Monday 20th April 09

Glynis and myself hit the road to Kinglake with the red ute loaded to the gunnels. We did visits to dogs on the way up stopping in Hurstbridge to fit a coat for a dog at work with her owner. On to Doreen where a family is temporarily renting whilst they wait for their block in Kinglake West to be cleared. They aim to go back up to Kinglake just as soon as possible and live in the only building still left standing, the shed. Their two senior Labradors are now wearing very smart weather proof coats and they have Hound Houses to keep them warm and dry.

Learning to live in the suburbs in a new housing estate compared to acres of beautiful treed bush land is a culture shock. We can only imagine the depths of the impact this event is having on these families.

In an effort to get up the mountain through the back roads Glynis and I found ourselves at the bottom of a fire trail that was a dirt rock road with about a 1 in 2 climb, very steep indeed.?Whilst we did consider it, out of respect for the red ute we turned around and back tracked.

There are many roads still closed in the country of the main roads and I think we found all of them.

We called into the new Kinglake Vet surgery in waiting, they are about 3 weeks away from being up and running and we picked up a new batch of order forms.

Because we have a stock of items in Kinglake we were able to fill all the orders. We met a particularly happy dog called Murphy who thought his new kennel was fantastic, shooting straight inside and making himself comfy.

We visited 8 locations in all with a total of 17 dogs between them.

We then had 5 kennels to water proof so with Annalise's help the 3 of us lifted and moved , glued and tacked?canvas on the bottoms and interior floors of the kennels. The cold is going to be bone shattering. We have a volunteer called Linda who is cutting up and edging the donated woollen blankets and filling the hessian bags we have had donated. These mats are very dense and will go in the bottom of the kennels stopping the cold from seeping up from the ground.

The government case workers have started to ring us with requests for their clients from Flowerdale to Reservoir and Healesville.

Over the next couple of weeks we will endeavour to collect the donated kennels that are dotted around the state. Taking them straight to new locations where they are now needed.

We are managing to stay on top of the requests but every now and then we feel a slight panic that at some point we will run out of resources and have to say no to a request from people in need.

Keeping this in mind it is our intention to start fund raising again, we have a sponsored walk planned so stay tuned as we will put the details together this weekend.

Lynne Glynis and Annalise.

Last Monday myself and another volunteer (Grant) headed up to Kinglake. There we met with David, the South Australian Dog Listener who built 15 wonderful kennels for us. David put the finishing touches on the kennels and Grant and I loaded up kennels, beds and coats to fill the weeks requests. We visited a number of houses, more than ever before and proceeded to provided the goods they required. We met Bear, who is the black labrador in our gallery, he needed a coat and kennel which we provided and were in use in 2 minutes. Bear was very happy in his new kennel and snuggled in before we had even left!

We met a number of residents who currently live in temporary housing (caravans & shared houses) and were able to give them the basic requirements for their dogs. We are having one kennel for three dogs custom built as they had previously had one big kennel they had previously shared and opt to sleep outside together in the weather rather than in the crates their owner had acquired. 

As people continue to move forward with rebuilding their lives we are finding that more and more people are looking to us for assistance. We are and will continue to distribute goods, as they are required, and hope that we can assist many more dogs and their owners as we go on. 

Lynne and I will be working in Kinglake on Wednesday this week, (due to easter) and will update you later in the week.

Again, a big thank you to our supports and sponsors, Fifers is doing a great job building us kennels, the numerous sewing guilds around the country and New Zealand, Pets in the City for their collection and everyone else that continues to enable us in our work.

Luke Williams

Monday round trip.

On Monday, a volunteer all the way from Darwin and I loaded up the red utility and did a door-to-door delivery run. Providing for various dogs different items that they need and that they had lost in the fires. Two kelpies received waterproof coats and a bed with some nice soft blankets, we had the pleasure of meeting their owner.

We then dropped off two X Large Hound Houses for two greyhounds who will be learning to use them as a lead in to large timber kennels once they relocate back up to Kinglake. We left doona's and purpose designed greyhound pyjamas so they can be snug and warm in their new dens.

We delivered a donated kennel to one of our foster dogs in Whittlesea and then continued on up to the Kinglake Animal Relief Centre.

We were thrilled to see that as a result of the enormous community spirit in Kinglake the shop front that has been the Emergency Relief Centre now has walls, a surgery, an office and will soon be a Vet Practise. Dr Kate Murray will be heading up the practise and servicing the local community. We then dropped off some more kennels and goods to our Kinglake storage facility and headed on home.

My jockey for the day was sobered by the drive home on the Kinglake - Hurstbridge Rd. I am thrilled to report once we got to the bottom of the mountain we heard the peal of bell birds, truly thrilling to hear them. It is such a privilege to visit a community so determined to re-build and move past the devastation of the fires.

Lynne Fitzsimmons


To add to last Mondays report, we have a huge job ahead of us tomorrow! A South Australian Dog Listener has built and transported (flat packed) 15 dog kennels that he has built. A tremendous and generous effort, Thank you David. Tomorrow we will deliver 7 of these kennels and put the others at our Kinglake storage space for distribution as they are required. 7 dogs will sleep dry and warm tomorrow night because of these efforts.

We are also very grateful to receive over 30 dog coats from all over Australia & New Zealand, made by generous sewing groups. We know there are more to come and they are welcomed by the owners of the wonderful dogs we continue to meet.

We also received a wonderful email and phone call from a great group of sewers in Darwin, they have sewn 35 high sided, padded dog beds. An unbelievable amount of hard work went into creating these beds and they will be very gratefully received by the dogs.

There are some examples of the coats in our Gallery amongst some more new pictures, we will add pictures of the beds as soon as we have them!

On another note: 'Funds4Paws' is moving forward with gusto, we are an official non-profit organisation with all that that entails (a big thank you to Grant!). We meet this month to assess our progress so far and regroup on our individual efforts. We will keep you posted on our progress!

It was another busy but amazing week, more dogs rest easy and warm and the generosity of Australians helps us to continue our work. Thank you.

Luke Williams