October 22 2008
Blue Cross Dog Foster Scheme - Disaster
Tagged Under : animal adoption, animal charity, animal hospitals, animal welfare, animal welfare uk, blue cross, blue cross dogs, blue cross dogs for rehoming, blue cross durham, blue cross foster cheme, blue cross foster dogs, blue cross north east, blue cross tyne and wear, blue cross uk, dogs, dogs for rehoming in north east, dogs in tyne and wear, dogs north east, north east dogs, pet memorials, the blue cross, the blue cross durham, the blue cross foster scheme, the blue cross foster scheme disaster, the blue cross north east, the blue cross tyne and wear, uk animal adoption, uk animal charity, uk animal hospitals, washington, washington dogs
Click here to visit the “Help Tinker” main page for full details, the latest news and more.
In The Beginning
We registered with the Blue Cross Foster scheme and we went through the interviews and the home visit. We were told by Denise Young (fostering project development officer) at the Blue Cross that there were training opportunities for both handler and dog. We were quite excited about this and we told Denise Young (fostering project development officer) to let us know the details and we would do our utmost to be free to go to them. After all, what do we know about advanced training of dogs.
We were contacted by our area co-ordinator to say that there was a dog available. We went to the co-ordinators house to see the dog and decided to take her on. She was a black Staffie cross puppy with little white patches called Nala.
Denise Young (fostering project development officer) came round within a few days and again talked about training classes, behavioural classes and socialisation classes. Again, we agreed to do all of the classes. We were warned that we may have to travel for some of the classes up to a few hundred miles. We said that was fine, but we would probably make a weekend of it if that was the case. This was all fine and was left in the hands of Denise Young (fostering project development officer) to arrange.
Nala needed some development with Training
Over the next month or two the dog developed a few minor problems that we couldn’t understand or break her from. We contacted our local behaviourist, Carrie Evans, who had a very bad attitude and said she could only do training face to face and that it would have to wait as she was preparing for a holiday and was really rude to us. Each time we called her and she refused the telephone advice we had been told she offered, we contacted the Denise Young (fostering project development officer) and informed her of this.
During following visits to our home by the Denise Young (fostering project development officer), we again asked about training courses as we had not received a single lesson. We were getting so desperate with the dogs basic problems that we had tried to find information online, but we couldn’t find any advice that worked.
We were told on one visit that the behaviourist had been fired as there had been a lot of other complaints about the same problem we had with her. On Denise Young (fostering project development officer)s next visit she told us that a new behaviourist was being hired and we would shortly be able to contact them instead. After a few weeks we again called the Denise Young (fostering project development officer) to ask when we could have training and socialisation classes and when we could contact the new behaviourist. She told us that they had re hired the old behaviourist and she had forgotten about the lessons but would make sure she got us the details.
Denise Young (fostering project development officer) said that the behaviourist should offer some advice over the phone. Again we called the behaviourist and again she refused to give phone advice and could only do face to face meetings during school hours as she refused to get childcare.
We needed supplies
By this point the dog had outgrown the largest dog bed we had. We had told Denise Young (fostering project development officer) we needed a bigger bed and she had told us she would drop one off along with some wet food. On her last visit to the vet, we had been advised to give the dog a mix of wet and dry food as she seemed to have a sensitive stomach. Denise Young (fostering project development officer) had told us she would deliver some canned food with the dogs new basket.
We kept buying canned food from the local shop, waiting for Denise Young (fostering project development officer) to deliver the correct food.
In the meantime, with the dog now having no bed, we had tried to crate train her for nights. We had been trying to crate train her through the day with mixed results. We started crate training her at night downstairs, but she would constantly whine and bark no matter how long we left her.
We were unable to get extra behavioural support
I made the point that this support service is useless for anyone who works as they will be unable to get any evening or weekend appointments. This must have really pissed off Denise Young (fostering project development officer) at the Blue Cross because she sent us an e-mail claiming that we had resisted the training and socialization classes. She said that it was maybe time to transfer Tinker to a kennel so that they can train out the problems she has. However, she has a major problem with being left alone. The last time she was in the vets over night, she cried the whole time. So much so that the receptionist at the vets screamed at her to shut up. We complained to the Blue Cross about this when we found out it had happened, but the Blue Cross didn’t care.
In the e-mail she also mentioned that she was going on holiday the following day. We later found that she had instructed the area co-ordinator to “Get the dog transferred to kennels and Ignore adopters”.
That’s right, she ordered her to “IGNORE ADOPTERS”. The co-ordinator agreed to hold off on transferring Tinker until we could contact the Blue Cross.
We sought advice from higher levels
I called the Blue Cross and talked to Steve Goody (director of companion animal welfare) who said that he would talk to Denise Young (fostering project development officer) at the Blue Cross when she gets back from her holiday. He agreed that we could keep her until he had had a chance to talk to her and in the meantime he would arrange for their behaviorist to call us.
The behaviorist called and arranged a meeting 2 hours drive away. We agreed to it and were very happy that we were finally getting some movement on the training.
The day before the appointment we were called by Denise Young (fostering project development officer) at the Blue Cross. She said that she had just got back from her holiday and was going to be at the lesson the next day. We were concerned as she had been told about our complaint and really had no reason to be at the lesson. She lives hundreds of miles away from the training center. We were also concerned that she would try and transfer Tinker as we would be unable to contact Steve Goody (director of Companion animal welfare) of the Blue Cross as he does not work weekends and she had called us after he left on friday night. We left a message on his PA’s answer machine voicing our concerns.
We were given an ultimatum
We turned up at the training lesson and spent 30 minutes on a field. We were then taken into an office and they explained that Tinker was not up to the level she should be at. Plus the same reason we were ideal fosters (me working from home) was now a negative and was one of the reasons they wanted to send her to a kennel. But we know she would not survive in a kennel, plus we wanted Steve Goody (director of Companion animal welfare) to confirm any actions and he would not be available until monday at the earliest.
