Milly Hickmott NEWSSR 4293.That’s me walking also I now have a playmate called Jedi he also is a springer I was picked up on the 01/05/2013 from NWESSR when I was nine months old and went to live in Suffolk it was nice there going for walks and playing ball with Jedi that’s me sharing a bed with Jedi the he’s the black and white one.

In June 2014 we attended the NEWSSR fun day and Jedi came 1st in the best condition dog all breeds and I got special they must have known then that I would attack Jedi and I shacked when there was fireworks or even a storm coming and dribble a lot but the rest of the time I would have fun then in 2015 we all moved to Spain it was loverly I was still horrible to Jedi but he didn’t care that much by now he was used to it, I enjoyed the many days sun bathing outside and the walks also in the winter you was allowed on the beach and I could have a swim and over the years it was really nice with Jedi as my companion.

That was me and Jedi after our wash and cut for xmas on Boxing Day we went for a walk and swim on new years eve I was playing a game of tug the stick with Jedi and on the 01/01/2024 I didn’t eat much and by the time I got to see Pancho our vet I wasn’t eating and couldn’t get up he did a scan and found lots of masses and one attached to my liver and that day I walked over the rainbow bridge. Thank you NEWSSR for finding me my forever home

My handsome friend Baxter (approaching his 14^th birthday) has sadly joined my previous best friend Dylan up at the Rainbow Bridge. He left last week, when a stroke meant that his already poorly back legs resulted in them not working at all. My rule is always “no suffering” and so it was time.

Baxter was a very different boy to Dylan, who was a springer who could be aloof and chose his friends on his terms. Baxter was friends with everybody, human or canine. His total love and friendship were absolutely unconditional.

We were only together for just over two years’ but it seemed to me to be much longer. He was such a gentle dog, utterly selfless in his affection for all. Except cats. Baxter was not into cats and his elderly bones became young again when he set off in pursuit of one. 

He became a firm favourite with all my friends, especially when I was confined to hospital last year. He had lots of friends who wanted to take him for a walk.

I shall remember him running across the cliffs in Devon in 2021. He laughed as he ran about, enjoying the freedom so much. 

I was blessed by NWESSR to be allowed to look after his retirement. It was a privilege to spoil him in his later years and he will never be forgotten, not just by me but many others. He left us in absolute Baxter style, in total dignity and serenity having eaten his final bag of treats as he slipped into sleep.  

Thanks Baxter for being my best friend. Enjoy that Rainbow Bridge freedom.

Trevor.

6 year old Luna was the second NWESSR dog to come into my life.

What times we had!  She never got to feel comfortable with other dogs, so our walks were often at odd times off the day (or night) so we had the woods or fields to ourselves.  She became comfortable with other animals so we spent much time in various bits of the New Forest.

With people, Luna was very wary of strangers so the trick was to develop an introduction routine so she knew who her friends were. I was amazed how well she would recognise them in the distance when on the lead locally. But then she was a Springer and  also loved scent work, chasing balls, swimming and generally messing about.

During the pandemic she made a special friend of Theo – a young neighbour of mine – and when the rules allowed, she played with him and generally cheered up the neighbourhood. And he learned how to get her to obey commands and she was always fascinated by him.

Many people will remember Luna and it was lucky we came together for the all too short time we had, and it was six happy years until a quick final illness brought it to a close.

Thanks to NWESSR for what you do.

To everyone at NWESSR, it is with so much sadness that on 9th October 2022 our beautiful boy Brambles had to be put to sleep.

We had fostered Brambles (or Bram as he was usually known) in early 2015, when he was about 8 years old.  He was a very nervous boy, was scared of so many things, and not used to people or other dogs at all.  We spent time socialising him and introducing him to love, stability and fun.  It had taken him so many months to adjust to his new home and life with us that we had to adopt him, we couldn’t bear the thought of not having him with us.

He was our little wonky dog (a dodgy back leg that the vet said had been broken before he was placed with the NWESSR), who never complained and always ‘smiled’ whenever he saw anyone.  He was so happy, and he made us and everyone that met him happy too.

He loved running through the woodlands, getting muddy and finding new smells, greeting new people to the area and getting a fuss from everyone, he loved a fuss.  He was a well-travelled dog too, coming with us in our camper van on extended holidays across Europe, jumping through snow in Scotland, and generally having a fab time wherever we were.  He was the best man at our wedding, a day we will never forget.

We miss him very, very much, the world is surely a sadder place without his smile, but we have so many amazing memories and wonderful pictures of him that he will never be forgotten and we were privileged to have been able to spend so many years with him.

Goodnight and sweet dreams our little man

Matt and Sally

Sadly on 17/10/22 we had to say goodbye to Watson aged 11yrs 10mths.

We adopted him on 24/07/11 aged 7mths. Once he overcame the nervous weeing, shredding of cookery books and maps!! These were kept on a shelf, in the kitchen where he slept, he was an absolute joy, very intelligent, gentle and always happy. Open the motorhome door and he would be in before us. Watson would go out in any weather, he was with us always, travelling the length and breadth of the country.  In his final 12mths he visited The Orkney Isles, toured Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Lands End and more. He loved water and would dive into the Lochs, Lakes, sea at every opportunity. 

