Paul’s back in business with his ‘Love of Dogs’!

As the title of Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs – Back in Business suggests, now that the lockdown measures are beginning to ease, life is returning to something resembling normality at Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, where the staff are once again rehoming animals.

But it was a very different story back in March. Like so many other great British institutions, Battersea Dogs & Cats Home had to shut its doors – it was the first time it had been closed to the public in its 160-year history.

That left the staff facing a problem that most other establishments didn’t, namely how to find suitable families and temporary foster carers for more than 80 animals before the sites closed.

Meanwhile, Paul O’Grady was facing a change of his own as his underlying health conditions meant he was preparing to self-isolate.

Before he retreated to Kent though, he spent a last day at Battersea, and discovered that even his years of helping out couldn’t prepare him for the challenges of evacuating animals in record time.

With all three sites due to close, the first priority is to find as many temporary homes as possible.

Despite already having five dogs, Paul is quick to offer his own services a foster carer, although even he can’t rehome them all.

He jokes: “I’m having a complete mental battle, I’d like to take them all really.

“But I can’t. It’s not practical!”

The presenter also faces a dilemma about which dog to take, although one six-week-old Jack Russell pup may have found a way when to jump to the top of the queue when it crawls straight inside Paul’s jacket, instantly winning his heart.

Normally, Battersea would have waited until the pups were eight weeks old before rehoming them, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Meanwhile, new arrival Bobby, a four-month-old Bichon Frise, is at a crucial stage in his development and needs to be assessed by the team.

So, Paul puts him through his paces to see how he responds to noises and other dogs.

However, it’s not just the canines who needs carers – the cats will also be affected by the closure, so Paul takes a rare trip to the ‘dark side’ to meet some of them.

While most viewers will have Paul firmly down as dog person, it turns out that’s not strictly the case.

He says: “People think I don’t like cats but that’s not true. The reason I haven’t got one is because I’ve got a pack of mad dogs who would drive the poor cat mad.”

To prove he’s got nothing against felines, we see him feeding a kitten and attempting to befriend a standoffish British long-haired called Bear whose diagnosis of FIV (Feline Immunodeficiency Virus) makes him particularly tricky to rehome.

However, could it be the arrival of Nala, who gives birth to a litter of five, that truly melts Paul’s heart?

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper whenever you are able to do so.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper when you can safely.

You can also enjoy unlimited access to the best news from across Northern Ireland and the UK by subscribing to newsletter.co.uk

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Thank you