by Yasmin | 16 Dec, 2025 | Blog, Rescue Stories
I stumbled across PDWRA on Facebook. Already the owner of a black male pug, Pablo, I was looking for a UK based pug group.
Just over 2 years ago, my son left home and there was a huge void in the household. Pablo missed him terribly as did I. Then my husband spotted that Margo was up for adoption and thought she would be a good fit. Unfortunately, we were not successful, quite rightly she went to someone who had been waiting longer than us.
Not too long after, I had a call to say that a male the same age as Pablo was being surrendered and would we be interested? We jumped at the chance! After meeting Jethro, we agreed to adopt him. We brought him home and Pablo accepted his new brother easily.
The first weeks were a huge learning curve, Jethro was very protective of food, and not just his! He wouldn’t make eye contact with anyone and was not keen on lots of fuss. I took the first week off work to help him settle in. He was brilliant walking off the lead and even went for a swim in the sea, much to Pablo’s disgust! So, I had one pug who would walk around puddles and one who would just barrel through them. Jethro slept downstairs for the first few nights, he then realised that Pablo slept on the bed with us and he came up as well. Many a time he’s actually snuggled up under the duvet, in the middle, nice and warm. After the first week, I was back in work, my husband messaged me, he’d had to call the fire brigade as Jethro had got his head stuck in the hole of his raised bowl!!!
My husband is a fluent Welsh speaker and we discovered that Jethro responded to Welsh! A bilingual dog! Slowly, Jethro has become so settled and gazes at us, he smiles and nudges us when he wants a fuss. So different than when we first had him. Sadly, between Christmas and new year, Pablo crossed the rainbow bridge, it was sudden and unexpected. However he went in my arms and Jethro was at my side, he knew. Jethro now has a little sister called Ziva, the smile on Jethro’s face when we brought her home said it all.
Jethro is 10 now and slowing down physically, he doesn’t miss a trick though and runs to greet me when I come home from work. To anyone who is considering adoption, go for it, it is so rewarding, PDWRA are so supportive and helpful. You do need truckloads of patience, but it’s worth it!
by Yasmin | 16 Dec, 2025 | Blog, Rescue Stories
I came across the PDWRA while searching for a pug to love. We’d lost our beloved pug Frank in early August 2024 and were devastated. Frank was 11 years old and had been part of our family since he was a puppy.
Our home felt so empty without him and life just wasn’t the same. I knew we had so much love to give another pug, so I applied to adopt. I had asked for a boy, not because it mattered but we were used to having a boy around. Then a few days later, our local Volunteer Area Coordinator Lisa called and told me about Mabel. That was it! I knew Mabel needed me as much as I needed her.
Mabel’s lovely foster Mum, Michelle, arrived with Mabel and our beautiful little girl peeked nervously round the sofa. For me it was love at first sight! Mabel is the most adorable, gentle, kind and loving little girl anyone could wish for. She’s the boss now, of course, and I know my place… no walks in the rain, meals on time and plenty of treats. I can’t imagine life without her!
by Yasmin | 16 Dec, 2025 | Blog, Rescue Stories
There comes a time in a pug’s life when he knows it’s time to settle down. The call of the open fire crackling in grate, the scattering of dog biscuit crumbs on the sofa, the regurgitated (twice) pigs ear to paw, and a box set of Dogs Behaving Badly playing on TV (they ain’t seen nothin’ yet).
Ah yes, that call came to Neville and Dexter not long ago. So, they instructed their Agent David, to look about for a suitable pad, with resident housekeeper, to cater for their every retirement need. Luckily, David turned to PDWRA for help in the search for a country retreat – land with huntin’ and fishin’ rights was the remit. Just such a place was on their books and the boys duly arrived to look around, gave it the paws up, and they are now happily settled as Pugs of the Manor.
The boys had certainly seen something of the world before deciding it was time to hang up their traveling harnesses. California, Arizona, Mexico, France and Spain all home to them, and great to see more of the world than most pugs. But life on the move is for the youngsters now and they wouldn’t swap their country lifestyle at all. Neville can sometimes be found gazing wistfully out of the window and reflecting on his former life, but then his pals call round and they all dash off on a squirrel hunt. “Hey, wait for me.”
Jackie Maynard
West Midlands Volunteer Area Coordinator
As well as being one of our most experienced and valued Volunteer Area Coordinators, Jackie has also fostered many pugs in need for the charity. If you’d like to find out what it’s like to foster for the PDWRA, click here to read Jackie’s story…
by Yasmin | 16 Dec, 2025 | Blog, Fundraising
The Cornwall Pug Meet is an annual event put on by Natalie, who owns the café at Poldhu Beach along with her husband Ross and pug Betty.
