Cassie's Story - Part 2

Kara was back in the UK later that day, in a taxi from the airport to home. Between the airport and home, Kara had managed to find and make contact with Chiara in Milan. Chiara coordinates animal rescue throughout Italy and worked through her long established contacts. Within 48 hours, she had managed to organise a team of five volunteers to go back to village to rescue Cassie.

After a two hour drive from Rome, the rescue team found Cassie in her field. Having had very little contact with people and then suddenly having five start taking an interest in her, Cassie became a very nervous dog. The rescue time fully engaged their resources of patience and time, and after five hours, Cassie finally surrendered to them.

From the village that had been her home, Cassie was taken to a boarding kennel. There, she had her own pen, private quarters, regular feeds, and a safe place to have her pups. Not surprisingly, she was a very traumatised dog and there were concerns over the health of the still unborn pups. Within 36 hours of arriving at the kennel, Cassie gave birth to seven surprisingly healthy pups.

The rescue had happened just in time and the first half of Kara’s farewell promise had been fulfilled.

Cassie and her pups were safe, well, and thriving in the secure environment of the kennels, but Kara still had to fulfill the second half of her farewell promise that early morning: To get Cassie home to the UK and make sure as many of her pups as possible found forever homes.

While Cassie was safe and enjoying her new surroundings, Kara set up a Crowd Funding page on the Just Giving website.

No alchemist could combine Kara’s natural energy and exuberant enthusiasm for the things she passionately believes in. This came up when she set up a Crowd Funding page on the Just Giving website. In less than 10 minutes of the pages being opened, the fund had topped three figures. The momentum continued over the next week and enough had been donated to pay for Cassie to be transported to the UK to her new forever home with Kara. As well as making sure Cassie would be living with her, Kara also managed to arrange for four of the pups to have forever homes in the UK. That was the easy part.

In November, Kara returned to Italy for an emotional reunion with Cassie and her pups. Cassie seemed to know Kara immediately. No longer a timid stray in a bad way, but a dog beaming with health and confidence, surrounded by seven bundles of furry trouble.

The hard part was working through the Italian bureaucracy that at first appeared to be insurmountable. That was until Kara got stuck in, and made sure every single document had been filled in correctly, copied, notarized, and filed with the correct authorities. Fortunately, because Cassie and her pups could not be separated for 12 weeks, there was time to work through this maze.

In late December, Christmas came early and Cassie finally arrived to live with Kara in the UK. There she was, accepted very quickly by the other dogs in the home, and soon settled in to her new routine. Playing with her new companions, going for long walks across the New Forest and meeting horses at the stables where Kara keeps her own horse. Cassie even goes into "work" occasionally as the assistant manager at the local hotel where Kara is manager.

Cassie’s life was good until…

Even after Cassie arrived, Kara still kept in regular contact with Chiara at the rescue centre in Italy by phone, email, and through Facebook. This was to keep her updated on Cassie’s progress and that of the four pups that had come to the UK.

In one of her contacts with Chiara, Kara saw a picture of "Bingo" who had been rescued in the same area as Cassie. Oh well, there was already one Italian rescue dog in the home so why not have another?

The battle with bureaucracy started all over again, but at least this time around Kara was armed with her knowledge and experience gained from Cassie. Almost three years to the day Cassie arrived, Bingo arrived and was renamed Chester.

Once he had felt secure, he was one of the personalities at the rescue home, getting into adventures with his mates during their endless play times. But when he arrived, all of that playfulness and confidence had disappeared. He was even more traumatised than Cassie when she was first rescued in Italy.

The freight company delivered him to Kara. When she saw him, he was cowering as far back in his travel box as he could reach. He was shivering. With time and patience, he eventually allowed himself to be picked up and to be put on the ground. He made himself as small as he could and hugged the ground walking to the front door. There he really dug his heels in and would not cross the threshold. He didn’t know what life would lay beyond that door, and after what he had been through, who could blame him? Eventually, the only way he did cross that threshold was when Kara carried him.

Chester was introduced slowly and gradually to his new canine family, and after a couple of weeks, was fully integrated. The other three dogs made it very clear to him that, since he was the newest, he was going to have to be at the bottom of the hierarchy—which he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, knowing exactly where his place was, however lowly, gave Chester the security that he craved.

He's now the one who's happy chasing balls of all shapes and sizes around the garden, or across the open heath lands of the New Forest, all while the others go into the undergrowth sniffing and snuffling for big game.

In Kara’s own words:

"It’s not easy rescuing dogs from abroad, people comment on the fact that there are plenty of dogs needing homes in the UK. Selfishly, I feel the rescue dogs in the UK have food, shelter and any veterinary treatment they need. In Southern Italy they get poisoned, beaten, shot and worse, having witnessed these poor dogs for myself it has driven me to help as many of them as I can, I know I can’t help them all, but I’ve now saved 9 of them and am currently helping a friend rescue another one. It is one of the most rewarding things I have done, I really couldn’t ask for more loyal or loving dogs, they pay you back ten fold."

Cassie and Chester have formed a very strong bond, becoming very firm besties. Maybe, just maybe, that bond has been forged in the crucible of a shared hardship, the trauma of rescue, and the unimaginable relief at knowing they have been rescued by a remarkable lady.

Bingo (AKA Chester)