SHAK team go extra mile to help the dogs

The Beast from the East made life difficult for the SHAK squad, but the dedicated team pulled out all the stops to make sure they cared for the dogs.

Staff member Gary walked an hour to the A1 so he could get picked up by George – who owns the other kennels used by SHAK – while colleague Richard stayed at a relative’s in Alnwick so he could pull straight onto the A1 and then queued in traffic for three hours to make it into work on Friday.

SHAK also had a little help from its friends, with Steve and Emma, who live on the farm next to the kennels, popping in to check on the dogs and give them some food and water.

SHAK founder Stephen Wylie – who, along with Richard, tried for six hours to get in on Thursday – said: “The large amount of snow fall certainly meant that we faced some challenges, but, as always, our amazing team all pulled together and all our dogs are safe, warm and well.

“I would like to thank the team for their dedication – they put themselves out to make sure the dogs were looked after.

“I’d also like to praise the dogs. They were very patient and thankfully there were no incidents. Some of the dogs hate the snow, but others love it – it’s horses for courses.

“We are getting back to normal and we have started to tidy up the mess after all the snow and catch up on all the jobs which we couldn’t do last week.”

For more information about SHAK, visit www.shak.org.uk