Natalie makes her own home-made dog treats and sells them to raise money for the charity! The Cornwall Pug Meet has been going for over 10 years now and is attended by many PDWRA pugs, so if you live in Cornwall why not go along?
We’d like to send a huge thanks to Natalie & Ross, you’re both absolute stars!
Find out more about the Poldhu Beach café here.
You can follow Natalie & Betty on Instagram here.
by Yasmin | 16 Dec, 2025 | Blog, Rescue Stories
We first heard about the PDWRA years ago, when we met someone out and about with a pug (you know how us pug folk are, dropping to our knees to shriek over someone else’s pug like we have never seen one, despite having at least one of our own!!) and they told us she was a foster, for the charity. We also attended fundraising events locally and kept meeting these wonderful people who had opened up their homes and hearts to foster pugs in need, and decided when our circumstances allowed, we would like to do the same. We had a 10st Dogue de Bordeaux (as well as two pugs and a British bulldog!) that we occasionally showed, hence he was entire, so we were not able to apply to foster… when we lost him, our hearts had an enormous hole but the silver lining was that we could contact PDWRA to apply to foster.
Three foster pugs later, in February 2025 we lost our last remaining (very elderly) pug Finn, and the PDWRA contacted us to ask if we could help a little boy called JJ, whose mum was too poorly to take care of him. Of course we agreed and went to collect him the following day. As was becoming standard practice I cried all over him in the car on the way home and my heart broke for his mum, having to make such a difficult decision. He was quite an anxious boy, missing most of the hair on his chest and sides, but he settled in straight away and quickly became friends with our little hairless cat Obi, despite never having lived with a cat before! We soon realised this boy LOVED going for walks and was the most active, agile, fit pug we’ve ever known!
After having older dogs for the last few years and not really walking far, we were suddenly getting out into the fields and walking for miles, every day, discovering new routes locally and making new friends, including another pug in the village, Yoyo, who is now his bestie! JJ’s fur grew back over the first few weeks, so we think he was really benefitting from a routine and getting out in the fresh air. After a couple of weeks our volunteer co-ordinator called for a chat and asked if we were ready to complete an assessment form to help him find his new home… I think we knew the answer before she even called and so asked for the adoption form instead!! We just couldn’t imagine life without this little guy in it!
Personality wise, JJ is lots of fun – he can still be quite anxious, barking at other dogs/people, although he is a sweetheart with dogs and people, he just needs to tell them off first! He has made lots of friends since he arrived and has a few little girlfriends (Rocket, Mia, Ziggy, Molli, Martha, Winnie and Minnie… don’t tell Yoyo!!) and a huge pal, a Leonberger called Steiff!
He goes for his morning walk at 7.15am every day, usually around 3 miles, and enjoys running in the fields, and rolling in anything gross if he gets the chance!
Unfortunately we lost Obi the cat a couple of months after we adopted JJ, but in a similar fashion the Sphynx Cat Association asked us to foster two girls (an urgent short term foster placement….you can guess how that turned out!) so he now has two sisters, Angelica and Eliza, and he has been an absolute star, behaving impeccably around them, couldn’t have been more proud of him! He has a fantastic relationship with Eliza in particular – they play chase, sit together, and if the doorbell rings, the pair of them fly through the house together to the door, and when he gets in his bed Eliza will curl up in there with him – adorable! Considering he had never really mixed with cats, he’s a superstar!
The adoption process was smooth sailing – a quick form and showing the PDWRA we had insurance in place for him should anything happen. The support we have received from PDWRA throughout our fostering and adopting journey has been second to none – everyone we have dealt with has been a salt of the earth, caring, wonderful soul. We’ve loved being fosterers and it was bound to lead to adoption at some point… I doubt this is the end either, haha!
Our friends who own Yoyo have also been inspired by our experiences and have also just been approved to foster for PDWRA too! I told them I’ll have the tissues ready – whether these things turn out happy or sad, tissues are always required, that’s my advice for anyone thinking of fostering or adopting!! It is heartbreaking to hear a story of how a pug became in need of the PDWRA, to see the condition some of the pugs are in, and unfortunately we’ve even had an experience where a foster didn’t make it and that one in particular affected us deeply – but the good far outshines the bad, and being part of their journey is absolutely worth any heartache on our part, in my opinion.
I’m so grateful for JJ and that we can give him the best life possible – he has improved and enriched our lives, getting us out walking, meeting new neighbours – everyone he meets falls for him, he deserves the world!!
