Local Dog Care Business Help Rehome Anxious French Bulldog

Vicky Walker, owner of Barking Mad Norwich saved anxious French Bulldog, Henry from kennels while he awaited a new home in April this year.

Earlier this year Vicky was contacted by local charity, the French Bulldog Welfare Trust (287420) and informed that a two-year-old French Bulldog had recently been rehomed but it was not working out as planned.

French Bulldog, Henry

Owner of Barking Mad Norwich, Vicky said: “When I was contacted by Mick at the French Bulldog Welfare Trust, I knew I just had to help Henry. I asked for more details as to why it wasn’t working out and was told that Henry had some separation anxiety and was reactive to other dogs. The owners were a retired couple who did not have the means to retrain a two-year-old dog.”

Unfortunately the charity did not have a backup plan as their volunteer foster parents were unavailable to take Henry. Due to the owners having an upcoming trip, Henry needed a safe place to stay as soon as possible. This is where Vicky and her lovely host Joy stepped in.

Vicky continued: I went to Dereham to meet Henry and his owners to see if I could help. He seemed like a very good, well-behaved dog but did follow the owner around and would cry if he left the room and shut the door. I spent nearly 2 hours with them, getting to know the history of the dog and filled out my Pet Schedule.”

“From this information, I contacted a few of my dog sitting hosts who I thought would be able to have him and the perfect collaboration materialised; my host Joy, who had recently lost her sister was happy to have a companion to keep her company in a difficult time for her. Joy is retired and now lives alone, so I moved some bookings around to enable her to be free for him to stay for as long as we could.”

Henry and Joy

“I then went to collect Henry from his current owners, which was very emotional. I drove him to my host Joy’s house and they instantly fell in love. Joy has such an ora about her that dogs just instantly feel comfortable with.”

“Over the next 6 weeks, Joy and myself boarded Henry whilst helping building his confidence of being left alone. We managed to build this up to two hours uncaged, and he slept through the night (learnt to keep the cage open otherwise he would eat his way to escape… then called Houdini!).”

With his new found confidence, it was time to find Henry a forever home. So, Vicky spoke to Laura, a fellow pet care business owner, who she had previously been working with.

Laura’s daughter had always wanted a French Bulldog and had been saving up her pocket money. Given Laura’s experience with dog training and walking, she sounded like the perfect fit, so Vicky took Henry to meet Laura and once again, they both fell in love with each other.

Fast forward to now and Henry is in his forever home with Laura and her family. He has learnt to play with toys (which could not do before without getting angry), he spends his days wandering around Laura’s stables and going on family holidays together in their motorhome, all thanks to Vicky and Joy at Barking Mad Norwich.

The charity and the previous owners were delighted that Henry could avoid going into kennels or being stressed by constantly being moved around (especially for a dog that had already had two homes in two years and therefore had anxiety about being left).

Henry enjoying some love from his new owners

Mick from French Bulldog Welfare Trust commented: “Because of Henry’s initial problems the Welfare Trust were finding it hard to locate a foster home. The Trust does not use kennels and prefers a stress-free home life. Barking Mad was mentioned by one of our Trustees who highly recommended their one-to-one homing with experienced dog people, it was ideal.”

“We contacted Vicky at Barking Mad Norwich, who was extremely helpful and found a place for Henry straight away with a lovely carer. Not only that but she put us in touch with his present owner after arranging everything. Vicky and Barking Mad were a god send at a difficult time. I would have no problem using them again if needed and would really recommend them as a caring home from home.”