Floyd come home!

Hi, we are the Bennison’s and we are raising funds to help save Floyd and bring him back to the UK so he can begin his new life with us - where the only thing he’ll be killed with is love, kindness and kisses!! Floyd’s story: We arrived in Turkey on holiday 23/06. On the first evening we saw a dog lingering in the bushes near our hotel room. On closer inspection we could see he was severely malnourished and very very scared. It was obvious he wasn’t used to human interaction so over the course of the next two days we left out food and milk for him which he most ravenously received. Slowly he started to trust us and allowed us to pet him. It was clear he was very young maybe about 6 months and a street dog/stray. We could see straight away he had what we believed to be ‘pink eye’ (hence his name Floyd). He seemed to struggle getting up on his back legs (this disappeared over a few days once he eaten a few good meals and built up his strength). He had an open and rather swollen wound on his back paw which on occasion made him limp, the only thing we could do to combat it was clean it and add savlon (it was all I had). Floyd never grumbled and allowed us to inspect it freely. What stood out to us the most however, was throughout all the hardship he had gone through in his short life was just how sweet and gentle this boy was. We felt so sad for him, he didn’t have a family or a pack that he belonged to and had been left all alone. Yet he was so willing to trust after a few kind words and being shown some affection. He absolutely loved being made a fuss of. He started to take food from our hands in the most gentle way and would rush to see us when we returned to our room. He began sleeping outside our room and was there to greet us on a morning and and there to say goodnight at bed time. He also grew in courage and started doing the rounds with people for food nearby our room hotel and became a bit of a notorious character - with kids coming to visit to say hello and offer him a much loved treat! With that notoriety also came a few complaints from non-dog lovers who weren’t as happy to see Floyd and would shoo him away or call reception to complain. So whenever the staff came looking for him our kids would quickly hide him in the bushes. We knew that this couldn’t go on and that the hotel, upon our departure would either turn him out onto the road (common practice in Turkey) or send him to a Turkish shelter,(commonly know as death camps as they are rife with disease and deplorable living standards). Time really was of the essence; we went to guest relations and were told it was impossible to help Floyd, they’d never had such a request and to try and get him to the UK was futile. However another staff employee Emre overheard and told us it wasn’t impossible but very difficult - and ignited some hope in us all. By day 5 we were ringing governments, charities and pet boarders all to see what we could do to help Floyd. But unfortunately each lead came to a dead end and our hope once again was fading. On the evening of our 5th night we were returning to our room and noticed a large presence of staff around our room - carrying chains. We knew instantly they were looking for Floyd. When we reached our room there he was of course, lying waiting for us. We tried to sneak him to the bushes but two staff members caught us and closed in whilst alerting their peers. I shouted for my daughter Beau to run with him as he followed her everywhere. So off she ran only to be headed off by one of the security staff luring Floyd with food and telling her to return to her room the dog would be taken care of. Let me tell you that night did not make for a good nights sleep; for any of us! The kids were hysterical, I was guilt ridden and Simon my husband got up and went searching for him at 2am while I was scouring the internet for ways to help. Simon didn’t find him and said for certain he’d have been taken away from the hotel but just incase to put a FB post on the guest hotel page and ask everyone to look out for him, feed him and take care of him after we’d gone if he ever returned! There was such an influx of support, kind words, ideas to help - but we feared we’d seen the last of Floyd. Simon woke up at 5:30am and somewhat hopelessly went back out to look for Floyd. He wandered over to the bushes where we used to hide Floyd and miraculously saw him approaching very sheepishly. We could not believe it he had eluded them! We woke the kids who were all cuddling him and crying - happy tears. This reignited our hope and urged us into action! We had to help this poor boy from what would have been a fate of certain death! I remembered a post on FB from a hotel guest who had put a link to an adoption company based in the UK who predominantly helped spaniels and setters the night before. I sent her a message (with little hope) telling her all about Floyd and Melanie rang me straight away! She checked if we knew what would be expected, the difficulties we would face and the escalating costs - once she was happy we would commit - she ran with it. When I say ran I mean sprinted. This was day 6 of our 7 day holiday and no time could be wasted. Once we knew she could help we rushed to reception and told them Floyd was ours, we were taking him home to the UK and no one was to touch him. They promised to leave him until we left the next day (Friday), but beyond that the outlook was bleak. So back to Melanie our Olympic sprinter and animal rescuer we went! Within 10 minutes of our call she had set us up with another amazing lady (Tracy) from the UK living in Turkey - who I can only say, has saved Floyd’s life!! Tracy runs a pet travel adoption organisation doing the very thing we needed. We talked to her very quickly and she reassured us she would help us along the way. Firstly Tracy needed to see if she could find Floyd a foster home (given he was a larger breed he would be more difficult to place). She did!!! Within about 20 minutes there was a what’s app group set up and all interested parties included. However, first availability they had for pick up was Saturday arghhhh - we explained we needed him gone by Friday! Friday it is’, was Tracy’s response. Floyd was picked up as promised Friday morning by two lovely guys Stu and Steve at 8am in the morning (very early start for them as it took them 3.5 hours to get to us from Fethiye). After a tearful but happy goodbye Floyd was whisked straight to the vets, checkd, chipped, wormed, de-flea’d, vaccines for rabies, titer testing etc. He had a rather nasty grass seed removed from his paw which infected and needed antibiotics and an eye infection so was given drops (pics of the vets trip all sent to us). From there Floyd was taken to his new foster home (with Paige a lovely lady from Wales living in Turkey who has already been giving us regular updates on Floyd’s progress). Floyd will remain boarding with Paige for 3/4 months until his quarantine period is up. Tracy and her team arrange everything else from his passport and relevant documentation to transport and various return trips to the vets (including a op for Floyd to be getting castrated). Once he is fit enough and able to travel (the most efficient and easiest way) is for Steve and Stu to leave by road from Turkey to the UK over 2 days. After all of that Floyd should be home with us end of September/ beginning of October hopefully ready to start his new life as a Bennison. We all returned home today and whilst we are giddy awaiting Floyd’s arrival - I feel like I need another holiday - but not to bloody Turkey my nerves can’t take it!!! I know Floyd’s story is a bit long winded but I thought it was really important to share the back story of Floyd and the extraordinary lengths people have gone to, to help when asking you all for a contribution in securing a future for Floyd. All the money donated will go towards Floyd’s vet fees, home boarding fees over the next 3-4 months, cost of passport, other necessary documentation and his long journey back to the UK. Any amount you can spare will be very graciously received and I know Floyd will be forever grateful and repay the gratitude 1000 times over……. I’ll update my Facebook regularly with his continued progress and lots of pics hopefully for you to share in Floyd’s journey home! Thank you all so much in advance from The Bennison’s