When the grandchildren visited, Watson greeted them tail wagging, more so if they had food in their sticky hands. Our six year old grandson would often lie on the floor with Watson telling him he was “the best dog ever”. He truly was. 

R.I.P “Watson, the best dog ever”

Hi

We adopted Ruby from NWESSR when she was 9 months old, on the 15th May 2011. Unfortunately she developed a catastrophic bleed from a tumour on her spleen and we so sadly had to have her put to sleep at the vets early morning of 13th of March.

Ruby was such a sweet, polite girl, with so much energy and zest for life.  She loved being with us and our male spaniel canoeing, mountain biking, walking, many holidays in our Campervan and particularly swimming in the nearby river.

Her passing has left an enormous gap in our lives and so soon after her passing, we’re not sure how we’re going to enjoy our lives without her by our side.

Thank you so much for allowing us to adopt her. NWESSR described Ruby as a “wild child” and she certainly was but we wouldn’t have wanted her any differently.

At some point in time we would like to offer a active home to another young female Springer.  I volunteer as a dog walker at my local Brecon Dog Rescue.

With all good wishes and many thanks for all the hard work you do for the rescue.

With kind regards.

Sarah (Doney)

Hi all at NWESSR,

We just wanted to get in touch with news of the passing of Ralph on Tuesday 8^th February 2022 who we adopted from you in early 2012. This is brief story of the amazing decade we had with Ralph…

Not going to lie, we took Ralph on and it wasn’t easy – he’d 5 homes before us, twice at the rescue home (we were prewarned by Mick that he had a few issues). He was quite a naughty boy but he did have some good training too. We realized very quickly we couldn’t have any toys in the house because he was too protective. So early on we took them away, but he would find things, things that belonged to us. He had a special place on the lawn where he would collect his treasures. We had to clear these to mow the lawn, but within 5 minutes of finishing there would be a carefully placed stolen object back in his spot😊 and by the end of the week a whole collection. He continued this habit at our new home in Wales. We called it his ‘stairway to heaven’ – he would place sticks all the way up the grassy bank at the side of the house. Sometimes haphazard but often in a perfect line, like ladder rungs all the way to the top. He would also lie in wait as Frazer built things in the garage and when he thought no one was watching, he would go in for the steal. We would find chunks of cut timber in amongst his stairway to heaven.

When Ralph first joined our home, he escaped a couple of times, but then out of the blue one time it literally stopped! We were having work done on the house and this one day he wanted to tell us the builders had left the gate open, so running through the house barking he guided us outside and stood barking at the open gates. We shut them and Ralph went trotting into the house tail wagging and never tried to escape again. In fact, you could leave the gates open and he wouldn’t leave.

Ralph loved water – we would walk him from our home near Brooklands in Sale along the canal to Sale water park and quite often on the way home, he would jump in the canal and swim from Dane Road to Brooklands. Always creating laughter, questions and interest from other canal users. He became quite famous for it. He also managed to build up a collection of admirers who passed our garden – many people would stop and fuss him at the gates of our garden. We lived on the corner of two streets and Ralph would often greet people at the side gates then run round to the front of the house in case they were walking past those gates too and he would get another fuss.  And it wasn’t unusual to find gifts left for him by his two-legged friends!

He didn’t have the busy road to keep him occupied when we moved to Wales, but he had 16 acres of our land (rough hillside and bog) to roam around, as well as the hills and woods which he walked in with us. His love of water continued here, and he swam like a seal through the rivers, lakes and the sea locally to us here in Snowdonia (often with the company of his family!). I think if he could speak, he would tell the story of finding Springer heaven hidden in a corner of North Wales. He did of course make lots of human and a few good dog friends here and always put a smile on visitors faces – friends and delivery drivers alike!  They were often in hysterics as Ralph would smile at them, sometimes a full baring of teeth broad smile and occasionally a one-sided Elvis-style grin.  Of course, he caused some consternation due to his excited weeing on people’s shoes when he greeted them! Something that has been mentioned with a smile several times since telling everybody our sad news.

Sarah’s parents live with us Wales and Ralph would gently tap at their lounge door to be let in and if they didn’t open the door quickly enough, he would batter it. Once in, he would sit in front of the blank TV screen and bark, just once to let them know that he wanted to watch one of his favourite programs, Scooby Do or Shaun the Sheep.

When Ralph first arrived it was hard, we persevered, we loved him, we took him on very long walks to try and use up some of that energy and we gave him a safe environment to live in. All this resulted in Ralph’s happiness and inevitably his utter trust in us and ours in him. Ralph was a gorgeous, loving, incredibly clever boy and was a real companion to all of us individually and as a family. Frazer works offshore on rotation and Cam (our son), has been at university, but nothing made Ralph happier than us arriving home and him having his pack back together. Springers aren’t for everybody, but he was definitely the right dog for us and us the right family for him.

We miss him terribly, but we have beautiful memories and lots of photos (literally thousands!). We will keep him in our hearts forever.

Thank you NWESSR, for entrusting us with one special springer spaniel. We not only changed his life, but he most certainly changed ours for the better.

Frazer, Sarah and Cameron