On our fourth day there we noticed that the cream pup and one of the brothers had disappeared. They never came back and we were told by several locals that a lot of puppies are poisoned simply to keep the numbers down.
My husband and I decided that we would try to bring the surviving puppy home to England. Surely it couldn't be that difficult ! We had two weeks of our three week holiday left, plenty of time to make arrangements ?
We spent the rest of our holiday producing paperwork after paperwork to some jobsworth at the airport who isn't even going to get his name published on my report because it makes me so angry that he wasted so much of our time and the poor puppy's life sending us round Tobago for piece after piece of paperwok he makes me sick to think his name let alone write it !!!!!!
Anyway in desperation after our return with the matter unresolved I telephoned Steve Wooler ( otherwise known as Mr Fix-it ) and he put me in touch with James Blackshaw, who had rescued two dogs a few years ago. As luck would have it James and his wife were travelling to Tobago two days after I had spoken to him.
Once in Tobago James joined ranks with Mrs Phillips who leads the T.S.P.C.A and together they arranged everything to send the puppy ( who we have named Carib ) home to England. We wired some money to James and he dealt with the rest.
Carib finally arrived safely in England on Saturday and was transferred to the quarantine kennels on Monday. I went to see him on Monday afternoon ( and most days since !!!! ). He is adorable. The vet here thinks that he is about five months now and probably a Rhodesian Ridgeback cross Labrador. He is fit and healthy and every time I see him I thank goodness that we kept trying to get him home.
The only down side to the story is that Carib will have to stay at the quarantine kennels for six months and will probably be the size of a small horse by the time we get to take him home !!
I want to say a huge thank you to James Blackshaw and his wife for giving up half their holiday to help us and to Mrs Phillips from the T.S.P.C.A for being so caring and looking after Carib so well. Most of all THANKS to Mr Fix-it for such a brilliant website. Without you all Carib would still be in Tobago in God knows what state.
Hope you like the photos !!! The first one is taken around the pool when he was about 12 weeks and the second one was taken about 5 weeks later before he flew home.
Regards Sandra Daniel
Great to hear Carib is happily now in UK. It was a pleasure having him for a week and my dogs are most upset their 'boyfriend' is no longer around to play with. (they are only 5 months old too!)