The team at Holly Hedge Animal Sanctuary is hoping to find foster parents and forever homes for the loving dogs in their care. The centre has been supporting Bristol’s furry creatures for 30 years and has selected nine special canines hoping for a fresh start in life. to showcase with BristolWorld.
These range from puppies to older dogs hoping to bring a little extra joy to your life. Each dog will have its own requirements before being adopted based on its previous experiences. For more information on each dog, how the adoption process works and to donate to Holly Hedge, visit www.hollyhedge.org.uk/our-animals/rehome-a-dog/
1. Lola, Staffy X - 3 years old
Lovely Lola is a gorgeous young Staffy X who has been patiently waiting for her forever home for a few years now. Lola is an anxious girl, having not had the best start in life and being passed around multiple homes early in her life. Despite this, she has come on leaps and bounds here at the sanctuary and her confidence has improved massively. But she is going to need her new owners to be patient and take things slowly with her as she adapts to a home environment. Upon arrival at the sanctuary Lola was incredibly nervous of new people. However, this is something we have been working hard on and she now has lots of friends. She warms to new people much more quickly now. Once she knows you, Lola is a sweet little soul who is super affectionate and loves a gentle fuss; you’ll definitely have a best friend for life!
2. Ted, Husky - 8 years old
Handsome Ted originally came into us as a stray back in 2017 being one of the saddest cases we had ever dealt with. He was very emaciated weighing a mere 13kg with an estimated age of two. But with lots of TLC from our carers he came on leaps and bounds, regaining weight and strength. Ted weighed a healthy 25kg when he was adopted into loving home. Sadly Ted has been reluctantly returned to us due to there now being a young child in the home. As Ted is a little sensitive about his back end being touch, they thought it best to err on the side of caution. Ted is a very handsome, friendly boy with people. He walks nicely on the lead, but he does have a strong prey drive, particularly around cats. He had a tendency to grab his lead and harness, so for that reason he is muzzled trained and Ted has no problem wearing it at all.
3. Lilly, Lurcher - 1 year old
Please adopt Lily (Lurcher). This adorable little girl came into as a stray, so we have no background history for her. However, we have found her to be a very friendly, fairly confident girl with people and good with other dogs. Although she can be a little OTT with dogs, so would need to be the only dog in the home. Sadly we know this to be true as she was adopted out to a family with another dog, but Lily’s exuberance for life proved to be a little too much for the family dog. Lily is a typical excitable, bouncy pup, and we think she is going to be a fairly large girl. At the moment she is at that very grabby, mouthing stage and just losing her puppy teeth. So she will need to go to a home/owner with experience of pups like Lily, ideally with sight hound experience. She will need someone who will have the time, energy and commitment to give her the ongoing training she needs. This will help Lily grow into a calm, well balanced girl.
4. Rio, German Shepard/Husky cross - 1 year old
Rio is a super handsome, young German Shepherd x Husky with heaps of potential. He is looking for a home where someone can commit to giving him the time and training that he needs. Rio has lovely lead manners and good recall in our secure field. So he has some good foundations for his new owners to build on. However when he gets overwhelmed, he can get grabby, but that is something we are working on and he has made leaps and bounds. Rio is super smart and picks up new things very quickly and with the right positive reinforcement training he will thrive in his new home. With Rio being so intelligent, he would benefit from plenty of enrichment in his new home to keep his mind occupied and prevent him from finding his own activities to do. Rio loves to socialise and play with other dogs and has made lots of doggy friends here at the sanctuary. Whilst Rio is good with other dogs, he can sometimes be a bit boisterous for some. So we have done a few group walks with other dogs here to help with this. This has helped improve Rio’s manners around them and he can now walk calmly on the lead with other dogs which has taught him that he can be around them without always having to play… a great life skill for all dogs to learn! However his new owners will need to continue his socialisation in his new home.