Until a few years ago, my only experience with animals was as a loving, caring pet owner. That all changed when I retired and volunteered to work at a dog rescue centre in Southern Spain, which is where we were living at the time. There were always at least 60 dogs in our care, ranging from newborns to elderly, and all breeds from very large to very small, all needing lots of care and attention in different ways. I cleaned, walked and fed them every day, groomed them, played with them, and gave them lots of hugs. Sometimes there were so many newborns, we had to take them home and bottle feed them, and get them on to solids, and foster them so they were away from the kennels until they could have their injections. My reward? Total love, adoration and loyalty of all those beautiful dogs, which I cherish and miss. All the time we lived abroad, I always had a least 2 cats which had found me and decided to stay! The last little one that found us, came back to the UK with us and has settled in despite the change in climate! I also do doggy day care and sleep overs when required for my son and daughter in law's young dog.