Della Galton’s A New Arrival at Duck Pond Cottage is out now! Click here to start reading!
I have loved dogs for as long as I can remember.
Many years ago I volunteered as a weekend dog walker at an animal sanctuary near Salisbury. Myself, my husband and stepson (who was ten at the time) would head off every Sunday, and see how many dogs we could take out in a morning.
The sanctuary had a field attached, specifically for the purpose. Dogs needed to be on leads though, presumably in case you couldn’t catch them once they’d had a taste of freedom.
To speed things up, we would try to take more than one dog each at a time. However, some dogs only liked little dogs, some dogs didn’t like children, some dogs didn’t like men, some dogs didn’t like anyone. So working all that lot out was an art form in itself.
Inevitably, one dog found his forever home with us (we already had two). Abel, a brown and white lurcher cross, had been at the sanctuary a long time. He was the most well-mannered beautiful boy, although the first day we had him, he did rip the cat flap out of the door and disappear. We found him shmoozing a family with young kids up the road – he lay on their sofa on his back and graciously accepted dog treats.
I also did a fair bit of fund raising for the sanctuary. Sponsored walks, car boot sales, raffles. They were brilliant times. They did close eventually, and were then taken over by a different national rescue, but my memories are amazing.
My Duck Pond Cottage series was inspired by, and is based on, those very happy days. Thank you for reading.