Sheila’s story: A lifetime of memories, a legacy to remember

I can still clearly remember the day we came down to Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home and adopted Sandy – it was a family event. My siblings and I would have been six eight and ten so you can imagine the excitement.

I can remember the whole day. On the way home we stopped at a local park and we all wanted a turn of holding his lead. At six years old, to hand me the lead of an 11-month-old labrador wasn’t the brightest idea. I went absolutely horizontally across that park!

Sandy was a terror for the first six months we had him.

He chewed up a 3-piece suite, he ruined every soft toy we had in the house, he scratched all our records. It was unbelievable. But we persevered and boy did it pay off. Once he settled in, he was amazing. Even people who had their own dogs thought Sandy was the best dog ever. I was six and he was 11 months so in dog years we were roughly the same age. We grew up together.

I went to a school that was on the same street we lived on and my mum used to bring him up at break time. He would carry a packet of crisps for my break so gently all the way up to the school and all the children would come out to see him.

These are the memories I have, how can you repay that?

Later on, I rehomed Holly, a mixed-breed dog, and then Sally, a black labrador from Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home.

Holly was quite a confident dog but very much attached to my mum. She just adored her. Anywhere my mum went, Holly was at her back.

Sally was a bit more sociable. She carried a ball everywhere; she’d be out for a long walk, and the ball would stay in her mouth the whole time. It was like a baby with a dummy, I think it was a comfort to her.

My mother loved the dogs too; she came with me every time I came to rehome one.

She would have taken a bullet for our dogs, she was the hub of the whole thing. She looked after the three of us and the dog.

We kept Sally and Holly’s ashes and when my mum passed away last year, shortly after Sally, we buried them with her. Now they’ll always be together.

What we’ve had from the Dog and Cat Home over the years has been amazing, and that’s why we feel it’s payback.

Sandy’s birthday was the 8^th of March, and every year on that day I say a happy heavenly birthday to him. I still think of him all those years later. It was 57 years ago that we got him, and I still celebrate his birthday; that’s the impact they’ve had on my life.

We’re leaving everything, our house and everything, and that’s payback for what the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home has given us.

It’s such an essential service the Home is providing. They’re saving the lives of these animals and finding good homes. And I feel they provide such a service to this city.

I think if people can just do what they can, even the smallest amount buys a dog a dinner or a bed… it doesn’t have to be big lump sums or anything!

There are a lot of charities that are very deserving, but I just have such a bond with the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. It was very easy to set up our pledge while my husband and I were writing our wills, and we haven’t stipulated that the money should be spent on anything in particular.

So long as the Home keeps going, that’s all I care about.