They said that they wanted to take the dog immediately. We were shocked, we hadn’t packed anything for her. She had nothing that was hers. We begged for them to let us think about adopting her. To start with they would only allow us to make this decision in the car park, but eventually they agreed to let us take her home and think about it over night. During this time, Julie Bedford Head of Behaviour had said that “had it been up to her she’d have given us a week, but it was up to Denise”. Denise gave us less than 12 hours.
They then revealed that the kennel center we were at was being refurbished and had no dogs in it AND that she had already arranged for someone to pick up the dog the next day to transfer it to kennels in the Midlands.
Thats right, before we even arrived at the training session they had already arranged the transfer of Tinker.
The reason we had been set up like this, thinking it was a legitimate training session when in reality it was nothing of the sort, was because they said “It would be a logistical nightmare getting Tinker picked up from where she was being fostered”
We were lied to throughout
We have been lied to again. I am refusing to accept their decision as Tinker has came along in leaps and bounds since the training class. She is showing fantastic signs of improvement and using what we were taught, we should easily be able to train all her problems out of her. Like most things it’s not complicated, it’s just a fact of knowing how to properly manage it.
We got in touch with Steve Goody (director of companion animal welfare) who said it was his fault. He had arranged the transfer and he had told Denise Young to do this. We were also told by Steve Goody that Denise had said in her interview on Wednesday that she had left the training in our hands. We were shocked. Not only that he had talked to Denise Young on Wednesday but that he had not bothered himself to call us and tell us so that at the very least we could have defended ourselves. Why would we go to so much trouble calling all of the time if had been in our hands. It was a lie but Steve Goody seemed uninterested. Who knows what other lies have been told? We are absolutely disgusted and will most certainly not be fostering anymore. The Blue Cross, it seems, do not care about their foster carers.
We are only wanting what is best for Tinker and we honestly think that a kennel environment will make her much worse as she is not good with new people. She gets too over excited and will jump up at them trying to play with them. In a kennel she would get a lot of new faces and would from time to time accidentally nip someone. This could easily be misread as aggression and she would be put to sleep.
Once we had spoken to Steve Goody, we were contacted by Denise Young who said we could either drop Tinker off at Thirsk adoption centre or they could drive up for her the next morning. She said the preferable option was for us to drive down. We chose to have her picked up from home the following morning for a number of reasons. We wanted to say our goodbyes and needed more than 10 minutes to do it in. We needed to make it easier on both us and on Tinker. She would be upset and whine for us if we walked away from her, whereas if she was taken away by someone else she would be a bit better.
We spent the whole night with her, cuddled up together in her favourite spot watching her favourite tv program. She got to chew on her rawhide chews and eat a nice meal of boiled chicken and rice. The next morning, we took her for a nice early walk and she looked adorable running around and getting dew on her muzzle. We came back home and she was sick and seemed very quiet. She wasn’t interested in her breakfast and instead lay in her bed.
The two staff from Thirsk centre arrived and piled her things into the van. We then lead her out of the house and into the crate that had been placed into the van. She whined and clawed at the crate to be let out and once we had said our goodbyes, we had to go back in the house, hearing the doors to the van slam shut. We burst into tears and spent the whole day feeling heartbroken. Even though we had done all we could, we still felt that we had failed her.
We had the option to adopt withdrawn
We had been given the option of adopting Tinker but had only been given a very short time in which to think about it, cost it up and commit to Tinker. It wasn’t enough. We had people that we still needed to get in touch with. We simply did not have enough time to fully investigate adoping her so that we could be sure we could offer everything she could possibly need. Given that the blue cross point blank refused to give us any extra time to assess this, our only other option was to hand her back to the blue cross and continue investigating the possability of adopting her.
Today (Wednesday) we finally had all of the information that we needed and it proved that we could get everything that was required, including immediate training, socialization classes and all of the other stuff the blue cross failed to provide.
We got in touch with Steve Goody and asked if they would revisit the option of us adopting Tinker. We were flatly refused. Here is the email that was sent to us:
Dear Heather
Thank you for your email.
We have a great deal of work to do with Nala before any decisions are made regarding where we eventually place her.
When the time does come to find her a new home, we’ll consider very carefully her requirements and find the home which suits her best.
I appreciate how you may be feeling at the moment, but take comfort from the fact that you did as much as you reasonably could for Nala and are grateful for all your efforts.
Steve Goody
We responded to this email detailing all of Nalas needs and showing that we met each one. We got this reply:
Heather
Thanks for the email.
I advised you of our position this morning which remains unchanged.
As I said, we will work with Nala and progress to placing her in a home appropriate to her needs at a suitable point in the future.
Steve
Again no explanation and another brick wall we are having to bang our heads against.
Where we are now
We are shocked and disgusted. Only a few days ago adoption was a viable option but now we aren’t good enough. We were homechecked as foster carers which is different to adoption in the fact that we are homechecked for any dog rather than a specific dog. We were willing to travel hundreds of miles, stay in a hotel at our own cost just so that we could bring her home and this was rejected. We feel that we are being penalised for making a well thought out decision and not being rash about this. We made extensive enquiries and all we needed was an extra day to get all of the information together. We have compiled evidence that we are in fact telling the truth.
An update
We have emailed Kim Hamilton, CEO of the Blue Cross with this story so far. This was her response:
Dear Heather,Thank you for your email and bringing this to my attention. I will investigate and revert to you as soon as possible.Kim Hamilton.
Telephone records
We have collated our telephone records and going on mobile phone calls and SMS alone:
In May 2008 we made 7 telephone calls and 29 SMS messages to Denise Young and our Foster co-ordinator.
In June 2008 we made 2 telephone calls and 11 SMs messages to Denise Young and our Foster co-ordinator.
