The Story of Susan & Bella…

We wanted to share this lovely, little story with you all during this time of uncertainty to hopefully bring a smile to your face, but also to show some appreciation to our wonderful hosts!

Digs for Dogs home boarding families across the North West were so looking forward to giving a dog a holiday home throughout April and May, but due to the Covid-19 outbreak holidays were cancelled and to comply with Government guidelines to help prevent the spread of Coronavirus, we suspended our services.

This left a lot of customers, hosts and dogs very disappointed and as Lisa, our Home Boarding Franchisee in Wigan said, “I so wish I could go around and give all the hosts a dog to keep them company and bring a bit of happiness during this time”.

Most of our customers holidays were unfortunately cancelled, resulting in their dogs no longer needing their holidays either. However, Lisa still has one dog out on holiday at the moment; Bella the beautiful, little Shitzu.

Bella went to stay with “Aunty Susan” on 7th March and was due to go home on 26th March. During this time, the outbreak crisis resulted in Bella’s mum and dad getting stuck in New Zealand with no signs of getting back any time soon. Their flights were cancelled and they tried various other options, but unfortunately no luck – Lisa was left in the predicament of having a dog out on holiday, with no home for it to go back to.

     

After explaining the situation to Bella’s “Aunty Susan” she was more than happy to keep her for an extra few days. However, as days passed, and the more reports we heard of Brits being stranded abroad, the more she realised it was going to be considerably longer.

Bella’s mum and dad were finally able to book a flight home for April (as of yet, this still may not be secure as things change every day), so Lisa gave Susan the option to collect Bella and look after her herself. Susan’s reply was “If it wasn’t for the social distancing you might have to wrestle her away from me!”

She said she would look after Bella for as long as it takes – she adores every dog she hosts and says she falls in love with them every single time!

Susan is probably one of the luckiest hosts that we have at the moment! She has a gorgeous dog to keep her and her family company, help distract them from everything that is going on in the world, and they enjoy walks every day with furry cuddles at night. Bella’s mum and dad can also rest a little easier knowing their fur-baby is in good hands.

Lisa says “Susan is a wonderful host, like many of my other hosts, whom, given the same situation would have done exactly the same thing.”

Thank you Susan, and thank you to all of our fantastic and caring host families! We’ll be back as soon as we can with some lovely doggies for you to look after.

Would you be interested in opening up your home to a dog for their holiday?

Take a look at our service here: Home Boarding

If you would like to become one of our professional pet sitters, please get in touch: 01204 895 355

We look forward to welcoming you to the D4D family!

 

By Georgie Pomfret