It’s always incredibly tricky to describe what makes the Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary a unique organisation
We feel that it’s our dedication to rehoming the dogs and cats that would find it difficult to meet the requirements of any other rescue organisation and our no refusal, no destruction policy is close to our hearts. We rehabilitate and rehome the abandoned and most vulnerable and mistreated animals.
We’re a Sanctuary by the very definition of the word and our success stories prove this philosophy time and again.
Sometimes it takes longer or we have to work harder for the dogs to be home-ready. It’s often a struggle to find the forever families for our dogs… but find them we do!
Read about some of our proudest moments of the past few months below:
Freya
Freya was a stray and had clearly been used repeatedly for breeding. She was suffering from mastitis and had a nasty uterus infection which had to be treated prior to her being spayed.
Despite her ordeal, Freya was happy to meet everyone, and it was no surprise to staff that one of the first people that met her fell in love with her and she is thoroughly enjoying life in her new home.
Freya was also fostered by our Assistant manager, given her extremely difficult situation.
Tina
At just 6 months old, Tina was bred from.
Being just a puppy herself, her body was not ready for such trauma which resulted in her becoming very unwell; causing not only the death of her puppy’s, but her own life was hanging in the balance when she was signed over to the vets.
Thankfully she pulled through and after several weeks of hard work from the kennel team, Tina finally learnt what it was like to be a puppy, and bounced off to a fun life with her new owners.
Ollie
Cheeky chappie Ollie went off to his new home earlier this year after being in our care for quite some time.
Ollie finds it hard to trust people, which understandably made it a little difficult for potential adopters to see his true character.
After sadly being returned from one home due to his behaviour with strangers, some wonderful new adopters walked through the gate.
Following several visits and sessions with the team and our behaviourist, Ollie has been in his new home for several months now and is doing incredibly well.
Smudge
Smudge went to her new home recently after being cared for by Sanctuary staff, particularly the amazing Anna Strand for quite some time.
Smudge has some acute behavioural issues, particularly around other dogs and came back to us a few times because owners were unable to manage her issues. Time and again Smudge’s anti-social behaviour with other animals sadly put a lot of visitors off rehoming what is otherwise a truly sweet and affectionate girl.
Well, they say good things come to those who wait. And thankfully this proved to be true in Smudge’s case when a lovely couple spotted her on our website and were instantly captivated by her somewhat unique appearance.
They visited her several times to get to know the real Smudge, and we are delighted to say that they were happy to look past her other issues once they had discovered the gentle soul within.
She has now been in her home a few months and has settled in as if she has always been there.