In July 2008 we made 1 telephone call and 11 SMS messages to Denise Young and our Foster co-ordinator.
In August 2008 we made 4 telephone calls and 8 SMS messages to Denise Young and our Foster co-ordinator.
In September 2008 we made 3 telephone calls and 21 SMS messages to Denise Young and our Foster co-ordinator.
In October 2008 we made 7 telephone calls and 10 SMS messages to Denise Young and our Foster co-ordinator.
Why would we be trying to get in touch to this level if the training sessions had been left in our hands? If we had been left to organise them ourselves and had the facilities to do so, we would not have been contacting them so much because the behaviourist or trainer would have been working with us and Nala’s issues would have been resolved.
Keep checking this page as we are collating evidence on this every day. Please feel free to contact us with regards to anything written on this post.
How You can Help Us
Please show your support of this by leaving a reply to this post as we need all the help that we can get. Please also look at our “How you can help us” page to help us in our cause. We are not taking this refusal lying down and your help will count.
Related posts:
- Questions We Have Asked the Press Office We decided to add an extra angle to this story...
- Videos of Tinker/Nala Click here to visit the “Help Tinker” main page for...
- Photos of Tinker/Nala Click here to visit the “Help Tinker” main page for...
- Behioural Report from our assessment You can click on an image to enlarge it and...
- kim hamilton (CEO) email We contacted Kim Hamilton today to try and have our...
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cant beleive it
wat a discrase
you luv this dog they dont
you did all the right things and they cant just refuse the right of applying for the adoption
this group sounds dogey but dont let one bad experience put you off fostering other dogs in need
this story is incredible and totally ruins all faith i have in the Blue Cross, how can they do this to you and the poor dog??
Bunch of jobsworths who are not even capeable of doing the job.
this needs to be in the press, they need to be made to account for these actions.
I just don’t understand their decision making progress….
First they are not listening to the advice of the people who know the dog best.
Then they won’t let you adopt her although it must be clear that this would be the best option.
It would save them time and money, and surely their main concern should be to find her a good home.
How could a home get any better than that the dog already knows, and they have assessed themselves as suitable for fostering?!
I just don’t get it, it doesn’t make any sense from any angle to look at. There must be politics involved in this for sure.
I’m disgusted that an organization such as the Blue Cross would put ANYTHING above the welfare of a dog, because clearly, if they would care about Nana, she would be back with you guys!
Public accountability is definitely in order, here, disallowing an approved fosterer from adopting a dog seems neither legal or ethical. Blue Cross, it really appears you have disallowed this adoption for personal reasons rather than in keeping with the best interests of the dog. If so, you have disgraced the purposes of your mission and should lose your positions.
These people are supposed to be animal lovers and educated to a standard that understands the needs of dogs in their care. How dare thay play with a young puppys life like this any one with a modicom of sense realises that bad behaviour has to be stopped as soon as it starts at this young age. Why do the blue cross hide behind other people and put up with incompetance. If this was a public body and there had been a child involved there would be an enquiry. A ‘director’ he should go on a training course and start to understand you need to be hands on and investigate issues rather than sitting on the fence. This couple have given up their time and love and have been treated terribly. They deserve a huge apology as do the supporters of the blue cross and they also deserve further consideration with regards to adoption. This is discraceful the personnel involved should be at the receiving end of at least disciplinary hearings.
Thank you all for your kind comments. Please stay in touch as we will be adding more information as well as a list of people you can e-mail to bring this matter to their attention more than we can alone.
If you haven’t posted a comment yet, please do so to show your support.
We understand that there are always 2 sides to the story and we urge you to contact the blue cross to hear their side. You can contact us at any time by sending an e-mail to tinker@CharityVoice.co.uk
We would be happy to answer any questions at all.
Thanks again.
Dave & Heather (Tinkers x fosterers and hopefully her new adopters)
Something smells worse than last weeks trash!! There is obviously no oversight committee here to rein them in and see that the dog’s needs are dealt with. They did not follow up at all with the rules they set in motion and somehow it is your fault…..Your mistake was in complaining to others! If you can find a higher authority to go to, I would strongly recommend you do so.. If not, this group needs to be exposed for what they are. They are most obviously not honest at all…
I am appalled at how badly you were treated. Is there any type of oversight committee that this group reports to?? They strike me right now as extremely high handed and doing as they see fit. Sounds very much as if the gentleman has absolutely no interest in doing what is best for the dog. They did not live up to the rules they set…..offered no advice or assistance in training. Then when you objected, they remove the dog! And claim you are not fit!? Definitely something very bad there…..I do hope you are successful in getting the dog back but I have a feeling, unless you can get public opinion behind you, it is not likely.. These rescues and charities tend to know how to use the public for their way…….you can try though and the more people who hear about what happened, the more they will be hurt!
This is a disgrace. I am sincerely disgusted at the way this has been handled and the way Heather and Dave have been treated by this so-called ‘animal welfare charity’. They do not have the welfare of this dog in mind at all. There are far too many dogs in this country that are without a home or someone to love them and yet someone who wants to give this dog a permanent loving home has been penalised. Local kennels are putting dogs to sleep for no reason other than there is not enough space!!! It is shocking. Heather and Dave have put everything into giving this dog the home she needs, along with training, behaviour classes and socialising classes, as well as their time, money and commitment……………..then they take her away. Tink is now in kennels, cold, lonely and once again unloved. Taken away from the comfortable, loving life she had. This company needs boycotted for what they have done. How can they expect people to have faith in them when they do things like this. There was no need to leave these people heartbroken and a young puppy without a home. It is sick. Please please take action now before it is too late. Put Tink back where she belongs!!!! With Heather and Dave x
OMG
why cant you have the dog??
if you were good enough to provide long term foster care for this dog and were its first caring human companion therefore more qualified than any to offer care
I hope you can get her back. They obviously did not like being criticized! Just want to bury your protests that they are not doing their jobs properly!
