Lancaster dog walkers take to canoes to support charity which helped cure sick Belle

Elissa Proctor and her colleagues from Canine Company will be canoeing the length of The Great Glen in Scotland, more than100km, raising funds for Animal Rescue Cumbria.

This comes after the charity helped Elissa with caring for Belle, a little dog Elissa had been walking.

Belle had been suffering for around a year with a skin condition which her owner and his vet could not resolve.

So, after asking Elissa for help, she reached out to Animal Rescue Cumbria to see if they could help Belle. She sent over distressing photos of the dog’s condition and, with her owner's permission, they kindly offered to take Belle in and see if they could work with their vets to help her.

After several months of tests and various medications, it transpired that Belle had an auto-immune condition, so her own body was attacking itself, resulting in rashes, sores and hair loss.

They were able to get the condition under control with medication and returned Belle to her owner and back out with Canine Company for walks.

Sadly, Belle’s health slipped again, her owner struggled to manage the condition and Belle was returned to Animal Rescue Cumbria for further treatment and then re-homing.

Elissa said: “Over the months she spent with them, Belle was really stoical and never got grumpy despite the fact she must have been in constant discomfort.

“She went to the County Show, regularly did long walks and even went paddleboarding on Windermere with her foster Mum, Lauren, who is one of their animal carers. Nothing seemed to faze her!”

Again, Belle's condition was stabilised and recently she went to her forever home, where she is much loved by new owners.

“The story did not finish there,” Elissa said. “I wanted to thank the charity for taking on Belle's case back in 2020 and for covering the cost of months of care and veterinary treatments.

“Our ethos is to help dogs and their owners live a happy and healthy life.”

You can donate to the cause at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/caninecompany