7) 🥳 Proud Announcement: Professional CPD Membership from the National Institute for Canine Ethics (NICE): 2023 - 2025! 🥳🎉

We are very pleased to announce that we have been accepted as a professional CPD member of the National Institute for Canine Ethics (NICE). Our new 'badges' reflect such membership on our website & on social media platforms.

Here at Patchwork Paws U.K., we believe in responsible dog ownership & the best ethical care. In the context of our mission, which specifically relates to rescue dogs, our primary aim is to see these 'special dogs' go to the right homes - the first time around. Too many of these dogs are being surrendered back to rescue before they've even had a chance, usually within just days or weeks of adoption. Each case is different, but sometimes, the fault lies purely in preparation. Arguably, it can be hard to prepare. We hope to help bridge this gap & lessen such surrenders through better education, awareness, preparation, self-evaluation, & support by empowering the prospective adopter to make their best informed decisions on a number of aspects involved in such adoptions & also their own suitability. We're not here to put people off from adopting these special dogs. We just want to see them go to the best homes, the right homes, where the adopters feel well prepared, confident & well supported. Empowering & supporting people to care for these dogs for the rest of their lives is at the heart of what we do. We believe that all dogs deserve a kind, loving, caring, understanding, patient, & supportive approach.

Romanian & overseas rescue dogs are our primary focus. These dogs can prove quite challenging purely because there's often lots of extra bridges to be built & lots of hurdles to be overcome after the most unimaginably difficult & traumatic life experiences before rescue. Most of these dogs have had their very survival threatened & have had to hit the floor running to survive - adapting & learning as they go. Only the toughest & strongest have survived manoeuvring carefully along this tenuous tightrope - inch by inch. It is a hard life for a dog! Most do, however, learn from the challenges & develop 'street smarts'. This is why we call them 'special dogs'; they are a product of their past life & life experiences, mixed genetics & so much more besides. They are 'patchwork' by design, 'Patchwork Paws', & we adopt them & help to 'patch' them up & give them a happy life. They are not like most rescue dogs that you will find in UK rescue.

This is why this membership is so important to us. We want you to understand our commitment & dedication to all dogs & know that our blogs come from the heart, as well as from a place of experience, whilst maintaining a commitment & willingness to keep learning. Every day is indeed a school day, as Guy Martin would say!

Our background also demonstrates our commitment to these dogs, & is the very thing that has inspired our writing of these blogs. I personally hold a Diploma in Animal Behaviour & I am also Degree qualified, but not within an animal related field. I have volunteered with four very different UK based dog rescues now (charities & non-profits) who actively rehome Romanian rescue dogs in the UK & Europe, & some participate in vital spay & neutering campaigns in Romania. We have ourselves adopted 9 of these wonderful dogs over the years, plus a dog rescued from the meat trade in Thailand, & we've also had several UK rescue dogs between us. We currently have 7 dogs - 6 are Romanian & 1 is from Thailand. Some of these dogs have proved challenging, but we have always stuck by them & worked with them. Each dog has taught us many valuable lessons, so we are largely self-taught or, should I say, the dogs have taught us in a very hands on, hit the floor running, sort of way. 😆

Once again, we are so proud & thrilled to have been accepted as a member of the National Institute for Canine Ethics (NICE) & we thank them for having us. 🥰

To read more about us, please see our 'home/landing page' & also our 'about us' page.

All of our current blogs, which form the main content of our website, can be found via our home page. We aim to upload a new blog on a monthly basis, so please do pop back or subscribe to be notified of new blogs being published. 🐶

Pictured is 6 of our current 7 dogs. 🥰 From left to right (front): Sophie from Thailand, from Romania: Junie, Ollie-Bob, Rodney (aka Hot Rod 🔥) & Rossi. At the back: Rubee from Romania. 😍