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Wellswood Walkies We offer single dog walking or small group walks. Cat feeding etc

03/10/2026

A lesser known impact of picking up litter on walks is the huge boost it gives to our mental health.

Even in the few minutes it takes to pick up a couple of pieces of litter while walking the dog - you can immediately see the difference you’ve made.

You also have the satisfaction of knowing that those bits of litter will not harm an animal or a child, that they’re not going to end up in the river and eventually the sea, that they’re not going to act as an excuse for someone else to drop more litter.

Try it and see - it really is incredibly simple - if we REALLY love animals, we don’t drop litter and we pick up some when we can. Keep spreading the word.

25/09/2026

THE PRICE OF RESCUE, THE PRICE OF CARING. Everyone in rescue is in shock and heart-broken at the latest news............
Two ladies from the UK on their way home with ten dogs rescued from the hell they have endured were killed in a tragic accident. Eight of the dogs were also killed. All travelling to a new start, hope and freedom.
No words feel adequate ....................💔💔💔

24/09/2026

Why slow walks matter more than fast ones

A slow walk isn't being lazy or boring for dogs — it's the biologically appropriate pace for a dog's nervous system, and it does more for welfare than most of us realise.

▪️Regulation: Enrichment research shows dogs allowed to explore at their own pace show fewer stress behaviours and more relaxation behaviours. A slow walk works as moving enrichment — sensory input stays low enough for the nervous system to downshift instead of escalate (Hunt et al., 2022).

▪️Exploration: Sniffing, pausing, and investigating aren't optional extras — they're core behavioural needs. Dogs engage most deeply in exploratory behaviour when there's no pressure to keep moving (Redmond et al., 2025).

▪️Sniffing specifically: Olfactory engagement shifts dogs toward a calmer, parasympathetic state — lower heart rate, better decompression, more resilience (Redmond et al., 2025).

▪️Visual processing: Dogs' vision prioritises motion detection over object recognition, with lower static visual acuity than humans. Fast-paced environments can overload that system before the dog has even processed what they are looking at (Byosiere et al., 2018; Coile & O'Keefe, 1988; Miller & Murphy, 1995).

▪️Bond: Slow, cooperative, sensory-led walks are linked to increased oxytocin and lower stress markers for both ends of the lead — the dog experiences the guardian as predictable and safe (Akiyama & Ohta, 2021).

Fast walking exercises the body.

Slow walking exercises the brain and nervous system — and that's where real behaviour change starts.

17/09/2026

An animal rescuer ran 120 kilometers in 24 hours and helped raise $1.5 million to build a hospital named after a dog who spent most of her life chained up.

Niall Harbison began the challenge in North London on Sept. 12, 2026.

His goal wasn’t to run 120 kilometers without stopping. Instead, he had to complete 5 kilometers at the beginning of every hour for 24 consecutive hours.

Whenever a new hour began, Niall had to get back on his feet and start running again.

He continued through the afternoon, the darkness of night and the following morning. Friends and supporters joined him for parts of the challenge, along with several dogs Happy Doggo had rescued and rehomed.

But every kilometer was really for one dog named Tina.

Tina was an elderly golden retriever found on the Thai island of Koh Samui in 2023.

She had spent almost her entire life restrained on a short chain and used for breeding. By the time rescuers reached her, she was starving, suffering and had been reduced to skin and bones.

Tina weighed only 12.5 kilograms, roughly half the healthy weight of a golden retriever.

Despite everything people had done to her, she hadn’t lost her trust in them.

Niall and his team removed her chain and brought her to Happy Doggo Land. For the first time in years, Tina could move freely, eat properly and sleep somewhere safe.

She spent six months surrounded by people who loved her.

But years of neglect had caused lasting damage to her body. Tina eventually died after experiencing only six months of the life she should always have known.

Her death devastated Niall and the Happy Doggo team.

They decided Tina’s suffering couldn’t be allowed to disappear with her. A veterinary hospital would be built in her name to treat sick and injured street dogs that had nowhere else to go.

It would be called Tina’s Hospital For Dogs Who Aren’t Doing So Good.

Construction began at Happy Doggo Land on Koh Samui, but completing the hospital, furnishing its rooms and purchasing medical equipment required far more money.

That was why Niall stepped onto a running track in London.

As the hours passed, the challenge became increasingly painful. Nevertheless, he kept returning to the track every hour until all 120 kilometers had been completed.

Approximately 200 supporters gathered at the beginning of the event, while another crowd waited to welcome him across the finish line. The entire challenge was livestreamed and reached around 200,000 viewers.

By the end of the fundraiser, the campaign had raised $1.5 million for Tina’s Hospital.

The hospital is expected to open in early 2027. It will provide veterinary treatment to vulnerable street and community dogs on Koh Samui and surrounding islands, including animals whose caretakers cannot afford the medical care they need.

Tina spent most of her life unable to escape the length of a short chain.

She was free for only six months.

But the hospital carrying her name will give thousands of other dogs the second chance she deserved.

16/09/2026

❤️We’ve been waiting a long time to share this one with you… Our Nowzad Purple Poppy for 2026 is finally here.

But before we tell you about the poppy, we want to tell you about the picture on the card it comes with, because there’s a reason we chose it.

That’s Pen with one of the dogs rescued during Operation Kramatorsk, when more than 200 animals were brought out of an unsafe area and into safe shelters away from the conflict zones. It was an incredibly difficult and emotional time, but somewhere amongst everything that was happening, someone captured this.

