Weeping Willow; She saved me too

July 5th 2017.

After a series of unfortunate events, my family and I found ourselves living in a small double room of a guesthouse, sweating and squashed with a household of 40 other people from all walks of life. Myself and my husband plus our 7-year-old daughter and my 3-year-old cat, Tilly.

At this point, we had already been here since May. My beautiful fur baby Tilly had run away on arrival, leaving me a distraught mess and often crying myself to sleep.

I rescued Tilly when she was only 8 months old, took her from a woman who had allowed her dog to 'play' with Tilly in ways she didn't like. This 'play' led to the tip of her left ear being bitten off. She was not taken to the vets, just stitched at home. I was disgusted but held my tongue. Tilly was safe with me now. I instantly fell in love.

So, when she went missing I felt like my heart had broken. How will she survive? What if another dog gets hold of her? How will she eat? I felt utterly devastated and full of guilt for having to go to that guesthouse in the first place. She didn't like strangers and now because of this, she had run away.

Five weeks later, still calling out her name every chance I got to go outside, I found her. I still remember her little head popping up behind the local pub before she ran into my arms full of love. She was safe. She had survived. More than survived it seemed she had feasted on the local pigeons as her 'home' was covered in feathers.

I took her back to the guesthouse and begged to have her in my room. Luckily I got a yes, I had somewhat become a 'friend' of the landlady after helping her with her pets and 'unexpected' pregnant dog.

Little did I know, I would be rescuing an animal from her too.

So on that early morning of July, I walked downstairs to have my breakfast as I heard my name called into the back room. Three pups, three beautiful pups had been born (plus a fourth who had unfortunately passed). They were so tiny but one, in particular, was even smaller. The girl of the litter, the 'runt'. That little runt soon became my baby.

Having been an animal lover for many years, I felt somewhat disgusted by the conditions I saw my landlady kept her animals. She had a small room behind her guesthouse, almost like a garage. It had concrete floors and was cold and damp. Every day I would go into it and feed her cat, six kittens, two rabbits, one large male cockerpoo, a female cockerpoo and later the three pups.

She only fed them once a day and treated them like they were nothing. She never loved them, cuddled them, would scold them for fouling outside and would become physical with them if they didn't listen. I had always been brought up to treat animals as part of the family and that is what I did. But, I held my tongue because I needed that roof over my head, I needed to put my family first. I would often go upstairs at night and cuddle Tilly way more than she wanted because I felt so blessed to have her and wanted her to feel blessed to have me.

Fast forward six weeks. Over this time I had bonded massively with all of the animals in the back. But, one girl, in particular, became like a furry child to me. Willow. A name I had already given her at the blessing of my landlady.

Willow was a black and tan, Spaniel dominant Cockerpoo. She had a calm and quiet personality and always looked so lost until she saw me, my partner or daughter (who later started helping me with the animals). She was very calm because her big brothers did nothing but pick on her and her dad was constantly trying to hump her (something the landlady was oblivious to stop no matter how much I mentioned it). The look in her eyes killed me inside every time we left her.

"We need to take her" I would often say to my partner.

"I know". He would often reply.

So, I did.

Did I kidnap her? No of course not, I simply tried a smarter approach.

I kept my room spotless, helped my landlady with even more work than I already was. I cleaned the other rooms and even looked after her children when she had 'something to do'. Eventually, my plan worked. You could call it sly but I didn't care. She came to us with Willow.

Willow was eleven weeks old by now, never barked, didn't playfight, was so soft and gentle. I held her in my arms and felt I would never let go.

I vowed that day to give her the life she deserved.

Within a couple of months we got out of that place, luck was finally on our side and we moved into a house with the freedom to bring up our family with the space they deserved.

Every day we would take Willow to the field or on a long walk. Slowly her true personality started to shine through. She started to playfight, she barked to ask, she learned to sit, dance, speak, ask and lie down within weeks of our new home. That place, those people had suppressed her and finally her springy, happy and full of life self came through.

We walked past that guesthouse a few months later and the landlady came outside.

"Hello Willow, beautiful baby, come to Aunty Shell".

Willow barked, she wouldn't approach her until I told her it was ok if she wanted. She walked over for some fuss and ran straight back to me. The landlady looked annoyed. To call her a control freak would be an understatement. I smiled at the victory. But not my victory. Willows.

We later moved again, to our new and forever home. Willow is four in July and lives her best life every day. She has her moments with Tilly but you can feel the love between them. We went on to rescue another cat called Halle a couple of years ago too. She had been a stray her whole life. We treated and groomed her and taught her how to love. Willow helps her love too, even when Halle is in a mood, Willow shows her it's ok and patiently waits for furry hugs.

Rescuing animals is something I would do every day if I could, but unfortunately, I can't. But you can. Every one of you can adopt a pet instead of buying one from a farm.

Adopting a pet could mean going to a rescue centre or saving them from a person intent on causing harm, or off the streets as I did with all of mine.

Please always love them and treat them like family. All of mine eat both animal and 'human' food. They have fresh ham and steak days. Long walks and freedom to sit and sleep where they wish. They are all well trained and completely loved. They now age three, four and six and they make our household complete.

Save an animal today, adopt and make your household complete too.

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