It is just another example of untrained ignorant humans in charge being jobsworths to make themselves feel empowered, may they rue the day they made this quite frankly “DUMB” decision against you.
Thank you all for your comments. If you want to contact the blue cross to ask them about this, we would point you to their press office page.
This whole story is a total disgrace. There is obviously a total lack of communication within the staff concerned, and major unprofessional behaviour. The poor dog is not going to know where she stands and it is hardly in her best interests to keep her away from adopters who love her very much. Best of luck in getting some sense out of these people. x
Well I think the Blue Cross are deliberatly digging in their heels, they say you are good enough to foster but when you want to take her training seriously and they cannot provide they sound like they don’t want the hassle!
I think they want foster people who will just look after the dog but keep their mouths shut and not ask for anything in return (training, food, beds..etc)
If you were good enough to foster then you are good enough to adopt…they should not foster a dog to a family that they would not be happy adopting to!
They are irresponsible putting a young dog in kennels where there is an alternative available as this will simply cause more behavioural problems!
Blue Cross.. you should be ashamed of your actions, you are putting your own personal feelings (yes you Denise!) before the welfare of the dogs!
Blue Cross are acting on their own personal feelings where the animals welfare should be put first, I am wrong or isn’t that the point of a welfare centre, the welfare of the animal?
what are they playing at? Surely the dog is best off with you. After all, you’ve looked after her for months and you can give her a permanent home so whats their problem?????
this dog should be with you. The blue Cross are disgusting for what they’re doing. They should be ashamed and they should let you adopt the dog. Why is it always the same, jobsworths enjoying the power they have by making the wrong people suffer. I’ll not be donating to them like
I can’t believe all of that!! how could they? Why offer to let you adopt her then change their minds and not give you a reason??? madness. Hope you get it sorted so you can keep the dog. She deserves to be with you and the fact you’re doing all of this goes to prove how much you want her
Unbelievable ulitmately like always the dog pays the price. Shame on you blue cross.
Amazingly if you had gone out and bought a dog from a dealer and had no idea how to deal with it, your actions wouldn’t be questioned. But you chose to help a dog that needed extra love, attention and training and were determined to give it to her. You asked for their help and were abandoned. Surely a dog is far better off with a family who can give her all the attention it needs, rather than locked in kennels, swilled out and fed once a day and very little contact.
You now have a bond together that neither the dog or yourself wants or needs to lose, she needs someone she can trust. I’m wondering if these people really are dog lovers or just jobsworths.
Good luck with getting her back, she’s much better off with you.
I cannot believe what I am reading here. I have adopted rescue dogs all my adult life, and have supported the Blue cross charity, and others, in their work to find forever homes for dogs. Having read this story I will no longer support the Blue Cross in any way. They are supposed to do what is best for the dog, but in this case seem to be making personality clashes far more important than the welfare of
the dog concerned. They should be ashamed of themselves, and made accountable for their actions.
As Heather & David were considered suitable for fostering the dog, then surely they are suitable to adopt the same dog. And if not, why were they offered adoption? There is just no logic in any of this, and smacks of persecution against Heather & David.
I wish you both the best of luck in getting Nala back with you, where she belongs, and I hope that the Blue Cross will realise the severe error they have made in their ridiculous judgement of you.
I believe this story needs to reach a much wider audience, and applaud you for bringing this to our attention.
This is absolutely disgusting! And to think I have donated to the Blue Cross for years. Well I can’t believe this is what my money has gone towards!
I hope you get Nala back, shame on them. You should be entitled to that dog back
We have the RSPCA over here. I have never such crap about poor Nala. Heather took her in, trained her and yet wasn’t allowed to adopt her as she had more lessons. Are you training. This blue cross charity is beyond belief. If you allowed Nala there for fostering then why can’t they adopt her. I wouldn’t mind a response to this.
Sally
My daughter told me the story of nala. She cnnot believe what you have done. I would have thought that if you trusted people like Heather to train her, etc. Why would you not allowher to adopt. I certainly will be telling all my relies in the UK about this email and they two are lost for works, I most certainly make a point of not spreading your so called shelter.
Thanks again for all the supportive comments. As we have said, we only want to adopt Nala and bring her home where she belongs. We feel that there must have been some lies told along the line with this and once we get to the bottom of it, we will hopefully reach a satisfactory agreement with the Blue Cross. Keep checking back on this post as there is more evidence and further information being posted as and when we get it.
As usual administration wins out over sense…I have my fingers crossed that they sack the fools that made this happen and sort it out!
Thanks to everyone who has commented on this story – it’s good to see there are so many fellow dog lovers out there!
A number of you have made comments about The Blue Cross and I just wanted to reassure you that Nala’s welfare has been our top priority at all times.
I’m sure Heather won’t mind me sharing this letter from our chief executive, which I hope will help to explain our position. If any of you would like to talk to someone at The Blue Cross, please call us on 0300 790 9903 (low-cost charity rate).
Thanks,
Laura (The Blue Cross)
—————————————————————–
Dear Heather,
Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention.
I’m sorry that your experience of The Blue Cross and our Pet Fostering service in particular has not been a positive one for you. This is a very new scheme for us and as such, we accept that there are elements of the process that can be improved. There has also clearly been a breakdown in communication along the way, for which I can only apologise.
I can understand how difficult it must be for you to be parted from Nala after the time you have spent together, but I can assure you that her welfare is our first priority.
As a dog lover, I’m sure you can appreciate how important it is for a dog’s future wellbeing that appropriate behaviour is established at an early age. I understand that you were finding it difficult to cope with Nala’s challenging behaviour, which is why you agreed that she should be transferred to a Blue Cross adoption centre for intensive training with our animal behaviourists.
The Blue Cross has been caring for animals for over 100 years and all our centres offer very high standards of care. I’m happy to report that Nala is settling in very well and she is now undergoing a period of behavioural assessment and one-to-one training by our experienced staff.
