Lenny's Happy Tail

PetRescue’s Home2Home program not only offers assisted rehoming, but in some cases, the personalised support offered by our experienced team can help pet owners to keep their pets! 

Emma and her family are a fantastic example of what can happen when people come together for a pet.

Emma had initially enquired about the Home2Home program to find a new home for their family’s active young dog, Lenny. The family felt they couldn’t give him the home he needed, as he was very energetic and lived in an urban area. They had also recently welcomed a new baby into their lives, in addition to two older kids and a senior doggo, which made it more challenging to keep Lenny stimulated. 

It was clear from Emma’s detailed information about Lenny and his sweet personality that it was a very difficult decision to rehome him, and he was very loved. She also sent through an entire Google Drive full of photos and videos of this adorable boy!

Once the Home2Home team had created Lenny’s profile, the family continued to work with a trainer to help with his barking and to improve his recall. They wanted the rehoming process to be as stress-free as possible and for him to settle into his new home quickly.

The Home2Home team, which includes PetRescue’s resident behaviourist, Dr Di, was able to offer support and resources during the time that Lenny was in the program and listed on PetRescue. These were mostly to help manage Lenny’s teenage energy - tips for using enrichment toys to give his brain a workout and playing quick but effective games like tug-of-war! In addition to this, Dr Di offered advice about managing and reducing Lenny’s barking, which they worked on together with their trainer, who also continued to work with Lenny on his recall. 

A number of enquiries came through for handsome Lenny, but none felt like the right fit for Emma. Merel, one of PetRescue’s adoption support reps, was cautiously optimistic when the below email appeared in her inbox from Emma a few weeks later! 

“Lenny is improving in leaps and bounds. His trainer said today how well he's going with recall and disengaging from distractions, so I'm really happy with his progress! If he continues this way for the next few weeks, we'll likely just keep working on him here instead of rehoming him, but I am still interested to see if a more suitable home comes up for him…”

A few more weeks passed and Merel was overjoyed to see the below email from Emma - she and her family had officially decided to keep Lenny!

“I wanted to let you know that we have decided to keep Lenny 😊

We have increased his training, focused more on his mental stimulation and enrichment during the days, and have been trying (still not that successfully haha) to reduce the barking. He's not perfect, but he is improving all the time!

As my baby has grown, it's become easier as well, and I've been able to juggle things better with her as a 4-month-old than as a newborn. My husband has gotten into more of a flow with walking Lenny in the morning with a bunch of other local dogs, and I think his recall is almost at a place where we can get him to go on group dog walks.

I wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU for going through this process with us, even though we didn't match up with someone to take Lenny, it gave us an opportunity to work on him while actively looking for a better situation for him. We've really come to the conclusion that our family is the best situation for him, and we just can't imagine our life without him in it!

We truly see this as a Home2Home success story and think this service is absolutely brilliant! Thank you so much for making it so easy for us and doing such a wonderful job in helping us when we didn't know where else to turn.”

The whole team was delighted to receive this update from Emma a few months after she and her husband decided to keep Lenny, along with these absolutely adorable photos below!

“Thank you so much for your wonderful work and the communication - it's been absolutely top-notch! Lenny is going well, we're still working on the barking and digging but he's a happy boy and we love him SO much! He still has his trainer twice a week and we're about to start taking him to group classes on Sundays to train in a different environment so it's a continuous journey but one we're happy to be taking!”

Emma’s story proves that there’s no such thing as the ‘perfect’ home for a pet. Instead, given the right support and resources, sometimes it’s possible for owners to find a way to keep their pets at home with them, in an environment they’re happy and familiar in. 

Sadly, a number of factors, such as the rising cost of living and housing crisis, mean that some pet owners are facing the heartbreaking decision to rehome their beloved pets.

Pet owners contacting us for help are seeking options. In times of crisis, they’re looking for the right support and an alternative to surrendering their pet into the rescue system when they have nowhere else to turn.

Home2Home, PetRescue’s owner assistance service helps pet owners in need find new and creative solutions which can help keep pets safe. Backed by an experienced team of pet behaviourists like Dr Di, Home2Home has helped many pet owners rehome, and in some cases like Emma’s, provide advice and information that can encourage them to work through the hurdles to find ways to be able to keep their pet. 

Your donation today means that pets and the people who love them can rely on PetRescue and the safety of programs like Home2Home.