When a group of dog walkers came across a pile of rubbish in their local park, they were shocked to see a young Saluki pup settled down amongst the bin bags.

5 year old Blossom had clearly been abandoned, and cowered in fear at the sight of the walkers and their dogs. She wouldn’t allow any of the dog walkers to approach her, and backed away looking terrified as soon as anyone got too close. Unsure what to do, one of the dog walkers called Mayhew, and our Animal Welfare Officers told them to try and gain Blossom’s trust so that she could be captured and brought to safety.

Over the next few days, one of the dog walkers returned to the spot where he had discovered Blossom and left food out for her, hoping that she would recognise him and see that he was not a threat.

Luckily, on the third day, Blossom allowed the dog walker to get close enough to put a collar on her, and he called us straight away so that we could go and pick Blossom up.

After bringing her back to Mayhew, our Animal Welfare Officers gave Blossom a thorough health check. We quickly noticed that she was itching all over, and kept trying to scratch her body with her back legs. Even the slightest touch by our team caused Blossom’s itchiness to flare up, and so our vet team conducted skin scrapes so they could get to the bottom of what was causing it.

Blossom was extremely nervous and stressed during her intake examination, and didn’t have a microchip, so we have no idea where she might have come from or how long she was in the park before the dog walkers spotted her.

Test results soon indicated that Blossom’s skin condition was caused by a bacterial infection, likely caught from the rubbish she was laying on when she was found. Our Vets administered steroids and antibiotics, and our Kennels team settled Blossom down into a warm, cosy cabin where she could finally feel safe to rest and recover.

As time went on, Blossom began to trust us, and started to come out of her shell. She revealed herself to be an incredibly gentle, intelligent and affectionate girl, and she soon built strong bonds with our staff.

However, her ordeal has left Blossom with significant confidence issues, and she is still a very shy pup who will need an experienced and knowledgeable owner who has the time and patience to show her lots of love and teach her all that she needs to know.

She will also have to be the only animal in the household, as she is nervous around other dogs, and will therefore need to spend a lot of time in training working on her socialisation skills.