This charity offers free health and grooming care for dogs of homeless owners

Health checkups, food, treats and toys are provided by Dogs On The Streets every Sunday
Klaudia Balogh2 June 2017

Their love is unconditional, they’re loyal, they’re protective and they’re great listeners. Dogs can mean so many things to us, but taking care of them comes with great responsibility. And this responsibility can be tough to fulfil if you're living on the streets.

A new charity has popped up in the London that lends a helping hand to homeless people and their dogs.

Dogs on The Streets (DOTS) offers a free drop-in clinic to homeless dogs on Sundays on The Strand, offering everything from health check-ups to treats, and now vaccinations.

Every Sunday, Lachlan Mcinnes and his eight-year-old dog Misty make their way to the dog shelter to join the staff and volunteers of DOTS.

Misty and her owner, Lachlan Mcinnes, play on The Strand after Misty's stitches are taken out. She had a surgery removing five lumps from her tummy about 10 days ago.

“We get dog food, treats, and also Misty gets a bath once month,” he told me. “She’s with me 24/7, keeps me company, she sleeps with me,” he said. “She’s been loyal and very protective.”

DOTS started around in March this year with the mission to provide dogs living on the streets with their homeless owners the same care as any other pet dog would need and deserve.

Michelle Clark, the founder of DOTS, has been looking after street dogs of homeless owners in London for about five years now, providing basics like food, collars, leads and also flea and worm treatment.

She has also taken in a street dog whose owner was ill and couldn’t provide for its essential health needs.

“It made me realise that more is needed out here,” she added. “So I decided to bring the service out on the streets.”

Jade Statt, the vet at DOTS, also started independently with a backpack helping homeless dog owners keeping up with health check-ups. But now that her and Michelle have teamed up, she’s on site every Sunday doing regular check-ups and vaccinations on each dog that comes around.

The most common problems she sees are digestive due to the fact that the dogs aren’t on regular or healthy food.

“We try to get them on having consistent food, and having them come back every week rather they just ending up eating whatever they can,” Statt said.

Another problem she often comes across with is teeth-related. Cassie, one of the 40 dogs registered at DOTS, had a surgery two weeks ago removing 40 teeth leaving her with only two.

Cassie visits the DOTS station to get checked out after a teeth operation she had a couple of weeks ago.

The care doesn't end there - the dogs can enjoy a bit of pampering too.

Misty's getting a bubble bath.

Fee’s Pamper Camper, a professional mobile dog grooming van, provides nail trimming, grooming, bubble bath and dry to all the fury guests once a month.

Kimberly Freeman, a professional dog trainer, is also part of the team teaching essential skills to the dogs and their owners.

She said one of the most common issues is dog-on-dog aggression, so it’s key to resolve those socialisation problems to avoid trouble on the streets.

“I feel that a lot of people I see here often forget how important dog training actually is,” she told me. “Dogs need to be polite in approaching other people and approaching other dogs, and these things need to be taught. It doesn’t come naturally to a lot of animals.”

So what's next? Founder Michelle Clark hopes they will eventually be a UK-wide service, with stations like the London one in every major city around the country.

You can find the DOTS station outside Charing Cross Police Station on The Strand every Sunday from 2-4pm. A second location is expected to open in east London soon. DOTS relies on donations and volunteers – to contribute visit dotslondon.co.uk

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