As soon as her behaviour is under control we will start the process of matching her to the most appropriate home with someone who can offer her the time, love and experience that she needs. I would suggest that at this stage we have a further conversation to determine whether this is something you and David will be able to provide, in accordance with our normal adoption procedures. As I’m sure you can understand our main aim is for Nala to have a home where she will be happy for the rest of her life.
Again, I’d like to thank you for bringing this to my attention. As an organisation, we pride ourselves on providing the best service and as such, I appreciate hearing of your experience in order that we can improve the services we offer and achieve our shared goal of helping animals in need. I can only apologise for any upset or distress the recent events may have caused you however please be assured that our intention is always to do the very best for the animals in our care.
Yours sincerely,
Kim Hamilton
Chief Executive
The Blue Cross
Hello, thank you for your comment Laura, however it fails to answer the questions we have been asking. We have posted our e-mail and your reply. Click here to read the latest e-mails between us and Kim Hamilton
I have to say that I adopted a cat from Thirsk shelter quite some years ago. The team that worked there at the time were extremely professional and thorough in all their checks. No, I don’t for the Blue Cross in case anyone is thinking this. I worked in Harrogate quite some years ago as a hotel manager. I have adopted and fostered many cats over the years, those that were feral, until they were old enough to go to homes where people where capable of giving them the love and attention these little animals deserved. I currently have 2 cats, one of which I found when he was only about 2-3 weeks old.
I really feel that this extremely sad example which has happened to poor Heather and Dave is not a true reflection of the amazing work that animal charities do 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. I support 6 animal charities each month, one of which is the Blue Cross and still fully intend to do so for as long as I can afford to do so and I believe that the people who speak for these animals are fantastic people. I truly hope that Heather and Dave manage to adopt Nala, especially in the current financial climate where the adoption shelters are rapidly filling up with pets whose owners just cannot afford them. My animals come first, I am lucky in that I have fantastic animal loving neighbours who look after my two if I am ever away from home. I just hope that the Blue Cross decide in the favour of those that have already fallen in love with her. Good luck to the both of you x
Utterly disgraceful, that poor pup is taken from people who really love her, regardless of faults yet this so called dog loving charity have not considered the stress they are putting Nala thro. & willing to risk her being constantlly rehomed because of behavioural problems.
Thank you for your support. However, Nala/Tinker does not have big problems, just normal problems that a puppy would have. We already have support, training and socialization classes waiting to be booked. Had these been put in our hands, we would have arranged it. But it wasn’t and instead Denise lied and said that she had left it in our hands. At the bottom of the story above you will see the stats on how many times we have contacted her each month. Had it been left in our hands, we would have had no reason to contact her.
Thank you very much for your support Nicky.
As we mentioned, we do not think that the blue cross as a whole is to blame. The fault was clearly in the organization of their fostering scheme.
We both fully support the Blue Cross. The work they do with animals is highly valuable, especially in times of financial instability. There are other charities that are not as big as the Blue Cross who are having a gloomy looking future and need help.
By allowing us to have Nala/Tinker they will be freeing up space in their shelter as well as not having to train her as we already have everything she needs covered.
I am completely blown away re nala. You apperantly you trusted Heather to train her, yet she is not allowed to adopt her as she has more training to be down. I think that stinks big time. What is the REAL reason to your behaviour re Heather adopting her.
the problem with the blue cross is that it thinks its better than it really is, i got one of my last dogs (bonnie),from them, when i lived in a town and worked pretty much full time, but now i live in the country with a one acre garden and work from home, when bonnie passed away i went to them and they wouldn’t accept me for a rescue dog because i dont have a six foot fence around the whole property, which is pretty expensive to do, my concept is i know where the dogs are every minute and they dont want to escape, in the end i went to a labrador rescue , with better results,pip and maddie are both from lab rescue and they are both wonderful, i will never go to the blue cross again, and its their loss,such a shame
Heather can you please reply to Kim Hamilton, that Nala never had any behavioral problems. Well you never ever mentioned any to us in all the time you had her.
As far as i recall, and im sure i can check all you ever wanted was to take her to puppy classes and improve her socialisation and general obediance like every other oner of a young dog.
Im really concerned that Nala has been labled as having behavioral issues when she never did all the time she was with you.
richard
hi richard, we have now spoken to Kim Hamilton by phone and told her that Nala didn’t have any issues. She seems to have listened but unfortunately, she is still being put through an assessment which will last for a few weeks yet on average. I too am concerned that she is being mis labelled and I will be doing my utmost to bring her home when she is available for adoption where I feel she is safest.
I am Sheila’s mum and absolutely agree with my daughter in regards to “Tinker”. I, like my daughter would love to read an answer as to why you could allow her to go to Heather for training/fostering and then not allow her to adope her has left me very confused.
Nellie
Hi Nellie, we absolutely agree. This is one of our burning questions as well. All we want is to adopt Nala or Tinker as we called her, and yet she is in a kennel. Please address this question to the press office of the Blue Cross and maybe if enough people ask, we may get an answer.
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to point out that we haven’t said that Heather can’t adopt Nala, we’ve just said that she’ll need to apply through the usual process. This is because our pet fosterers sign up to give temporary care for animals looking for homes, and they are assessed with this short-term commitment in mind. It is not usual for this to lead to permanent adoption as the commitment needed is quite different.
Our adoption process makes sure we match our animals with the best possible owners who can offer long-term commitment, amongst other criteria. We do this with all our animals to make sure they find the best possible chance of happiness in their new home - and that is our priority for Nala.
The pet fostering service is still a very new scheme and it has been successful with other fosterers around the country, but we are grateful to Heather for highlighting areas for improvement.
Our chief executive has spoken to Heather and apologised for any miscommunication that may have occurred. They have agreed that the priority now is to look forward and resolve Nala’s behavioural and training issues to ensure her future happiness.
