Hero Dog Honored with Best Rescue Story at Wetnose Animal Rescue Awards

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DogTipper continues our look at The Burgess/Wetnose Animal Rescue Awards, a star-studded presentation at London’s Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel which annually celebrates small and medium-sized rescue organizations.

British soap stars Michelle Collins (Coronation Street) and Lorraine Chase (Emmerdale) presented the award for Best Rescue Story to a pet and his parent who have helped to heal each other’s lives through their love.

The touching tale of Henry and Julie, as told by Wetnose Animal Aid:

Henry is a loyal English springer spaniel who was abandoned by his previous owner, but went on to save his current owner’s life.

Left alone in a house for several weeks by his first owner who worked at the other end of the country, his noisy pleas when food and water ran out successfully caught the attention of neighbours. Henry was put in boarding kennels next time his owner went away for work. He was never collected.

Here, Henry was diagnosed and almost died from a severe stomach virus, but managed to fight through it. He was extremely underweight, his coat was matted and stained with urine, he had infected ears and his skin and nose were very sore. The biggest challenge was overcoming the problems with his mental health – he was scared of everything, hated closed doors, was obsessed with food and couldn’t be left alone.

In the summer of 2008, Henry was lucky enough to be adopted by Julie who had also been going through a challenging time in the last few years herself, after being diagnosed with ME Fibromyalgia and diabetes in 2004. They bonded instantly and Julie helped to nurse him back to full health as the loving and happy dog he once was.

They became inseparable and, in return for her kindness, Henry offered his owner support through her illnesses. Henry forced her to focus her attention on him when she suffered a panic attack, he gradually helped her to regain her confidence around people, he warned her when her blood sugar levels were low just from the smell of her breath, he helped her through mourning after her father passed away and, most amazingly, saved Julie’s life in August 2010.

Suffering with, what was thought to be, general ill-health, Julie was asleep on the sofa sleeping off the pain while her mother was doing housework. Henry started acting very strangely pulling her mother over
to the sofa, while barking and pawing at Julie. It was then that her mother realised she was burning up unconscious. It turned out to be septicaemia and an operation was performed to remove some infected
tissue from her leg. If Julie had been left any longer then she wouldn’t have survived.

Despite everything he went through, Henry is a truly man’s best friend and gives his owner, Julie, continuous support and hope that she too can overcome anything.

The Burgess Wetnose Animal Rescue Awards

The Burgess Wetnose Animal Rescue Awards is an annual ceremony made possible by Andrea and Gavin Gamby-Boulger, the founders of Wetnose Animal Aid, which has provided both financial and information-based support to animal welfare organizations since 2006.

For more information:

• visit www.wetnoseanimalaid.com

Photo Credit: Wetnose Animal Aid