A Castle Prep School pupil has just finished filming a programme for BBC Wales called ‘Rescue Me.’ Lily Stonehill, aged 11, wants to be a vet when she is older and is passionate about animal welfare and supporting animals.

Lily persuaded her parents that they really should get another rescue dog so the programme follows Lily and her family as they visit Greenacres and ARC rescue centres in their search for a rescue dog to adopt. The complication is that they need a dog who will fit in with the three very large Estrela mountain dogs the family already have.

With the help of two presenters and the experts at the rescue centres, they try to find a dog that has the temperament to cope with being in a busy household with three huge dogs and lots of children around and about. The programme shows the whole process of adopting a dog, from the initial home check to meeting some of the rescue dogs, and then having lots of dog play dates with their own dogs to see if they can find a good match.

Lily said: “It was fun making the programme, but the serious side is that I want people to see that they should consider going to a rescue centre if they want a new dog or puppy. There are so many dogs that need a new loving home and it’s such a shame that people always just get a new puppy from breeders. People think dogs in rescue centres have something wrong with them but that’s not true. I wanted to adopt all the ones we saw but in the end our dogs decided who they wanted to join the pack.”

Lily’s mum Michelle admitted that she had reservations about certain breeds and was worried that some of the dogs might have behavioural issues. She said: “We have one dog already from the RSPCA but we got him when he was a puppy and he was a breed we were familiar with. I have to admit I was worried that if we adopted an older dog it might have problems but I saw that many of the dogs have been given up for adoption for a whole variety of reasons. Peoples’ circumstances change and sometimes they have to reluctantly give up their dogs. All the dogs need is a loving family to look after them and I felt so sorry for the dogs there who just long to be part of a family again. There were puppies, ex-breeding dogs who had been abandoned and other dogs who had come in through no fault of their own. The rescue centres do a seriously amazing job and I hope more people consider adoption so these beautiful pets can have a second chance.”

The programme will be shown in October so we’ll just have to wait and see whether they did find a dog (or dogs)!