Coming up to Christmas, it’s always sad when people give away their pets to the shelter. And that is exactly what happened to Olive, a miniature Dachshund, and her nine sweet puppies, who were surrendered to RSPCA Halifax, Huddersfield, Bradford & District Branch.
The little family of ten is certainly keeping the staff busy. And Olive is a wonderful mother nursing her babies while the staff helps to provide around-the-clock care.
Manager, Julie Cockroft, said, “We have to have one member of staff constantly allocated to these puppies as even the simplest of tasks – such as checking and cleaning their teeth – can take ages with nine wriggly, little puppies.”
She added, “They need a lot of care and, also, a lot of specialist things so if any members of the public are able to help by making donations or dropping off any useful items then that would be hugely helpful. We’re particularly looking for puppy food and toys to keep them entertained.”
Since there are nine puppies, the staff couldn’t resist giving them the names of Santa’s reindeer. However, the six-week-old puppies will not be ready for adoption before Christmas, instead they’ll hopefully be ready to go to their forever homes by the New Year.
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolf might be little, but they’re already capturing the hearts of people everywhere. The shelter has received adoption inquiries from as far as Thailand, however, the applications for the puppies are now closed.
“We’ve been absolutely inundated with responses – with more than 500 coming into us in less than 24 hours,” Cockroft said.
The shelter was overwhelmed by all the applications received, so they’ll be spending the rest of the month going through all the applications in order to find the best possible homes for not only the puppies but Olive as well.
While it is heartwarming to see all the people coming forward and expressing interest in the puppies, there are still so many dogs who need homes. The shelter is hoping that those who don’t get selected for the puppies will still consider adopting other dogs from their shelter.
One of their followers wrote, “If everyone who applied unsuccessfully now goes onto taking in a rescue dog, what a wonderful difference that would make”.
Remember adopt, don’t shop!
