This is a "friend", I shall call "L", who she had broken contact with due to L's repeated abandonment of dogs, her modus operandi is to go into a pet shop or vets with the dog she no longer wanted and claim to have found it wandering the in road. This even happened once in a vets where my Mrs was working at the time.
This is teddy, who my Mrs re-homed from L about five years ago.
I think this stems from depression and loneliness, as a single parent mother, she buys dogs with her benefit money, does not get them neutered or jabbed or treat them for fleas and nature just takes its course. She then has to dump them on someone and in the past few years my Mrs has re-homed a number of these dogs with friends and family who gave them loving and caring homes.
The call I got at work on that Friday was to tell me that although we had expected one dog, L had arrived with a sports bag crammed with 9 other dogs as well and had asked my Mrs to take them off her hands.
L had said that on the way over to us, she'd met the woman that she got her Maltese from and that woman had given her all these dogs, a habitual liar who even in the face of absurdity cannot admit to her behavior.
Gizmo, Lexy, Gucci, Theo, Minnie and Esme having a nap.
Now if this was me at the door, I would have told her to do one. But my Mrs, knowing that these dogs would probably just end up abandoned in some other more likely horrific manner, took them in.
So I came home to a house full of 10 dogs, in addition to our 10 year old Staff/Lab male Max who was being a lot more accepting of the situation than I was.
Good old Max was great throughout the whole ordeal.
Here you can see a video of the chihuahua pups who came to be named Theo, Lexy, Gucci (suspected Maltese/chihuahua cross) and Minnie who was hiding under the cupboard with Esme running in and out.
When we got them, all the dogs were starving and desperately thirsty and covered in fleas, my Mrs did an excellent job of getting them everything they needed. If L left her house on the 11th they had been without food and water for 5 days.
Upstairs we still had "Bob", an adult dog and two other adults, Princess and Big Bear who my Mrs took to Baterrsea dogs home in Old Windsor on Sunday. The appointment for this had already been made by L, and she had told them she was bringing three dogs, no mention of the others.
Princess, Bob and Big Bear.
L came back and collected Bob while my Mrs was at Battersea on Sunday, I answered the door. I suspect she'd seen this post I made in a reply to my Mrs photo of the dogs on Facebook so she didn't hang about, no enquiries were made about the other dogs. I managed to not have a go at her, I was extremely reluctant to let Bob go but eventually calmed down and realised it's really not my place to refuse.
Battersea let us know that, as L is a council tennant, that they can try and pursue a "Dog Ban" and prevent her from owning any more animals. I really hope this happens, this has been going on for way too many years.
A friend of the Mrs took Gucci (see above) and Cherry a year old Maltese female, Gizmo a Maltese cross puppy went to another friend of the Mrs.
Cherry and Gizmo
My posts on Facebook and Twitter about the little ones found a home for three more with people we know and friends of friends. No money changed hands for any dogs (despite them being worth ~£4000 in total), we just wanted these poor dogs to go to the best homes possible after their awful start in life.
Lexy, Minnie and Theo in their new homes.
This left Esme, a miniature teddy bear poodle.
Esme had taken to following the Mrs around wherever she went, my little girl was also very much in love with her.
I really didn't want another dog, especially a puppy, they are a HUGE responsibility and require enormous time and effort to train, exercise and keep entertained. Basically they are like having another child.
We've had Max for almost 10 years, I absolutely love taking him for a run with me, he will often enjoy a swim too while we are out and he gets to meet up with loads of other dogs for a good sniff too.
Me and Maxy have dedicated "Dog cuddling time" each night and I make sure he gets plenty of cooked and boned chicken and kibble to keep him trim in his old age. He'll always be my favourite.
I had to accept it, Esme is staying with us and we'll all love her, for as long as she'll have us.
It turns out that the Egham Flood was the best thing that could have happened to these animals.
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