good news is that it has given me more time to think hard about which part of my visit to Blue Cross I should tell you about next (decisions, decisions!) So carry on reading and you’ll find out!

CLOSE WORKING WITH OTHER CHARITIES

We touched briefly in the last blog about the need for donations (obviously a rather key point for any charity out there) so you can imagine my surprise when I discovered how closely Blue Cross work with other charities (who essentially could be viewed as competition for such donations). I found this is actually far from the truth. A good example of this is the relationship between Blue Cross with Dogs Trust and their work on the Hope Project; helping those who are homeless or in temporary housing with dogs.

Hope Project helps in many ways and Blue Cross work closely by providing veterinary support. This can range from (to name but a few):

standard vaccinations
ensuring medications are given correctly
even operations

As is understandable, some of those who are homeless can have difficulty with authority and others may have mental health or addiction issues (all of which are obviously NOT restricted to those who are homeless I hasten to add!!) but it is worth knowing Blue Cross staff have a deep understanding of all of these issues and consequently are carefully trained to ensure they know how to use the best approach, depending on the individual they’re working with, when treating their dog. As mentioned in my last blog post, Blue Cross have a strong focus on the human part of the partnership (which can often be forgotten when the patient you’re treating is a dog etc) and this is especially shown in these circumstances. This ultimately benefits the dog / animal they’re treating, which is fantastic news!

SAYING GOODBYE TO A FRIEND

We all love our dogs but the bond between those who are homeless and their dogs is known to be particularly strong so you can imagine when it’s time for their four legged friends to cross the rainbow bridge, it can be especially traumatic. Not meaning to sound depressing (sorry!) but please come back for our third instalment tomorrow which will look at the ways in which Blue Cross go out of their way to make this transition as positive as possible for ALL of their clients (I promise I’ll try to make it uplifting and actually it’s something that we should all think about and can hopefully benefit from).

If you’d like to find out more about Blue Cross and Hope Project in the interim (you really should!!) you can visit the websites which are listed at the end of this blog post. Just remember there are a lot of things Blue Cross do to help dogs that they don’t shout about (and even when it’s not a project they’re directly running). It uses their time, money and expertise but they’re willing to help if it means another animal out there receives the treatment they need. This to me is inspiring.

In the meantime, it’s back to bed for me and making sure I don’t leave any tissues out for ‘Ted the Shred’ to get hold of…wish me luck and come back for Part Three tomorrow!

www.bluecross.org.uk

www.moretodogstrust.org.uk