Thank you all for your interest.
Laura
Reply by Heather & David
Thank you for the reply to our e-mail but it did not answer any of the 4 questions we asked. View the e-mail we sent and responses here.
You said “we haven’t said that Heather can’t adopt Nala”. We were given the option to adopt Nala and once we had all the information at hand to make the decision we contacted Steve Goody who said “no”.
You also said “we’ve just said that she’ll need to apply through the usual process”, but when we were given the option to adopt we were never told this. If we had not been assessed for adoption, why was the Blue Cross pushing us to make a hasty decision? We were told by Denise Young that if we decided to adopt Nala we would only have to visit Thirsk with Nala to complete the paperwork. Shouldn’t the assesment be done before the paperwork?
You said “It is not usual for this to lead to permanent adoption as the commitment needed is quite different.” This is correct, when making a commitment to take care of an animal for the rest of its life, it is a huge decision that you have to be sure of. This brings me back to the question we asked you in our e-mail and above in this message. Why was the Blue Cross pushing us to make a hasty decision?
You said “Our chief executive has spoken to Heather and apologised for any miscommunication”. That is correct, but the CEO only called Heather after we e-mailed her because Steve Goody had said “no” when we said we wanted to adopt Nala. No one else would talk to us and Steve failed to respond to our follow up e-mail, so we e-mailed the CEO asking for help as we were being penalised for taking time to make the decision to adopt nala and not jump to a hasty decision like the Blue Cross wanted us to do. Steve Goody was aware that we needed more time to make a full decision and he said “no”. We asked Denise Young for extra time first and she had also said “no”.
We do not want anyone to stop donating or volunteering with the blue cross because of our experience. We too believe that our experiance is a one off, but also reveals cracks in the system. As we have said before, we appreciate the work the blue cross does and we would even be happy to assist in promoting their events on the advertising network that we own. After all, we joined the Blue Cross because we believe in their cause.
Best wishes
Heather & Dave
Poor Heather and Dave have definitely been put through the mill and I CANNOT BELIEVE that this has gone on for so long. I have read all your replies and find them very much insufficient. If you were so worried about Nala (Tinker), why not go to their home and check it out(or was that too far to go?), instead of conning them into driving for miles to a supposed training session (having the intention of removing Tinker there and then). The training was part of your agreement and you let her down with that - long overdue or basically non-exisatnt. Also, the food issue. If Heather had not bought food for Tinker, Tinker would have died of malnutrition, as the food was supposed to be available to them by your shelter and Heather and Dave were promised food.
I have cut and pasted one of her emails (part of it below)
Again, we agreed to do all of the classes. We were warned that we may have to travel for some of the classes up to a few hundred miles. We said that was fine, but we would probably make a weekend of it if that was the case. This was all fine and was left in the hands of Denise Young (fostering project development officer) to arrange.
The fact that she has continued with this for so long says alot for Heather and Dave and I take my hat off to them. I wish there were more dog lovers like her in the world. As far as Tinker’s bad behaviour, no wonder. Shame on you for calling it a shelter and taking peoples money.
I may live in Australia, however; I do have a huge family in the Uk, none here and they are always supporting animal charities and I will be asking them to find another one after all of this.
I know I sound rude and I probably am, but at lease I am telling the truth.
Sheila
Western Australia.
Both my parents and I have, over the last 20 years rescued two truly wonderful dogs from the Blue Cross. Not one of us had any idea of what is involved in taking on a rescue dog let alone badly abused ones as these two were. We were just looking for a pet, despite this the lack of knowledge didnt cause us any problems with the adoption process.
Heather and Dave had received the seal of approval from the Blue Cross to foster any type of dog and were soon lucky enough to take on Nala.
Upon joining the K9obedience website I came into contact with Heather who had also recently joined, full of pride at being accepted as a foster carer, soon Nala was placed with them and in all that time, they have never shown themselves to be anything less than dedicated, caring dog lovers.
There was never an issue with worrying behaviourial problems, just Nala going through the usual puppy stages. Heather received expert advice, encouragement and help from “friendly”, experienced behaviourists and like minded dog lovers on the site along with the chance to browse numerous tips and suggestions on how to care and train your dog from the main website.
There only ever seemed to be one small concern regarding Nala and that was her attachment to Heather and Dave, in my opinion this is not an uncommon problem, almost anyone taking on a rescue experiences exactly the same thing, the “stuck like glue” syndrome as I like to think of it, where even a trip to the toilet cant be made without your devoted rescue waiting eargely outside for you. Is that a crime? Of course its not and certainly not one punishable by locking the poor pup up in kennels to cure this.
Do you, the Blue Cross really believe that seperating this dog, who has come to learn trust, rules, fairness, companionship and most of all love from such a devoted couple is in the best interest of the dog?
If Heather and Dave’s only wrongdoing was asking for help with training, socialisation and obedience classes then I dread to think what the actions of the “Powers that Be” in Foster carer departments would be for someone who was faced with serious problems with a foster dog in their care.
Lets say, for arguments sake, that Heather and Dave, this being their first foster dog, were not as experienced or clued up as the majority of fosterers are, then surely their decisions to research on line for help and advice via a reputable and extremely popular website that can boast no less than FOUR ACCREDITTED BEHAVIOURISTS with years of experience and knowledge under their belts can only prove how lacking they were in getting the support from their own department heads and their determination to resolve any minor issues Nala may have been having off their own backs. This action alone should be applauded, its a testiment to their determination to sort out any issues regarding Nala.
I have myself watched over the months Heather grow in confidence and ability with Nala and a more caring, dog lover would be hard pressed to find. Her daily fun filled updates of Nala’s progress are always filled with wonderful stories and the love this couple have for her is evident for anyone to see in her postings.
