Telegraph readers save guide dogs with incurable disease
Two former guide dogs have been saved from a life of quarantine by Telegraph readers who adopted them after this newspaper revealed their plight.
Albus and Spencer tested positive for the incurable Brucella canis bacterial infection in April and were put into isolation to prevent it spreading.
Brucella canis is zoonotic and can spread to humans in rare cases, with two such instances in the last year.
The risk is extremely low as it is only spread via reproductive fluids and it can be treated with antibiotics in humans. However, there is no cure for the disease in dogs and the recommended course of action to stop transmission is euthanasia.
Albus, an 18-month-old black labrador, and Spencer, a soon-to-be three-year-old golden retriever, were facing euthanasia or a life of quarantine, the Telegraph reported in September.
But Dr Tim Davies, who recently retired as chief vet at Guide Dogs, the charity, suspected their results were false positives, caused by infection of a harmless bacteria with similar-shaped antibodies.
Dr Davies instigated a scheme to rehome the dogs in a plan dubbed the “Scottish Island fosterer scenario” which laid out specific criteria for any adoptive home – plenty of green space and dog-savvy owners, and without any other pets, children, elderly people or immunocompromised individuals.
The charity was inundated with offers of help from Telegraph readers as far afield as the US following publication. Nick, who lives in rural Carmarthenshire with his wife Victoria, saw their story as he read the Sunday Telegraph on his Kindle.
“Dr Davies mentioned that they were looking for someone to adopt the dogs and he outlined this sort of dream farm,” he said.
“I showed it to Victoria and said that it seems like they’re talking about us. So that is how it started.”
Their 150-acre home is free from other dogs, with no public access to the land which offers Albus and Spencer unlimited freedom to frolic in the rolling Welsh hills.
An initial exchange of emails preceded three months of discussions, visits and assessments, ensuring the couple knew the implications of adopting two potentially infected dogs.
Less than three months after reading about Albus and Spencer, Nick and Victoria drove to Membury Services on the M4, between the Guide Dogs isolation ward in Reading and Wales, to meet their new pets for the first time.
Both dogs ‘as good as gold’
“They both bounced in the back of the car, and they literally haven’t put a foot wrong there. They’re as good as gold,” Victoria said.
The dogs have settled in well and are already making the most of their newfound freedom with multiple walks a day, their own room in the barn to sleep and access to the home and hearts of Victoria and Nick.
“They get plenty of opportunities to run around in the open field here and watching them tearing around together is quite entertaining. They’re very fond of one another,” Victoria said.
“Albus sort of follows along and lets Spencer, who is slightly more independent at three years old, take the lead.”
Looking after the pair requires only minimal differences to any other pet. “We’re acting as if these dogs have got it, and I think that’s a sensible way to do it,” said Nick.
“They’re not going to be sleeping in our bed, put it that way,” Victoria added. “They’ve got their own sleeping arrangement down in the barn, they are allowed in the house — they are at our feet right at the moment — but we feed and water them outside. But other than that, it is just being a bit more aware of personal hygiene.
“Obviously don’t feed them a handful of treats and then shovel a handful of treats in your own mouth. You just have to be aware of your hand washing. It’s not going to make an awful lot of difference to us, we don’t have elderly or young children in the house really and we will just tell visitors to wash their hands after fussing the dogs.
“Other than that I am supremely confident that we will live with it and it will not be a problem. I don’t have any concerns really.”
Nick added: “Guide Dogs couldn’t have been more thankful that we’ve done what we’ve done and as far as we’re concerned, we’ve got two beautiful healthy dogs and they are so well behaved.”
Brucella canis is on the rise in British dogs as a result of infection being imported from animals in Eastern Europe, where it is endemic.
Guide Dogs now screens all its potential stud dogs, but with an estimated false positive rate of around two per cent, the charity is looking for more willing and suitable adopters in case there are more cases.
‘Happy ending’ for Albus and Spencer
Dr Helen Whiteside, assistant director of breeding, puppy raising and science at Guide Dogs, said: “Brucella canis has been a concerning challenge for Guide Dogs in 2023 so it is great that we are finishing the year with a happy ending for Albus and Spencer.
“Although the dogs have received the very best care from our dedicated teams, everyone is delighted that they will be spending Christmas together in their new home in Wales.
“They required a specific type of home and we are incredibly grateful to the Telegraph for raising awareness of their situation and to the readers who got in touch to offer them the space and care they need.”
She added that it was “distressing to have two seemingly healthy dogs, with no direct connection to the disease, test positive”.
“Whilst the tests are not 100 per cent accurate, it is imperative that we respond responsibly to the results,” she said.
“With the scale of our testing it is likely that we may have future positive results that we don’t have confidence in.
“We would welcome interest from other possible rural fosterers living in remote surroundings without other dogs, young children, elderly relatives or contact with immunocompromised people to offer a home to dogs in a similar position to Albus and Spencer.”
If you are interested in finding out more about long-term fostering, or fostering in general at Guide Dogs, please email Guide Dogs at: information@guidedogs.org.uk
