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Last Chance Hotel Animal Rescue & Rehome

This month’s newsletter is a bit later than usual, not because nothing happened in September, - quite the reverse! Preparations for two dogs shows, both in the same weekend, many dogs coming in to the rescue, and, although it seems a long way off, we are already thinking about Christmas.

Fundraising is vital to the existence of Last Chance Hotel. Our fundraising events such as our Autumn Fayre and Dog Show are important, not only in raising funds, but also awareness. But they take some organisation, and with many of our volunteers in full time jobs, it can take time to get everything sorted out. All our volunteers are exactly that, - volunteering their time freely and with love, to help save animals. The charity continues to grow, and although this means that more dogs are being saved, it translates into more work for our dedicated team. We are always on the lookout for fosterers for our dogs, but also need help in other areas, - admin, home checkers, staff for our Hub Shop in Redruth, and we are still looking for a Jack or Jill of all trades for our sanctuary, someone to live on site who is capable and experienced in hard labouring work.

As the charity takes on more dogs needing treatment, so our vet bill expands; and our fundraising events, Facebook auctions, Hub Shop sales and special appeals become even more important to survival. We are lucky to have so many generous supporters; we need you now more than ever. Please spread the word, pop into our Hub Shop, contribute to and take a look at our next auction, buy our Christmas cards when they become available, …which will be very soon…..

Help us to help animals that are on their last chance.

New Arrivals

September was another busy month, with at least a dozen dogs coming in from the pounds and several more needing rehoming from private situations. Some of the pound dogs were in a heartbreaking state, - physically and mentally. Now they are safe in Cornwall and with the necessary veterinary attention and the care of their fosterers they are on their journey to a new and happier life. Bob and Tizzi are two little ones, each with their own problems. Bob the Yorkie is totally deaf; he had suffered a severe ear infection at some point in his life which destroyed his inner ear and he had to have his ear canals removed on both sides. Tizzi came in absolutely terrified, and is now finding her way in the big wide world. Both are now in foster, with a brighter future ahead of them. Teddy (pictured above) was faced with being PTS because he bites; he needs a confident child free foster home for rehab. Sparkie is waiting for foster and Ziggy Pickles, Snoopy and Casper are all ready for adoption. And there is just room to mention Hope, who was found sleeping by someone’s bins. She had probably been turfed out of her previous home, though how anyone could do this is totally beyond our understanding because she is the sweetest girl, who deserves and now has a loving home.

First 3 Left to Right  - Tizzi, Bob, and Sparkie.

Second 3 Left to Right - Ziggy Pickles, Casper, and Hope.

These are just a few of the incomers for last month. If you would like to follow their progress, and find out more about all the others, please check out our Facebook page and website lastchancehotel.org. We now have a news section on the Home page; dogs are constantly being assessed in their foster homes and information changes regularly.

Happy Departures to New Homes

As many of you know, Last Chance Hotel takes in dogs that other rescues cannot or will not take. Knowing that a dog has been saved from death is a great feeling, and when that dog finally finds his or her forever sofa, somewhere to lay their head and enjoy cuddles and love for the rest of their days, it warms the heart even more.
Sisco, pictured here, came in to rescue last month, an old boy of 14; he had been dumped at the pound. He may be a bit wobbly on his pins, but he certainly didn’t deserve to be left like that, alone and confused. But his life has taken a turn for the better, because he now has his special someone to look after him, who will ensure he gets all the love and attention he needs.
Little Nellie, Dasher, and Buster all arrived in September, and found their new families very quickly. Dear William, and the lovely May were amongst the others trotting off to new homes, tails held high. Alfie the deaf Dobie was taken into emergency foster by Anne-Marie, but she failed after 2 days; he is now a fully fledged member of Chunk’s pack, and has the new name of Thor.

First 3 Left to Right  - Nellie, Dasher and Buster.

Second 3 Left to Right -May, William and Thor.

Bella's Sponsored Walk

Most school children look forward to the summer holidays as a time to have fun, go away somewhere with family, meet up with friends for days out, or even just have a lie in of a morning. Bella Stevens looked forward to something quite different: a massive personal challenge, walking 300 miles along the South West Coast Path to raise funds for Last Chance Hotel. Bella is 10 years old, an animal lover through and through. She and her family adopted two LCH dogs, Pepper and Milo in the spring of this year. Bella wanted to do something to help LCH, and decided on a sponsored walk, but one that would mean giving up her entire summer holiday. Plans were made, campsites were booked, equipment and good walking boots acquired. Her mum Kim and the two little dogs were her walking companions, although Pepper, having such short legs, was often carried. Bella, Kim and their canine family set off from just over the north Cornish border on 27th July, with the aim of reaching Plymouth in good time for her to return to school on 5th September.
As often happens, things didn’t exactly go to plan, with Kim suffering from painful knees and blisters, and Bella’s legs feeling the strain of excessive climbing. But they kept going. Bella was determined to finish and despite terrible weather on many days, and falling behind schedule, they completed the task. Bella raised almost £1500 through her JustGiving page and another £200 along the way, a phenomenal achievement for one so young. She even had a slot on ITV Westcountry News when they were close to Plymouth, and featured in the West Briton newspaper. Here are some pictures of her journey.
Massive thanks to Bella from the LCH team for a fantastic selfless achievement and to Kim for supporting her in this gruelling challenge. You are both amazing.

