After we got our first dog, Solo (see photo), we took in two rescued cats, Sooty and Sweep. Later, when visiting Sheila's parents with Solo, we were followed by a stray dog, Snuggles. After leaving him at a police station for twenty four hours to be claimed, we adopted him. Little did we know then, that he would be the first of many many abandoned dogs.

You can see photos of all the animals mentioned on this page on THIS PAGE (for the animals that are no longer with me) or THIS PAGE (for the animals that I still have).

By the time we moved to the Costa Del Sol in Spain in June 2001, the original four animals had passed on, and we travelled with Kim, Heidi, Amber, and our cat Popsy. We weren't to remain a family of six for long. Two tiny abandoned puppies came out of some rubbish to follow Amber home. We ended up adopting them, calling them Perry and Hiccup.

So it was eight of us that set up home in Argentina in early 2003, which is where the story of "Rescued Doggies" really begins.

Argentina, like most Latin American countries, is full of stray dogs. Most people believe dogs should be allowed to roam the streets, so many are lost and never recovered, or maimed or killed by the traffic. Most will not castrate their dogs, even when it is offered free or very cheaply, and simply abandon the unwanted puppies. As one vet told me sadly, "As they abandon children, so they abandon the dogs".

Sheila began to visit a refuge outside of the town of Pilar, some 40 miles from the Capital, Buenos Aires. Hundreds of abandoned dogs with one man trying to look after them. Others raised money for their care as there is no organised RSPCA (ASPCA) in Argentina.

She became attached to one old sick dog, and finally brought her home. Shadow had a happy four weeks before she died. The over-energetic young Hiccup became her most unlikely best friend and couldn't understand why the dead Shadow wouldn't get up to play with her.

Shadow was followed by Trusty, a dog terrified of humans and of other dogs (at THAT time). Holly, another old dog, joined us at the same time. By this time we had moved to a big tumbledown house near the famous town of Luján.

Sadly the house had too many problems for us to cope with, so after six months we moved to a lovely house in La Reja, outside the Buenos Aires suburb of Moreno. When we moved, we had ten dogs, plus Popsy the cat. Most of the new dogs were the oldest, sickest or most frightened ones from the refuge at Pilar.

Our new rented house wasn't big enough for the dogs as well, but had a "quincho", an enclosed barbecue area, which we cloased up completely, so it was a place a little larger than a garage. We had a gas fire installed to keep it warm. Many of those who visited us at that time thought it was doggie-heaven.

One sad thing about moving from Luján to La Reja was that Sheila could no longer help at the feeding centre for the poor near Luján. She found the journey too much, but she especally missed some of the poor young children who depended on the centre for a decent meal.

Despite some problems with leaky roofs and plagues of ants, not to mention the constant battle against fleas, sometimes our life in La Reja did seem like a little bit of heaven. It certainly was for the dogs.

Nearby Moreno, a town with a dangerous reputation, was delightful and always full of life, while quiet little La Reja had most things we needed, including a wonderful parilla (barbecue) restaurant.

Soon Sheila had adopted all of the dogs from the Pilar refuge that needed her special care, along with finding some abandoned dogs locally in really bad condition, notably Suertudo and Button.

Some of the dogs, notably Amber, Perry, Hiccup and Alfie, loved to play with us in or around the lovely pool. After Christmas 2005, which we had spent quietly, just us and the animals, or playing together in the pool, Sheila turned to me and said it was her best Christmas ever.

Sadly, it was also to be her last. Due to a rent increase in March 2006, we had to move again. As she was helping me lift one of the boxes to transport the dogs, Sheila suddenly collapsed without warning. Although she apparently recovered, I and the paramedics insisted that she go to the hospital. She had another attack a few hours later and a scan showed she had had a major brain haemorrage. Another one the following day left her unconscious for eight days before she died almost exactly at nine in the morning on Wednesday, 15th March, 2006.

Sheila's sudden and tragic death, is not of course, the end of the story. While she was unconscious, I (her husband Brian), had to move with the dogs to the new house. Struggling alone, I was unable to prevent some dogs escaping. Wispy was lost forever and Alfie run over and killed. The day before Sheila died I placed some of the dogs back in the refuge at Pilar for a few weeks until I could get the new placed better organised. They found a home for little Pugsy, but sadly Roberta died there, refusing to eat as she felt abandoned again.

Unable to find the will to continue, I closed my internet business which had previously taken up to 16 hours of my days while Sheila cared for the animals. Since that time I have struggled (not very well) against depression and have, for most of the last year, worked in call centers, taking calls from the USA.

The money was too poor to pay for good fencing, so many dogs had to be kept on chains to prevent them from escaping and being killed on the nearby main road. Tragically, in July 2007, Hiccup managed to tangle herself on a chain and died slowly and painfully.

Fortunately a few people do donate money or food, some to look after a particular dog or for all of them. Otherwise the refuge wouldn't survive.

Just as important, two wonderful female vets have given me much of their time free, and sometimes medication as well.

I, like Sheila, cannot pass an animal in terrible condition abandoned on the street, without taking it home to care for.

Four tiny kittens thrown in the rubbish in the street, and several dogs ravaged by disease, like Deisa in the photo (left), or badly mauled, like Modex, have found a home here. Sadly, others have been too young or ill to survive.

Without Sheila, I can't pretend that I have the time, the money, the drive or even the will to go on, let alone do it well and I certainly don't have the luxury heated place for them any more, just kennels outside, but it is better than the harsh life of the street, at the mercy of hunger, disease, the traffic and sometimes cruelty.

But for better or worse, this is the legacy, of Sheila, the "Crazy English Woman with the dogs", who didn't have the heart to turn away.