To state the obvious, we love dogs and have loved having dogs in our lives. But after having two toy poodles for just over 15 years we felt we could not commit to another 15 years of caring for and being cared by another dog. Fostering seemed to be the perfect answer. We contacted Mayhew and found a wonderful welcome.

While we live in a flat with no garden and this limited the type of dog we would be able to support while they were waiting for their forever home Mayhew quickly identified Rafa, a 14 month old frenchie, that needed the type of one-to-one, or in our case two-to-one, attention. We knew very little about this breed and soon discovered what a playful little tank he could be. He was wonderful with other dogs and made friends with other Frenchies, a lovely husky, and a couple of poms amoung others. We never had any accidents, he had a quick walk before bedtime and a quick walk before breakfast, which he used well and a couple of hour long walks and another couple of shorter walks during the day.

It was wonderful to get to know a breed which we may otherwise might not have done. Just as we started to get him used to be left on his own he met his forever family and a week later we said goodbye. The flat suddenly felt empty but we had four weeks of very happy memories and are looking forward to welcoming a new guest into our home.

If this story has inspired you to volunteer with us, we’d love to have you! Please visit https://themayhew.org/get-involved/volunteer-with-us/ to find out more.