Isaac came first; back in 1997, re named Oscar, an unclaimed stray. He has always been our ‘rogue’ dog never staying near us when off lead. He runs off along hedgerows bottoms eating goodness knows what. Consequently he is always on his extender lead. Hair tumbles from his very large body as he ambles round the house coating carpets and the sofa alike and he is never happier than when eating. Oscar’s saving grace is his amiable easy-going nature; he loves everyone including complete strangers and always solicits for attention.

Little black Annie quickly followed him in May 1998. We were doing the Sponsored Walk and just by pure chance took the then horribly named ‘Gismo’. She completely won us over on the walk, a confident friendly little dog that just loved Oscar and Oscar fell for her. She not only accompanied us on the walk but also accompanied us home afterwards.

Jess formally Sally had been at the centre many months before she joined our pack in 1999. Seemingly depressed and refusing to get out on her bed when being viewed did not help her chances of getting a new home. Once with us she slowly came round to the happy confident dog she is today. On the quiet she is our top dog.

Reggie had lived in the office at the centre for five year before we took him home and re named him Sandy. He was our aggressive dog and had to watch him on his walks taking care to put him on lead when a strange dog approached, he didn’t mind, given the chance, he’d take on dogs large or small. In the house he was the perfect dog, never putting a foot wrong.

Sadly both Annie and Sandy died January 2008, leaving just Oscar and Jess. They are both sadly missed but there’s place now for two more dogs in need.

A small black hairy dog arrived at the centre April 2008. An unclaimed stray we knew nothing about, he was given the name of Rodney. He was chosen fairly quickly and went to his new home where he lived with another two dogs. Everything seemed fine, that was, until September 2008 when Rodney had a seizure.

His new owners felt unable to cope with this situation and returned him to Sunnydene. At a mature age of approximately nine years and having seizures you may think that life was not looking too rosy for Rodney but you’d be wrong. With his endearing personality and his serious little face no less than four people came forward to give him the home he deserved.

After a process of elimination Rodney went to live with Oscar, Jess and Secret where he fitted in perfectly. He just loves his walks in the park and gets very excited when leads come out. He has the habit of grabbing Jess’s lead and pulling her along as if to say ‘HURRY UP’ much to the disgust of Jess. His only vice is food and he could do to loose a few pounds.

Whilst he’s been with us Rodney hasn’t had a seizure but if or when it happens we will cope and he’ll be cared for and I’m sure he’ll come out of it with no lasting effects.

Rodney is with us to stay.

This is a photo of Charlie, Sammy's predecessor (see below), she died June 2008.

Charlie was adopted by Paul, Tracy and Matthew back in 2001 when she was just eighteen months old. Her breed was described as 'hairy' and Tracy says 'what a handful she was, however she won over everyone who met her and became known as a real character in our village'.

This photo was taken in the winter of 2007/2008 of Charlie on duty guarding the back fence adjoining the field to the rear of the house watching out for any of her friends who might brave the snow and throw her a biscuit.

Charlie's family still miss her loads but know she would have approved of them homing another dog from the H.A.W.T

Charlie's bad start in life was more than made up for by the permanent loving home provided by this family.

R.I.P. Charlie xxx

Sam arrived at Sunnydene with his mum and sisters as their owner had to give them up when she was evicted from her home. At first Sam was quiet and timid in the kennels and rather sad.

Along came Tracy, Paul and Matthew. They came looking for a new dog as their old dog Charlie, who was also from Sunnydene (see above), had died the previous June.

They fell in love with Sammy instantly as he was just what they were looking for - a boisterous lively playful dog to make their family complete again.

Sammy has his new family fully trained now - he loves to play in the garden with his toys and lucky for him he has a field at the rear of his new house where he can run and has become quite an expert with his frizby.
He loves the hustle and bustle of family life and considers himself well and truly one of Matthews's gang.

Tracey says they wouldn't consider going anywhere else for a dog, they are all happy with Sammy and Sammy is very happy too!

Henry arrived at our kennels is early 2007 and stayed until spotted by a couple who live in Grimsby. Henry has settled into his new home now and his owners write to tell us:

This is Henry our beautiful Dalmatian. We adopted Henry in June 2007 and he settled in really quickly. Like all Dalmatians he is totally bonkers, very loving, greedy, unpredictable and intelligent. He wasn't too fond of other dogs when we got him but now, after lots of socialising, he has plenty of doggy friends who he sees on his daily runs in the local woods. He has two Dalmatian friends and it is wonderful to watch them running around together in big circles. His best friend though is George the Dachshound, despite the size difference they love wrestling each other. Henry was seventeen months when we adopted him and very boisterous, he's calmed down a little but still runs around the house and garden with his toys trying to get anyone who visits to play tug with him.

Henry loves long walks and really enjoyed his holiday to Cornwall this year (where the picture was taken). If we get the hoover out he follows us around until we hoover him with the brush attachment as he stand there being groomed. His favourite thing though is cuddling up on the sofa with us and he settles down and gives a contented grunt as he goes to sleep.

Any cats or squirrels who venture into Henry's garden take their lives in their hands as he chases them barking and generally going mad. One black cat likes to sit on the garden wall teasing him - he barks and runs around and she sits impassively just gazing at him with one eye open. He also buries his bones in the garden and then digs them up after a few weeks and manages to bring them into the house when we are not looking.

The funniest thing Henry does is kick his bowl around if he is hungry! If that doesn't work then he barks at it and gets crosser and crosser.

Henry just can't be ignored, he is very bossy.
We couldn't imagine life without Henry he is simply (in our opinion) The Best Dog in The World!

Anthony and Sarah (Grimsby)

Alfie arrived at Sunnydene Animal Shelter in 1998 after being found as a puppy wandering the streets of Hull. A volunteer dog walker on her day off took a liking to him and eventually took him home.

Alfie moved to Lancashire, he has the company of people and two other dogs all day and lives on the edge of open fields. His owner Barbara says Alfie is definitely the best, he is the perfect house dog, good tempered and good looking and she would recommend anyone looking for a nice animal to try a lurcher, preferable from a rescue centre.