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Elderly Beagles needing homes-SPA Carcassonne


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Hello again everyone The Carcassonne SPA has two elderly beagles who have been resident for some time. They are believed to be brothers, have identical markings and were found abandoned together. They are both about 11 years old, but in great health. Until last week they were housed together, where they could see the green grass of the surrounding hills. They played together in their kennel, but as time went on their frustration with being incarcerated has grown and their play became a bit aggressive The SPA has now separated them, one is in the old pen, the other is in a tiny pen, where he can't see any other dogs or any countryside. This upsets me enormously. They are both sad, each probably thinks the other is dead, and in some ways that may as well be true, as they will never see each other again. As you probably all know, I have a soft spot for beagles, and I would like to help. The SPA refuses to put them back together (which I understand if the play was getting out of hand), but they also refuse to put them with other dogs, despite the fact that they are both very sociable. All they (the SPA workers) want is an easy life and moving dogs means a bit of paperwork and a couple of seconds on a computer. No chance! Can anyone offer one or even both of them a home. Now they are taking up two kennels, not just one, and we all know what happens when the Carcassonne SPA runs out of space. These dogs are lovely, very gentle and great with all other dogs and children. Neither reacted to the cats when I took them to the catterie. They are in good health but their hunting days are over (assuming they were chasse dogs...) They just want somewhere nice to spend their last years. If they were adopted together and kept anywhere with a bit of garden they would play fine together, but being in such a tiny space is just too much for such free spirits! Can anyone help? I am giving links to photos in the hope that some kind soul will upload them for me, or that someone with a mac will tell me how the heck to do it myself. Thanks everyone! Rowan

[IMG]http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx153/rowan1965/IMG_0546.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx153/rowan1965/IMG_0527.jpg[/IMG]

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Oh, I should have said, even if no one can take them both, please consider taking one of them. They are separated now in any case!

Thanks again to RH for help with the photos...Will try that next time. And thanks to Christine for the pic of them together. There is video of them on the SPA website, too.

http://spacarcassonne.e-monsite.com/rubrique,videos-chiens,179198.html
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  • 2 months later...
Found out yesterday this really is the last call for the second beagle.

I am going up to the SPA today to give him what is to be his final walk. I know I will cry my head off, but I think it would be nice for him to feel the grass under his paws one last time. I will give him a lovely cuddle and send him on his way.

If anyone is thinking of taking their dogs to the SPA, can they please bear this in mind; we are completely full. You may want to abnegate responsibility for your dog and hand him over so the problem is someone else's. You may even convince yourself that he/she will be adopted and have a lovely life. But the reality is this. At this time of year, if you bring your dog to us, another dog will be put down to make room. So you have that on your conscience, as well as abandoning your own dog. Plus it is baking hot in the SPAs and your dog has weeks if not months of that ahead of him. Hardly any adoptions take place in the summer months, cos most people decide to wait to adopt till after the holidays. And in the meantime the place is getting more dogs in from people who don't want to pay for kennels or (worse) who have decided to go back to the UK and not take their dogs. Often cos they just haven't planned properly.

Sorry if this sounds a bit harsh. I love the SPA dogs and it breaks my heart to see them being destroyed to make way for dogs whose owners are too selfish to realise that a dog is part of the family.

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A big DITTO to all of that!  I have just given some English people on another AI forum the same words as they have decided they can't take their already UK passported dogs with them and were toying with leaving them in Carcassonne Spa - heaven forbid but I emailed them and told them to have the dogs put down as it was kinder and more responsible!  I have not had a response from them but then I'm not holding my breath as people don't like hearing the brutal truth do they.  Rowan is breaking her heart out there today to give some last comfort and freedom to this little fellow and I know she will continue to do this bless her - but it's taking her apart at the seams!  I admire her and wish her strength in all she does up there against huge odds.

