Battersea has long been great supporters of the work of Forever Hounds Trust. We are now a Battersea Animal Partner. This means that we learn from Battersea’s vast pool of knowledge, and can take advantage of new training and networking opportunities. And our sighthound experience benefits the Battersea team when they need specific advice.

We are proud to announce that they have just awarded us £10,000 under their Animal Partnership Programme!

This money is to be spent on Renovating our Homing Block at our Centre – the first step towards building a Centre of Excellence for Sighthound Kennelling and Welfare.

Forever Hounds Trust purchased our very own kennels in Devon in November 2020. A huge amount has already been done there to make this a safe and comfortable environment for humans and hounds.

But there is a great deal more to do over the coming years.

There are currently two blocks of kennels at the Centre. The Homing Block has 11 spaces. We are unable to use all of them as we cannot keep reactive dogs in adjoining spaces due to inadequate ‘barriers’ between them. Also the block needs a fire warning system as it is further away from the house and the staff need to be alerted of any potential danger as quickly as possible,

This funding from Battersea will renovate our Homing Block to improve the welfare, safety and comfort of the hounds in our care in those spaces. This includes the installation of a fire detection and warning system. It will also fund the fitting of white Perspex to upgrade the spaces. This will sit on each kennel dividing wall and will help to reduce the reactivity between adjoining dogs. We will also Perspex some outer wire partitions to provide increased protection from the elements.

For maximum comfort, we want to provide the dogs in this block with 10cm thick tough, waterproof mattresses. Many dogs come into our care with recent or pre-existing Musculo-Skeletal issues from their racing or working career and need to have bedding that is comfortable and can relieve the pressure on their joints. This grant will allow us to purchase this bedding.