Sample Story

When the NSPCA raided the property and contacted our rescue group to take overflow dogs, they warned us that some animals might be beyond rehabilitation. Daisy was one of the ones they were least sure about.

She was a three-year-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who had spent her entire life in a wire cage, bred from twice a year. She had never walked on grass. She did not know what a toy was. She flinched when a hand came near her head.

For the first month she lived under our bed and only came out to eat after we had left the room. We did not try to touch her or coax her out. We simply sat on the floor nearby, read aloud, and let her observe that humans were not always a source of pain.

Month two: she crept out and lay a metre away from me while I watched television. Month three: she lay against my leg. By month four she was sleeping on the bed.

Daisy still flinches occasionally at sudden movements. She probably always will. But she also wags her tail when I come home, solicits cuddles with a nudge of her nose, and runs in the garden with an abandon that makes me cry every time.

The mill is shut down now. The person responsible was convicted. And Daisy is proof that even the most broken trust can be rebuilt with enough patience and love.