To take such drastic and underhanded actions to seperate Nala is in my opinion uncalled for and whilst kennelling a dog is not inhumane, in some cases it can have terrible consequences for certain dogs. Some dogs are just not able to cope with kennel life and I firmly believe that Nala is one such dog and should be back where she belongs.
Your replies all state that you have the best interests of the dog in mind and hope to place her with a suitable adoption home, then you need look no further than Heather and Dave.
Sometimes its far better to stand up and admit that the wrong decision was made, rectify that problem and learn from mistakes than to dig your heels in and make what is already a bad choice even worse just so you can save face.
You should be supporting people that have given their time, energy, homes and love to become foster carers, you should be working together to iron out any wrinkles in the system not working against the very people that just want to help.
Without foster carers available more and more dogs would a) never know the warmth and comfort of a real home, b) never have the chance to rectify unwanted behaviour and become dogs any owner or wannabe could only dream about and c) have their lives cut short just because they couldnt live life in a kennel or there just wasnt the kennel space available anywhere for them.
Surely you can see, just from the fight that Heather and Dave are putting up to get Nala back that they only have her best interests at heart. This is the last route they would have wanted to take but if its the only way to get someone to stand up and take notice then PLEASE STAND UP AND TAKE NOTICE, before its too late.
Your time is better spent worrying about dogs with real problems, not creating mounds of paperwork and bad press for the Blue Cross, which we all know does some amazingly fantastic work for neglected, abandoned and abused dogs.
Why waste time ruining a wonderful reputation with this charade thats being carried out. A much easier option would be to allow Heather and Dave to adopt Nala. You can bet your life that if this was to happen then they would be adamant that Nala received the best care, training and support that she would need, just for the sense of pride and achievement they would get by showing you how capable they are. I know it would spur me on no end.
Not every case requires you to think with your head alone, occasionally you come across one in particular that needs you to make a decision based on what your heart tells you is right for everyone.
Returning Nala to Heather and Dave and allowing them to proceed with the adoption is one of those times your heart is required to do some work.
Heather and Dave, my thoughts are with you, I know only too well the pain of loss you are feeling and my heart breaks that you along with Nala have had to suffer in this way. I hope with all my heart that you get the outcome you and little Tink deserve.
Thinking of you always
Jayne xxx
Thank you for your comments Jayne. We also support the Blue Cross and their cause, this is why we joined them after all.
But it is hard to continue backing them when they refuse to answer questions from us or you. I understand that everyone makes mistakes and no one is perfect. I do not expect anyone to be, but I do expect them to attempt to rectify a problem.
Thank you for your help
Dear all,
Please be assured that we are in regular contact with Heather and David, keeping them informed of Nala’s progress.
But also please remember that we are a charity that is working extremely hard to care for all the thousands of animals that need our help. As we have finite resources, we unfortunately can’t reply individually to all the messages on these forums, and it is therefore very difficult to ensure a balanced story is being told.
Heather and David have said repeatedly that they are not trying to blacken the name of The Blue Cross but there does seem to be some confusion about what is actually happening here. So I’d really like to make a few things clear:
- The Blue Cross is not saying that Heather and David can’t adopt Nala - all we ask is that they take part in the same adoption process as everyone else to make we find her the best possible home
- Nala sadly does have behavioural problems - and these need to be tackled by our experienced behaviour team before she is ready to move into a permanent home
- We have accepted that there are areas for improvement in our pet fostering service - and we have apologised to Heather and Dave for any upset caused. We are actively reviewing the service to make sure that our volunteer foster carers around the country can continue to help animals in need.
As I’ve said before, if anyone would like to speak to someone at The Blue Cross, please do call us on 0300 790 9903.
Laura
Reply from David and Heather
Hi Laura, we appreciate you taking the time to post that.
For anyone in the UK who has emailed the Blue Cross, Laura has now provided a telephone number so you can contact them via that. For those of you outside the UK who cannot call them, really you will need to email them and then wait for a response or send a letter.
You have said that there is only one side of this being told, and we can appreciate your point of view. We have asked you questions that are on the mind of the people leaving comments and they have asked you the same things themselves. Unfortunately, we don’t know what went on behind the scenes during all of the time we were foster carers. So all we can tell is what we know happened. I’m sure that all people want is to hear the Blue Cross account of what happened so that they can see what they think actually happened. It would be of great benefit to us as well as we cannot make sense of it all.
We were unaware of any bigger behavioural issues. We posted all of the issues that Nala had on this forum and were told by the accredited behaviourists and expert dog owners that this was normal. We also spoke to the Blue Cross behaviour team who also said they were normal for a puppy. The only reason we were “not coping” came down to getting none of the support we had been promised repeatedly and the project development officer “accidentally” thinking she had left it in our hands when she hadn’t and repeated phone calls to her didn’t jog her memory.
I can totally accept that there may have been “miscommunications” between ourselves and the Blue Cross. Steve Goody said NO to adoption straight out and then carried on to ignore us. When we went higher and spoke to Kim, she decided that we could apply. We are truly grateful for that. Because we know we have the perfect setup for Nala, there should be no logical reason for us to be refused adoption of her. If we are refused, I would hope that the Blue Cross would be able to provide a good and provable reason for us not being suitable.
Again, we are trying to make this much more equal but without the Blue Cross coming out with their account we cannot do that. We are willing to put the past behind us, but first we need to understand what happened. Our one main concern is adopting Nala. We have also never launched an “attack” on the blue cross, we have always tried to maintain a fair and just outlook on this, regularly taking a step back from what we are saying and ensuring we can prove each and every single word. We can.
I will now look at so called charities very closely to ensure that they are actually thinking of the best for the animals as clearly the Blue Cross are not thinking of what is best for the animal in this case!!!!
Reply
To be honest, even though the Blue Cross has done this and acted in a very bad manner, we have not found many other complaints about them online. I honestly think they are a great charity that provide an invaluable service to animals in the uk. However I think that this story has shown cracks in their system that need to be fixed.
