Congratulations to Martine and her late dog “Derrick”, our 9th winners.
Derrick’s story started with sadness and trauma but due to Martine and her partner’s compassion, his final 5 years were filled with unconditional love and safety.
Derrick was found in January 2016, stumbling up and down pavements, around 8 years old. After being taken to one of the local charities, it was obvious that Derrick had a serious eye condition, thought initially to be cataracts. After further investigation it was discovered he had detached retinas, caused by blunt head trauma and highly likely due to abuse.
There was no cure and it really looked as if Derrick had no future.
Martine & her partner stepped in to foster him, realising a kennel really is no place for any dog, let alone one that is blind and terrified.
In Martine’s words:
“Our first meeting with Derrick was him cowering in a corner of his kennel, sitting in his water bowl, absolutely petrified and we knew then this would be a long journey. We had lots to do in preparation for his arrival – buying baby gates for stairs, moving furniture and hours of research about blind dogs, but we visited him twice a week for 3 weeks, taking home made liver cake, socks and slippers with our scent so he could get to know us. Eventually, Derrick became part of our family.
It was no plain sailing. It was clear he had never been in a home environment, hated a lead and most definitely didn’t want to be confined anywhere, even in a loving home. We can only imagine the trauma of his previous life, locked in an outbuilding for abuse and let out to be a guard dog the rest of the time.
The first week he howled like a wolf pleading to be let outside. So, that’s what we did – “Derrick proofed” it to shut access off to the pool, built a large brick kennel behind bushes to offer him a safe haven, popped a sofa in there and named it “Derrick’s Den”.
It was obvious from Derrick’s temperament he was petrified of everything, even the scent or a voice sent him scuttling through the bushes to find his safe place.
Blind dogs are amazing in remembering their surroundings and it wasn’t long before he knew the layout of the garden, where his food and water was, where the grass was for him to roll around on and where the best place was to bury his bones, then dig them up to enjoy when he thought we weren’t watching (but we always were). Don’t get me wrong, he was still avoiding going anywhere near us, but month by month, year by year, we gained his trust and eventually we were able to sit next to him for a chat, feed him treats and stroke him.
Derrick had the best 5 years of his life with us before, very sadly, suffering a stroke, with us at his side.
Derrick was an extremely special boy and his resilience after all he had previously been through showed his true character. It also shows through patience and determination from us humans that we can turn a tragic past in to a wonderful future. Also, we must not allow our belief that animals with some kind of disability will not bring you anything less than joy and the most incredible happiness.
From the most awful unimaginable life to one of contentment, happiness and love, I genuinely believe Derrick shone his superpowers down in having his name picked from the PAWS-SOME bucket. His way perhaps of saying thank you and letting us know he’s never far away.”
Congratulations to Martine, and well done Derrick.
Martine has chosen vouchers for local restaurants and will purchase a little something from the PAWS-PATAS Amazon wish list for those in our care.nt or a voice sent him scuttling through the
bushes to find his safe place
Blind dogs are amazing in remembering their surroundings and it wasn’t
long before he knew the layout of the garden, where his food and water
was, where the grass was for him to roll around on and where the best
