Rescue Dogs of GlenMyu Estate
Rescue Dogs of GlenMyu Estate
Since we moved to the Sri Lankan Hill Country we have adopted many rescue dogs at GlenMyu Estate. Some have been kept on the 5 acre estate, some have been re-homed and unfortunately we expect to have to continue to do this work.
We try to give these orphans a good start in life by providing them with nutritious food, added vitamins & minerals and the necessary vaccinations to protect them against diseases.Â
It was not part of our plan and we did not really expect to have dogs on the estate. We thought that it might deter some people from booking a stay with us in the Hill Country.
A few people have booked and cancelled when they find out that we have dogs – which is fine with us. We would not want anyone to feel uncomfortable staying here at GlenMyu Estate.
We have however, been surprised that, often the dogs are the star of the show. Our welcome message includes a small commentary about the dogs and we have had lots of people really excited about meeting them.Â
As it is a little dangerous interacting with dogs in Sri Lanka due to the risk of rabies, guests are delighted that they are able to pet the animals at GlenMyu Estate. They know that the dogs are all vaccinated and there will be no issues.
Also, our dogs are so used to meeting new guests sometimes they are quite blasé about the situation. We find that when the vehicle carrying our guest arrive they just want to have a sniff and then they get on with their daily lives. If however, guests make a fuss of them, they know that the guests are dog lovers and that they will get plenty of attention when they are here.
We didn’t plan to have dogs however Clove was delivered to us and we have never looked back. You can read about Clove’s story on the following BlogPost.
Donie is the mother of Patch and Biscuit
Here is Donie with Patch and Fleur in the background.Â
Patch is Donie’s son and was born at GlenMyu Estate.
Donie (and Kahlu) were owned by the caretaker to the construction company who built the main structure and roadway into GlenMyu Estate. The contractors were here for about one and a half years and both Donie (and Kahlu) were supposed to go with their owner onto the next site.
Donie had a litter whilst living at GlenMyu Estate and her son and daughter, Patch and Biscuit, survived.Â
We decided that we would keep Patch and Biscuit as we brought them up on the estate and it was their home.Â
The caretaker was happy for Donie to stay and Kahlu was to go with the contractors to the next construction site…..however….(read about Kahlu’s story here).
Patch and Biscuit - brother and sister!
Patch and Biscuit have different colourings however, they certainly act like brother and sister.
Like most siblings, sometimes they get on well together and sometimes they don’t. Patch acts like a guardian to both Donie and Biscuit and will run and protect them if there is any disturbance.Â
However, Patch has a large appetite (being the boy!) and he will try to take food off Donie or Biscuit once he has gobbled up his breakfast or lunch. Motherly Donie is happy to share her food but Biscuit will snarl at him warning him to keep away.
Donie is a great mother and she still, after almost 4 years, cleans Patch’s eyes and ears almost on a daily basis. Sometimes Patch looks a little embarrassed when this happens, however we have also seen him offer his ears and eyes to his mother to clean!
Clove and Roti
We made a mistake!
Being new to having dogs were foolishly missed the time when Clove was on heat and were not able to stop her mating (with half the neighbourhood!)
Oh No! Puppies!
We have realised that when you give a puppy a really good start in life, giving them a wholesome diet supplemented by vitamins and minerals, that they will be very healthy. In turn this appears to have made Clove very productive when it came to having her first litter. Fro  our discussions with neighbours they would expect a litter of perhaps three, four or five.
Can you imagine our horror when Clove had her litter and produced nine puppies over a very long night.
Unfortunately two of the puppies did not survive the next day and we were left with seven healthy and hungry little ones.Â
Support or work with the rescue dogs by staying at GlenMyu Estate
I think of GlenMyu Estate as more of a social enterprise than a “proper” business. By opening the house and grounds to paying guests we certainly benefit by being able to live in a nice environment whilst meeting really interesting people.Â
By holidaying at GlenMyu Estate you also support the staff that we have by effectively contributing to their wages so that they can support their families.
You also are providing money so that we can support the work we do with rescue dogs, providing them with a good start in life prior to being rehoused into loving homes,
We have lost count of the number of abandoned puppies that we have taken in that have been dropped close to our gate or brought to us by our staff.
At the Estate we have decided that we can only have  a maximum of seven dogs. This is still too many however we got to seven and decided that must be the limit. The puppies that we take in are given a good healthy start and then we make sure that they go to good, loving homes.Â
We ensure that the puppies get all the relevant vaccinations and also have committed to pay for neutering and spaying in the future if the owner wants to go down that route and doesn’t have the funds to meet the costs.
In conjunction with a local vet we have also supported the funding of sterilisation of dogs owned by poor villagers who cannot afford to pay the vet bills.
We support these costs due to, as you will see from your travels around this Paradise Island, that there are too many street dogs that are in really poor conditions. By reducing the number of litters. Most females can have litters two or three times a year. Even if a mother has three puppies twice a year the number of dogs increases by six, so you can understand the problem if there is no control.
If you want to find out more about a stay at GlenMyu Estate please click on the following link to our website.
You can also see some videos on our YouTube Channel for the dogs on the following link.
Here are some pics of some of the puppies we have re-homed.
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