If you would like to help LCH with a fundraising event, please contact the team with your idea on 01209 281159 or email Louisa on louisa@lastchancehotel.org.

Calling all eBayers!

Please help us win up to £7,000 with eBay’s ‘My Favourite Charity’ competition.
All you need to do is find ‘The Last Chance Hotel’ in eBay’s charity directory by clicking this link eBay Last Chance Hotel and click the “Add to My favourites” button.
Once you pick us as your favourite charity, you’ll be shown ‘The Last Chance Hotel’ as the charity to support whenever you buy or sell on eBay.
This October, eBay will be keeping count of all the favourite votes charities receive on eBay, and the charities with the most favourites at the end of the month will win cash prizes.

A Transporter's Tale

When Animal Rescues work together they can make great things happen. Last Chance Hotel is fortunate to be part of a network of reliable and dedicated rescues and transporters, - people who literally go the extra mile to get dogs to safety. In early September, three dogs came down to Cornwall, including one from Scotland. Neil Isherwood completed a 700 mile round trip from Manchester to Edinburgh, calling at Durham and then back down to Birmingham, funding the fuel himself to get the dogs to overnight space before their trip to Cornwall. Here is his own take on the journey:

“Yesterday we had a Road Trip from Manchester to Edinburgh to collect Busby to help get him to his 5 star rescue in the darkest SW! We had a normal trip up North of the Wall then we had to collect Bob and Missy from Durham as they to had been offered places at the same rescue! So Busby and I started the 3 hour trip cross country at a steady pace admiring the views and we even went across the bridge at Coldstream but no guardsmen were in sight!

We reached the rescue, collected the paperwork and Bob plus Missy then started for Birmingham in Friday traffic, - not good! On the M1 a double rainbow even appeared which they liked! We reached the rescue at 19.15 which had agreed to overnight them and take them to their rescue placement in the SW!
This trip over 700 miles ( around 1,400 in total) roughly Edinburgh to Redruth was only possible by 3 rescues working together to make sure these dogs were safe and sound with their team work, which makes anything possible!!!”

Teresa Demetriou and Maria ‘Angels Hope’ Hedmin then brought the dogs down to us in Cornwall. A whole bunch of people involved in getting dogs safe into rescue: all the cross posters, the dog wardens, the people that work in the pounds and kennels, fundraisers and all the other volunteers that helped in one way or another, - over 50 people in all... all with one purpose and that is to save lives.

This is how dog rescue works.

Thank You!

North Country Clean up

A MASSIVE thank you to Karen Gallagher and the amazing gang at North Country Garages for the charity car wash they held for us in September. What a fantastic group of people, plenty of cars washed and some very generous donations made from people stopping to have their cars cleaned.
Thanks for a fun morning and raising much needed funds for us. Your ongoing support means the world to us.

Tilly at Tammy's

Grateful thanks to Tammy at Tammy’s Grooming in Falmouth for Last Chancer Tilly’s first groom as a rehomed  rescue dog. Tammy picked up Tilly from her new mum and delivered her back safely and looking fantastic!

Food Glorious Food

A big thank you to Kieran and Hannah Wilson and also to Griggs Country Store and Becky Millichap for their wonderful donations of dog food, your support is very much appreciated.

Adrian's Legacy

Last Chance Hotel would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to Adrian Heard and family for his generous and kind legacy.
Adrian sadly made his way to the stars earlier this year. LCH met Adrian when, together with his wife Lesley, and son William, he adopted Arthur.
Adrian and Lesley have been wonderful supporters of the charity ever since; even generously sharing their wedding gift donations between LCH and MND Association.
It was a great pleasure for us to have known Adrian personally, and he will always have a special place in our hearts.

Did You Know?

Last Chance Hotel have now linked up with Refuge4Pets. Refuge4Pets offer temporary safe homes to animals caught up in domestic violence and abuse. Quite often pets are used for control, blackmail and emotional mind games, preventing the human victims of abuse to look for outside help and refuge for fear of retaliation against their beloved pets. To be a part of this support not only allows Last Chance Hotel help vulnerable animals, it also helps us offer a stepping stone to families towards a safer, happier future. If you can offer short term foster placements for animals that need it, please get in touch with us. You will need to be homechecked, and in some instances you may need to sign confidentiality agreements. LCH will help in any way we can, but all decisions regarding this side of helping animals will be made by Refuge4Pets, we are here purely as support for the animals.