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Hang on a minute Christine - I did offer them help first off as I have had an enquiry for a passported dog from an English lady I spoke to yesterday.  I therefore gave them the opportunity to get in touch with me - let me have pictures of the dogs so that I could pass this information on to these people first of all.  I then told them the situation at Carcassonne and offered my 'opinion' that it would almost be kinder to have the dogs put down rather than subject them to the SPA at Carcassone if they ran out of options and had to leave having not resolved the situation.  I further advised them that if the dogs were already UK passported then surely it would be better to take them back to the UK and put them in a shelter there?  Failing all of that I then said that they should seek another shelter other than Carassonne.  I never explain myself well when I'm angry so once more I have come across as having said something without thought.  So what would your advice be to them Christine - what did I say that was so wrong because I doubt anyone frequenting Carcassonne right now would be able to deny that it's a cruel place to put a couple of dogs that have been used to a home environment and it could be months (if ever) before they find homes and finish up at the vets?  You know how hard Rowan and others work to get dogs out of there and is it any wonder we feel so betrayed by our own countrymen who do this - time and again!  I have offered these people help to  potentially home one of the dogs - I don't think I have been unfair or spoken wrongly but of course there will be those who think I have .......

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I found out recently that the Carcassonne SPA used to have a very poor opinion of British people, as we used to be renowned for "dumping" dogs when we decided the going was a bit tough and it was time to return home. Very few people decide at a moment's notice to go back to the UK, and getting a dog passported is not THAT expensive, when you consider the cost of a move overall.

The SPA's attitude towards Brits is gradually changing, thanks to Sue at Poor Paws and Merlin, inter alia, but they still tease me a bit when Brits abandon dogs. They seems to think I am somehow to blame, and I do find a bit embarrassing.

I would certainly prefer people not to bring their dogs to us, for obvious reasons. I know people don't want to have their own dogs out down, but they are making the SPA put its own dogs down.
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Thanks Christine.

I am just back from the SPA, a bit emotionally drained. I took him out for a walk then gave him a nice cold hosing down and removed all his ticks and other nasties. I was crying and he was licking my face. Hard to tear myself away, but no good staying there and being miserable.

The SPA guys were very sweet, they know how much I love beagles. And incidentally while I was there someone phoned up to abandon their dog and the SPA told them exactly what I said, ie if you bring yours in, one of ours will be put down. It is a straight equation at the moment, One in means one out.

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I do so hope this fella gets a home, I love animals but for the life of me I couldn't do what you do Rowan, I would end up with a totally impractical amount of dogs and still have the heartache of not being able to take the next one!  And I'm a cat person!!!! Please believe you have our support, and thank you so much for doing a job that must be so painful for you[:(]

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Thanks Jo

As I have just told Vida, I have no idea if this little guy is still with us. I can't face phoning to find out after all the crying I did yesterday.

Here are a couple more photos (if someone would please do the honours....), just so you can see how beautiful and trusting he was/is.

Maybe if more people see him they will think long and hard before taking their dogs to the SPA. It is lack of space that has meant he had to go.

[IMG]http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx153/rowan1965/IMG_0284.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i751.photobucket.com/albums/xx153/rowan1965/IMG_0286.jpg[/IMG]
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Russet House

This thread can now be closed.

He is gone. Found out this morning. Any solution that may have been offered came too late.

Bit weepy still. Off now for a couple of weeks with work and will see how I feel when I get back, but pretty sad right now.
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Before this thread is closed I would like to say that this was a personal hell for Rowan and it was compounded and made all the more heartbreaking, quite literally, because she had finally persuaded her husband to agree to take the Beagle last night!  They normally never put dogs down over a week-end (serves to show desperately overloaded they are there now!) and so when we spoke yesterday we felt sure he would still be there went she went today to pick up two more to get them away before she flew out of the country on business this evening!  One can only imagine her elation last night when she had the agreement of her husband and then only to find out this morning that she was too late.............poor doggie and poor Rowan!

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Yes - he came so very close to getting out!  I'm gutted  He might have made it had several people last week not brought dogs back in that they had previously adopted and then decided they didn't want them anymore, which served to push the Beagle to the top of the list quicker than we thought would happen.  This was also what upset Rowan and I so very much when some Brits chipped in wanting to leave their dogs behind because they were going back to the UK - the refuge was aware and the hit list was stepped up and he flew to the top.  The Spa at Carcassonne employees are no longer allowed to tell the volunteers which dogs are on the list but sometimes subtle hints are dropped and if you go there regularly like Rowan does, you get the drift of whose off and she knew her beloved Beagle was nearing the line but we thought we had till Monday........  He wasn't alone of course and we grieve for all of them and carry on but he was very special to Rowan.

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