A dog reaching up to Pen. Pen holding her. Just the two of them having this little moment together❤️

There’s something about the way she is looking at Pen that says so much without needing any words. After everything she had been through, there was still trust. Still affection. Still that incredible ability animals have to reach out to us.

So this year, when you receive your Nowzad Purple Poppy, take another look at the illustration behind it. It came from a real photograph, taken during a real rescue, of one little dog who had made it to safety and found someone she could trust.

For the ones we saved, the ones we lost, and all those animals whose stories may never be known.

Our Nowzad Purple Poppy 2026 is available now from the Nowzad Store.

Thank you, as always, for remembering them with us.

https://www.nowzad.com/store/product/the-2026-nowzad-purple-poppy

12/09/2026

🦮 Roselle was asleep beneath a desk on the 78th floor when the North Tower suddenly shook.
Minutes later, she began a journey of 1,463 stairs with one person depending on her every step of the way.
Her owner, Michael Hingson, had been blind since birth.
On September 11, 2001, Michael was working at the World Trade Center when Flight 11 struck the North Tower above them.
People were frightened. The building had shifted. The smell of jet fuel reached the stairwell.
Roselle remained calm.
Michael trusted what her behavior was telling him, and together they joined the evacuation.
Floor after floor, Roselle guided him through the stairwell as firefighters moved in the opposite direction, climbing upward with their equipment.
The descent took about an hour.
When Michael and Roselle finally reached the street, their danger wasn't over.
The South Tower began to come down nearby.
People started running, and Michael heard what he later described as an enormous metal and concrete waterfall.
Roselle stayed focused.
She helped guide Michael toward a subway entrance for shelter. There, they also assisted another woman who was having difficulty seeing after being caught in the chaos outside.
Eventually, Roselle led Michael roughly 40 blocks through Manhattan until they reached a friend's apartment. 🏙️
The North Tower they had escaped came down about half an hour after they got out.
Roselle later received major recognition for what she had done, including the PDSA Dickin Medal in 2002 alongside another 9/11 guide dog named Salty.
She passed away in 2011, with Michael and his wife beside her.
Michael has often described their survival not simply as the story of a heroic dog, but as a story of trust.
Roselle trusted him to give the commands.
Michael trusted her to find the way.
And on a morning when almost everything around them had become uncertain, that partnership never changed.
Could you place that much trust in another living being when you couldn't see what was happening around you?

09/09/2026

After the a*tacks on September 11, 2001, hundreds of search-and-rescue dogs were deployed into the rubble at Ground Zero. They were trained to find survivors, to be rewarded by discovery. But hour after hour, they found only loss. No movement. No heartbeat. Nothing to save.

And these dogs, loyal to a fault, began to think they were failing.

Handlers watched confident working partners grow hesitant. Tails dropped. These animals—trained to be heroes—started to break down in ways nobody expected. So firefighters and volunteers made a choice. They staged mock rescues, hiding in safe spots and letting the dogs "discover" them. Those celebrations weren't just kindness. They were lifelines for the dogs' sense of purpose.

In a place defined by unimaginable loss, people still found the time to protect the hearts of the animals protecting them. It's a reminder that even the strongest need to feel like they matter. Even heroes need hope.

09/09/2026

On one of the darkest days in human history, 38 commercial airliners were forced out of the sky and landed in a tiny Canadian town of fewer than 10,000 people. Within hours, the population surged by nearly 70% - and what happened next became one of the greatest acts of quiet heroism the world has ever seen.

When the FAA shut down U.S. airspace at 9:45 a.m. on September 11, 2001, hundreds of transatlantic flights were stranded in mid-air. Canada launched Operation Yellow Ribbon, opening its skies to redirect 224 planes and more than 33,000 displaced passengers.

Gander, Newfoundland - a small town with a rich aviation history - suddenly found itself hosting 6,656 terrified, confused strangers.

What followed wasn’t a disaster response managed by government bureaucracy. It was a masterclass in raw, unfiltered human kindness:

Homes Opened: Schools, church halls, and living rooms instantly turned into makeshift dormitories.

Essential Care: With passenger luggage locked in aircraft holds for security, local pharmacists worked around the clock, calling doctors across the globe to duplicate and fill critical prescriptions.

Refusing Payment: Local shop owners gave away supplies, food, and clothes, flatly refusing to accept a single cent.

But the kindness didn't stop with the human passengers.

Trapped in the dark cargo holds of those 38 planes were 19 forgotten travelers: dogs, cats, and even two endangered bonobos being transferred between zoos. Most were flying entirely alone. When local officials assumed there were no animals on board, Bonnie Harris, who ran the local shelter, refused to take no for an answer.

Bonnie and two volunteers, Linda Humby and Vi Tucker, obtained clearance to crawl through security-locked baggage holds. They found crates of dehydrated, terrified animals - some who had been trapped without food or water for nearly two days.

Over the next five days, Bonnie and her team set up an empty hangar. They walked the dogs, cleaned the crates, administered medicine to an epileptic cat, and cared for a young cocker spaniel puppy named Ralph (who would go on to become an American show champion).

Nobody asked them to do it. With no owners around to thank them, they did it simply because it was the right thing to do.

The bond formed during those dark days never broke. The stranded passengers eventually went home, but they left behind a legacy - funding local scholarships, donating a piece of World Trade Center steel to Gander’s aviation museum, and inspiring the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Come From Away.

On a day meant to break the human spirit, a small town in Newfoundland reminded the world of what we are truly capable of when we choose compassion over fear ❤️

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Exeter

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+447958920887

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