Dates for your Diary

Sunday 17th December 2pm start
Dog Show in aid of LCH at Treloweth Community Hall, Moorfield Road, Pool. TR15 3QB

Happy Gotcha Day!

“Gotcha Day” is the name given to the day a lucky hound first came into his or her forever home. Here are a few tributes from September of that celebration of love.

Jack

Hello everyone my name is Jack. 12 months ago I was rescued from the pound by LCH. I had a flea allergy and felt really low. After a long trip, I got to Redruth. A man knelt down by me and stroked my head. He said "It's ok Jack, you are coming with us and nobody will hurt you ever again" This made me happy and after 10 mins in the car I got to my new home. I went in and met Rosie and Jester, the other dogs. 

They were nice to me and we had a little walk together. I was given a little bit of food then lay on my bed and my new mummy gave me lots of cuddles. Louisa Blum from LCH posted on my picture "Enjoy your retirement Jack" Well, I certainly am! Every morning when I wake up and count my blessings, I always count Team LCH twice. Thank you and lots of love from Jack. AR

Jester

Happy gotcha day Jester. 3 years ago you found your forever home with us. DR

Butler

A year ago today, Samantha posted about Butler, a Newfoundland-Pyrenean cross who had got himself an ASBO for biting the postman and needed a new home. So I thought I’d post an update on how he's got on over the past year! We adopted him a week or so after he was posted about and he made a new start for himself in Yorkshire. Butler’s had a fabulous year; he happily settled in and has become great friends with our other Newfie, has learnt how to behave with cats, is doing well with his separation anxiety, and has successfully been prevented from attacking any more postman! We love him to bits! EC

Rainbow Bridge

Beautiful Scooby, another soul let down by those who professed to love her. Her skin condition turned out to be something more sinister. Her lovely foster mum Heather and her family took care of this sweetheart and gave her cuddles and the attention she deserved. Scooby left this earth with a tummy full of chocolate muffin and her heart full of love. Run free sweet girl.

Christmas isn’t that far off….we need your help for our next auction

We are already thinking about our Facebook Christmas auction. It would be fantastic if this could be the best ever, but we need your help. Items such as gift sets, wine, chocolates, maybe things that you might get in the supermarket on a BOGOF promotion. If you have a service you can offer, or can pop into your local shop, and ask them nicely for a donation, everything helps. Gift vouchers for a free cream tea, or towards a meal at your local eatery, all sorts of things that will get us all bidding! Items can be dropped off at the Hub Shop in Redruth, or we can arrange collection if you prefer. If you have any questions, please message Carla via the Last Chance Hotel Auction page or email her on carlawurlies@hotmail.co.uk.

Stop Press!

The newsletter is a bit late this month but that’s just as well because here are some pics of the amazing day we had on Sunday 1st October, our Autumn Fayre and Dog Show at Crofthandy Village Hall. What a fantastic turnout, despite the drizzly rain for most of the day.

Massive thanks to Absolute Canvas for generously providing the marquee which kept the Dog Show entrants and spectators dry. Special thanks to the fab judges: Katie Sainsbury who judged the Companion show, and Nigel Lunt MRCVS and Debra Curnow who had their work cut out with the Fun show. Thanks also to all the sponsors of the Dog Show classes, and Pets at Home and Beautiful Joe’s for their lovely donations of prizes for the show and Fayre; the stall holders who brought an interesting and varied array of products, and Pawfect Photography for donating free photoshoot vouchers and taking some beautiful photos of the dogs. The refreshments would not have been the same without the fab cakes and other delicacies prepared with love by many loyal supporters. The lovely ladies from the Phoenix Group dropped in with a generous donation from their fundraising, - thank you so much, we really appreciate your support! Who else? Ah yes, all those lovely peeps who came to support us,  join in the fun, and spend their pennies to help dogs in need. It was a truly amazing day with lots of smiling faces, and it was lovely to meet so many happy pooches and their owners.

Congratulations to Tina Simpson and her handsome Belgian Shepherd Phoenix who took Companion Best in Show, and a prize of 3 months subscription to Beautiful Joe’s tasty treats......

......and to Trish Kindon and Mika, who won the Fun Best in Show rosette and trophy, and a £10 Pets at Home voucher.

Thank you all, here's to the next one!

The Last Chance Hotel Hub Shop

The Hub Shop is situated at 83 Fore Street, Redruth, almost opposite Wilko’s, and open 10am - 4pm Monday to Saturday. Lots of new and preloved goods on sale and hot drinks in exchange for a donation. Pop in for advice about animal related issues, and a browse around! Our 'Sale' days have been very popular.

Volunteers to help man (or woman!) the shop are warmly welcomed, - just a couple of hours a week will help enormously. Please contact the shop on 01209 315547, or drop in for a chat.

No matter how little money and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich.

Louis Sabin (author)