Ballina rescue dog wins custom portrait

Against all odds, a senior rescue dog from Ballina has been named one of six winners in Butternut Box’s Dogs Deserve Fame competition.

In 2015, Louise Maughan received a call from the North West Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals about a dog named Sandy. Louise had fostered cats and dogs in the past, but Sandy was different.

“She had been kept for breeding,” Louise explained. “She came to the NWSPCA through an incident where she fell ill during labour. She was giving birth to pups, and the pups got stuck. There were issues surrounding her care prior to that.” 

At first, Louise was shocked by Sandy’s aggressive behaviour: “I actually jumped out of the car and ran into the house and left the dog in the car because I was afraid to bring her into the house.” 

After an hour of decompression under careful supervision, Louise introduced Sandy to her two dogs. Incredibly, Sandy bonded with them right away.

“Sandy did have huge social issues,” Louise clarified. “We used to go to the beach early in the morning when there were less people. Even then, there were a couple of incidents with her where she was really aggressive towards other dogs, cats, men, women.

“I think the most important thing for her was security,” Louise continued. “They need to feel safe, and they need to feel secure in the same way a human being would. They need to know that they are in a comfortable home, they don’t need to worry about food, they don’t need to worry about warmth, and they get petted and kissed and loved and treated really well. 

“I get it back from them. I live on my own, so having dogs is just such a big comfort. I don’t have children, so having the noise of little feet in the house is really comforting.” 

A year later, the NWSPCA informed Louise that they had found the perfect family for Sandy. But by then, Louise and Sandy had created an inseparable bond.

“I had to read my gut and say no," she recalls.

Now settled in a happy home with a loving family, Sandy struggled with maintaining a healthy weight. Three years ago, Butternut Box was recommended to Louise by a friend. Butternut Box is a dog food company that advertises personalised meals with human-quality food that get delivered directly to doorsteps.

Immediately, Louise noticed a difference. After four months, Sandy was back to a healthy weight.

One night last year, while working an overnight shift at St Augustine's Community Nursing Unit, Louise received an email from Butternut Box inviting clients to submit a photo of their dog for a chance to win a custom portrait. On a whim, she scrolled through her camera roll, picked a photo, sent it off, and promptly forgot all about it.

Seven weeks later, another email arrived: this was her final chance to accept the offer. Sandy was one of six winners, but Louise nearly missed the news, as all the previous emails had mistakenly landed in her junk folder.

“I’m very proud,” Louise said. “More proud because she is a rescue dog. Also, she was the only dog in Ireland to get picked. The other five winners were English dogs, so it was nice to see that Ireland was represented in the competition as well.” 

On September 7th, Louise flew to London to accept Sandy’s prize. Each of the six winning dogs were painted or sculpted by six different artists with very distinct styles. The winners were joined by canines and humans alike to celebrate in Pitzhanger Manor.

Holly Lam, a British artist and designer based in London, created a stunning digital painting of Sandy, fully capturing her resilient yet tender nature.

“She could have died,” Louise recalls. “The NWSPCA ended up getting her because of the state she was in… She is lucky to be here, and it is lovely to see her little portrait being painted.” 

The NWSPCA is a not-for-profit organisation and animal charity based in Ballina and is run entirely by volunteers.

Rachael Slater, Head of the Fundraising and Sponsorship Committee, told the Western People that while the NWSPCA has been operating for 25 years, the number of stray cats and dogs has “exploded” since the pandemic.

“The last month has been particularly bad,” Rachael emphasised. “From the first week of August up to now, you could have 20, 30, 40 cats in distress, but there is nowhere for them to go. Some of our volunteers can have up to 30 cats in their houses.” 

Although the NWSPCA receives funding from the government, it is not nearly enough to cover the cost of vet bills and kenneling. The charity relies heavily on fundraising and volunteers.

“Everyone is responsible in the community,” Rachael assured. “It’s not a case of it being someone else’s problem.” 

If you are not able to foster, there are plenty of other ways in which you can help the NWSPCA. From making deliveries to fundraising in your place of work to simply participating in their raffles, you can contact the charity through its Facebook or Instagram pages to make a difference in your community.

“People mightn’t be able to give a huge time commitment to it, but everyone can do something,” Rachael added.

When taking on a new foster animal, somebody once told Louise Maughan that she does enough.

“If everyone had that attitude, our streets would be full of cats, our streets would be full of dogs,” Louise commented. “People need to step up, and if you don’t step up, nobody will.”