As you know, the Ridgeback world does tend to have the most generous and supportive followers. Cast your mind back a whole 16 months (if you can remember back that far). That was Crufts, the last Championship Dog Show before Lockdown, at which the fabulous Ridgeback folks ringside donated to Ridgeback Rescue and the Rhodesian Ridgeback Welfare Trust. We haven’t been able to see Dorothy Grayson-Wood who collected the money due to Lockdown but I was delighted to be accosted by her at the Hound Association Championship Dog Show on Saturday, brandishing an envelope with £75 in it for Ridgeback Rescue. Many thanks Dorothy for collecting and hanging on to the cash for all that time and of course to the generous people who supported us with their donations.
Massive thank you from all of us at Ridgeback Rescue.
A huge THANK YOU to the lovely Sara Thompson of SONNYPRIDE RIDGEBACKS for the wonderfully kind AND HUGE financial donation! Sonnypride recently welcomed an incredibly beautiful litter of Ridgeback puppies into the world, all of whom have now gone off to start their exciting lives with new families.
We are very fortunate that so many responsible Ridgeback breeders have been so supportive of Ridgeback Rescue and what we do. We were absolutely bowled over to receive a fabulous £1,000 donation from Sara from the proceeds of her recent Sonnypride litter. Ridgeback Rescue does not receive any funding assistance other than that which comes through donations, and this outstanding generosity allows us to continue the work we do for the Ridgebacks we look after who have fallen on hard times.
With so much talk about bad breeders (and sadly we know all to well that there are many) I just wanted to make a personal public THANK YOU to Sonnypride and all of the responsible breeders out there who make sure the puppies they produce are healthy, happy and will always have a good breeder to rely on in the background. With donations such as this, it means Ridgeback Rescue can also be a safety net, if any of them ever need us.
We really cannot say a big enough thank you to the Committee of Newark Dog Training Club. The Club recently disbanded and have made the very kind gesture of donating their remaining funds to worthwhile causes – and that means the whopping portion of £1060 has been received by Ridgeback Rescue.
As a Charity we do not receive any external funding so such donations will help us to continue to re-home Ridgebacks who, through no fault of their own, need to find a new forever home.
Please join us in giving an enormous round of applause to Newark Dog Training Team …….. Thank you
We went to the Sandbeck Veterinary practice recently and spoke to our patron: Julian Norton (The Yorkshire Vet) about Dermoid Sinus (DS) so we can provide everyone with more detail on what it is and how to detect it. He was kind enough to talk a little bit about it and demonstrate on Coda (a Ridgeback puppy aged 22 weeks at the time of recording) how you would search for a DS. A big thank you to him for the demonstration and for using one of his consulting rooms to film it!
In terms of what it is, Dermoid Sinus is a potentially very serious problem that, while not EXCLUSIVE to Ridgebacks, is predominantly found in Rhodesian Ridgebacks – hence why we wanted to give you as much information as we can on it. The scientific explanation is “Dermoid Sinus is a tubular skin defect caused by incomplete separation of the skin and the nervous system during embryonic development.” Essentially meaning that there are noodle-like bits of tissue connecting the upper layers of skin to the more important bits below, they form during the development of a pup inside its mother and are there from birth. These noodle structures could be as thin as a thread of cotton in a pair of jeans so it is often very difficult for everyone except those very experienced in looking for them to find (vets included). Any dog that has a Dermoid Sinus (or who had one that has been surgically removed) should never be bred from as the chances are likely that the pups would be genetically likely to also carry DS.
For more information on Dermoid Sinus you can find a post about it on our Owners’ Advice section of the website and you can find an in-depth blog courtesy of Rhodes2Safety about everything you could possibly need to know about DS (Including gory pictures) here: https://rhodes2safety.com/canine-tip-of-the-day-dermoid-sinus/
Without further ado: here is the video demonstration with a little introduction from our chairwoman here at Ridgeback Rescue: Kerry Rhodes
Due to lockdown, a lot of the fun ideas we would normally embark on haven’t been possible. But it’s not all doom and gloom!
There are three things that are easy (two are even free to do) that help us out massively to provide the level of care and support our rescue’s have grown accustomed to receiving.
EasyFundraising
Easyfundraising is a free add-on while you’re shopping that you might not even notice – choose our cause, visit shops and retailers online (something many people are doing right now, especially with restrictions) and shop as normal BUT Easyfundraising will donate a small amount with every purchase you make. They add up quickly and people have managed to raise a whopping £5,600 so far.
Do you use Amazon regularly? In the same way Easyfundraising works Amazon Smile will donate to us for every sale they make with you from the entire Amazon site.
We are part of the weather lottery: a small lottery with a not so small prize! You have a chance to win the top prize of £25,000. Step one is signing up and step two is getting lucky! Part of the money for entries comes directly to us so every person who enters is helping us.
The lottery results are calculated by using the temperatures from selected destinations around Europe on a particular day each week, players are assigned 6 numbers when registering that are then checked against the last 6 digits of temperatures in Fahrenheit that are published in the Daily Mail on the day of the draw.
Entries are just £1 with a max payout of £25,000, sounds like a no brainer!