I would still donate to them because at least they are trying new ways to save dogs and cats. They need your money and so do the animals they look after. However, they also need to change and adjust to prevent more problems like these.
I can only say that for an organisation for the welfare of animals, How can it be in the best interests of the dog, to take her out of her foster home, with people who wanted to adopt her, and had surely built a rapport, and trust with these people.
Surely it is detrimental to the dog to be taken away, and put into kennels?
Reply by Admin:
Thanks for your support, this is the same issue we have always had. At the moment we are concentrating on adopting Nala but we of course wish we had the same answers you seek. The Blue Cross still depends on donations and we don’t want to stop people from helping them we just want to adopt Nala and bring her home, hopefully with a better understanding of what has gone wrong.
I think you’re all mad…The Blue Cross are only doing their job and trying to do the best for Nala. Just becasue these people can offer a good home they surely must go through the same proceedure as everyone else to make sure they have the BEST home for her. I for one know that the kennels are fantastic at the BC and the staff are dedicated and will not let a dog suffer for no real or honest reson. Give them a chance to do their job guys plesae……….
Reply by Admin
We can fully understand that there will be people who have never had a bad experience and there will be people who have never had a good experience. This is just how the world works. Where we are coming from is that we dedicated time effort and money and were pushed, by some higher members of the blue cross to make a rash decision or not to make one at all. That is wrong and there is no changing that. However, what you are not considering is that we are not anti blue cross, far from it. They provide a necessary service and a valuable one and we have never encouraged people not to donate. We are not going to police anyone who leaves any feedback on this as we respect that they have their own experiences with the blue cross and I would ask you not to tell people who offer their view that they are mad. We are able to do this, but it would not be fair.
Again, I say that the blue cross are not all bad, we just need to highlight problems such as ours so that services can be improved in the future. If you read the full story, updates and emails, you will realise that we do not persecute the blue cross, we just give the facts. We also have no problems with applying through the normal routes and only wanted the opportunity to do that after we were denied in the first place because we weren’t prepared to rush into the decision. I hope you can understand this.
Shame shameshame on denise,steve and the whole blue cross program! After all are we trying to find quality home for animals? Or just feeding ego’s if you are good enough to foster you are good enough to adopt!I am starting my own shelter LAST CHANCE animal shelter, because of theese type of things. I will not foster! I have 5 dogs i have personally rescued and one i got to heal my heart after the death of my nuffie (mossamoe) he died at 7 mo old fron anaphlax I hope you get your dog back, can you file a lawsuit? i woul check into it. I know you dont persecute blue cross but i dont think they have your dogs best intrest at hand, when a dog is tramatized like that how do they expect them to thrive, My prayers are with you and yours michelle vonbehren Brighton il.
ps for annonamus why dont you say yur name/ ARE YOU PART OF BLUE CROSS ? Yes were mad! I will say it again IF YOUR GOOD ENOUGH TO FOSTER YOUR GOOD ENOUGH TO ADOPT, IF THEY HAD NALA IN THIER HEARTS AND MINDS SHE WOULD STILL BE THERE! YOU CANT TELL SOMEONE THIER GOOD ENOUGH TO DRIVE HUNDREDS OF MILES,CARE FOR AND LOVE AN ANIMAL,SAY DO YOU WANT HER AND 2 DAYS LATER SAY BUT BUT WE HAVE HER BEST INTREST IN MIND ! HOGWASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OK KIM HAMILTON!! You say you are going to find someone with the time ? heather wil be a stay at home dog mom what more do you want? Blue cross may have been around for 100 yrs ,but clearly your founder is no longer around,he or she must be turning over and screaming from heaven shame on the people who made this mess.YIU relly should make it right cant you see from all the comments you are in the wrong? why dont you admit it and do the right thing it may save your org. If you were in front of a jury im afraid you would lose, please try to think of nala , there is no shame in admitting a mistake, THE SHAME IS NOT FIXING IT. the best to all who have to make this right i will keep all of you in my prayers and ask the lord to help you make the right choice i am a rescue parent of 5+ 1of my own all of my dogs have different behavoir problems, if i can handle a shepard,(highstruung) rat terrier (left in cage for 6 mo) beagle (run over left for dead) beagle (starved almost to death and white shepard/lab mix abandoned (with brain deasease) i think heather and david can definitley take care of nala, after all your staff picked them in her best intrest right? rescue mom.
it seems as both you and the dog have been treated dreadfully.
How can they do this when they are supposed to be their to help animals.
i wish you lots of luck.
STOP USING NALA AS AN EXCUSE TO PUNISH THESE PEOPLE FOR CRITISING YOU FOR NOT GIVING THEM THE HELP THEY NEEDED, IT IS UTTER BULLS**T FOR THEM TO HAVE TO GO THROUGH AN ADOPTION WHEN YOU HAVE ALL TO INFO YOU NEED. YOU ARE WASTING VALUBLE MONEY AND TIME WHICH YOU COULD USE ON ANOTHER DOG JUST GIVE NALA BACK TO THEM AND GROW UP!!!
It’s rubbish that it’s not common practice for fosters to adopt the dogs they look after - it’s perfectly common and, for most rescues, it would be fairly simple. I know, I’ve done fostering and on rescue forums “failed fostering :)” is something that often comes up, just like transporters will end up falling in love with a dog they’re driving somewhere and end up adopting it.
I only found this site because I’d like to get back into fostering and was searching for local rescues. Guess I won’t be going to the Blue Cross. I think the individuals involved in this should be ashamed, clearly the dog is being used to punish the owners who spoke out instead of keeping quiet. I’m astonished that members of the Blue Cross have actually joined in on the discussions here, if there is nothing to hide, a professional silence would have been better. The situation is absolutely horrendous if this dog is still in kennels when she could be in a home - I’m appalled.