A rescue centre for dogs has a unique and rather ingenious way of exercising the ‘hyper’ animals in its care. Whitehall Dog Rescue in East Ardsley, West Yorkshire purchased a drone to be chased by its four-legged residents in a bid to wear them out before bed.
The idea came to Brian Wheelhouse, 54, who runs the rescue centre, when he realised that walking the 35 dogs three times a day was not sufficiently tiring out some of the more ‘hyper’ animals.
The self-confessed gadget enthusiast was in need of a new exercise method for the dogs and after seeing drones being demonstrated on a television programme, introduced his device to the animals.
‘It came to me that it might actually work for exercising the dogs if I tied something to it,’ said Mr Wheelhouse. ‘But I didn’t need anything else in the end because as soon as they saw it, they simply loved chasing it around the field.’
The energetic pooches, of which there are 18 at the centre, were introduced to the drone around eight months ago before being retired to their kennels for the night
Mr Wheelhouse takes the dogs to a fenced off area within a field owned by the centre and flies the quadcopter in every direction, being careful to steer clear of the canine’s reach.
Mr Wheelhouse, who purchased the drone out of his own money rather than use rescue centre funds, explained that he is always looking to find new ways to look after the dogs.
He said: ‘The drone has been particular helpful to our border collie Sam who is a very active dog due to the breed.
‘Although it was designed to help us, it has actually added to the workload as it is radio controlled so you have to have someone monitoring the drone.
‘We are just so happy that they are enjoying themselves and it is getting rid of some energy.’
The drone has also helped the dogs become more sociable and Mr Wheelhouse noticed that more of the animals were interacting while collectively focussing on the device above their heads.
Mr Wheelhouse, a former car dealer, set the rescue centre up in 1992 to take in dogs who would otherwise be put down.
He said: ‘I once took 17 dogs home as they were going to be put to sleep on Christmas Eve. While I still owned three car garages, I found out that so many dogs were being put down as they had nowhere to go.
‘I just could not let it happen so I started bringing them home. I even converted part of one of the garages into a kennel and found homes for the dogs from there.
‘Eventually, I decided to sell the garages and decided to set up the centre here. We still take dogs like that now as well and have a boarding side to the centre.
‘You could say we have saved many of the dogs from being on death row.’
Source: Daily Mail