Copy of Billy

Billy’s story is one of fate, loss, sadness but ultimately in the end happiness prevailed.

In May 2020 we suddenly lost our 13.5-year-old Weimaraner Milo which was absolutely heartbreaking and unforeseen. I didn’t think I could ever be happy again and I had given up and resided to the fact my life would never have any happiness in it again and how on earth could I live without Milo when all I lived for was him?

After confiding in a friend who also lost her beloved dog just a few days earlier I asked Sarah Jane one thing - find me an old dog who really needs a break- no younger than 10 but it’s in your hands. I had so much love to give and Milo was adopted so it felt more than natural to once again adopt. Sarah Jane is a wonderful human being who works with many different rescues all over the world and I totally trusted her and her judgment.

A photo of a black dog looking out of his cage popped up in my messages with the caption of, “he really, really deserves a break.” Leishmaniasis positive and already treated for erichila, Billy was and had been very poorly. We don’t know how long he was in the municipal pound before Constantina saved him but he had been booked in 3 times to be put to sleep but Constantina saw the strength and life in Billy when his body perhaps only showed weakness and pain. With love and support, good food and medicine Billy slowly got better and adopted the name Billy The King for his king like statue sat in his yellow throne (yellow armchair).

Two and half years on at the sanctuary and after numerous social media posts and shares for Billy, no one came forward. I was sent information about Billy but that didn’t matter to me because I had already fallen in love when I saw his picture.

We started a Just Giving page to help pay for his flight and adoption/vet fees and raised the goal of £475 in just over 24 hours. Fast forward to the 3rd July and I waited by my phone so eagerly for updates by the van drivers and the whole way I was kept up-to-date.

We were quite taken aback by his size and I don’t think we expected him to be as big as he was! The car ride home he sat on my lap the whole way and he had the nickname of the little Great Dane so this was no lap dog!

Billy is the gentle, kind type whose only crime was to not come into our lives sooner and if Milo was still here we would be none the wiser about Billy or the life-saving work SPDC does. So you see, in all that loss and sadness, Billy came along and mended my heart and I hope we mended his too. Being 50% Dalmatian/30% boxer and the rest pointer and mastiff we do have the best mix in the whole world. Billy has sunbathed on the beach, had afternoon tea in the garden and made a lot of friends. He has visited people at a care home in Oxford and his cuddles are very famous.

He most recently celebrated his birthday in December complete with a birthday cake, presents and a birthday badge. He also has his own royal blog in the Facebook group: I adopted from SPDC.

In the end, Billy’s story is really quite simple: we didn’t save a rescue, a rescue saved us.