Not many details are known about Nina’s life, but when rescued she was in a poor state including ear mites, a flea infestation, broken rib, and a large recurring abscess. This is all behind her now and focussing on her future, the new year will see her having cataract surgery which will further help her move forwards in her new life.

When Zena was taken in by the Diana Brimblecombe Animal Rescue Centre she was a confused, broken soul. Being totally blind, and having survived years in a puppy farm, it was no surprise she found everything utterly bewildering. Special care, gentle lessons in accepting love and kindness and generous amounts of time, patience and understanding were needed for this special girl to overcome her dark past.

Mungo has spent his life in a puppy farm. The experience will take time for him to recover from. While male dogs don’t have the endless demands of repeated pregnancies that females endure in puppy farms, their lives are just as miserable. Isolation, loneliness, neglect, everything is as bad for the boys as it is for the girls. Hormone driven fights are common. It’s a dreadful experience.

To live in a puppy farm is an experience no decent person would ever wish on a dog. It is an existence devoid of even basic kindness. To live in a puppy farm and to be blind is unimaginably hard. Confusion, fear and loneliness dominate. This was Teddy’s life until recently.

Just before Christmas Teddy arrived into the care of Hope Rescue in Wales. He was seriously ill and without Hope securing him immediate veterinary treatment he would have died. With complications from critical urinary tract issues, Teddy was admitted to hospital where he stayed several nights. At one stage it was touch and go whether he would survive.

Jingles is in the care of Friends of Animals Wales having been given up by her breeder. She cannot tolerate being handled at all, and will be staying in her experienced foster home until progress has been made with building trust and assurance that humans mean no harm.

Standard schnauzer Duke arrived into rescue in Cornwall when his owner’s health deteriorated. He suffered with a number of painful, infected skin lesions, probably caused by stress, neglect and diet. With dedicated help from his rescuers and veterinary treatment over several weeks, Duke is soon to head off to his new home, a far healthier and happier boy.

Eleven year old Wolfie and her sister, 4 year old Otta have lived with a family which sadly has experienced major upheaval. On arrival into rescue the most urgent thing was to tidy up their matted, uncomfortable coats. Post groom the sisters were perfectly happy, they have a good future ahead of them as soon as their veterinary needs are met.

Life has been harsh to Ollie. He lived in a shed for 9 years and when surrendered to rescue, his ears were so infected and infested by mites they were completely closed up, his mouth was full of rotten teeth and it was clear he was in severe pain.

A few weeks ago Nancy had no name, no life, no love. She was only valued for the puppies that her neglected body could produce for the puppy farmer whose ‘property’ she was. Nobody will ever know for sure what Nancy’s life to this point has fully entailed but it’s clear that little in it has been good.

Dolly has just started the best chapter of the story of her life so far. From now on, it’s going to get better and better. For Dolly has just been adopted having left a world that none of us would like to imagine - a Welsh puppy farm. She joins schnauzer sisters Elphie and Maggie, and 3 pet hens in Yorkshire for what promises to be a wonderful life.

Trevor is an 11 week old miniature schnauzer who sadly has been born with a cleft pallet. He was reared by a breeder who decided they couldn’t afford treatment. Luckily for this little fellow he was signed over to a rescue and since arriving in his foster home last weekend, Trevor’s doing very well. He requires 2 or 3 operations to fix his cleft palate. With his whole life ahead of him he not only needs this surgery, he absolutely deserves the best care possible.

Five year old Willow, an ex-breeding miniature schnauzer has not had a great life. No dog saved from a puppy farm has much of a life before they’re rescued. For the few like Willow who survive long enough to be rescued, life can be bewildering, scary and completely alien. For Willow, it has been all this in the few months since being rescued and made even more challenging because she has poor vision due to cataracts in both eyes.

For years Gracie had no name. She had no life. She existed in a puppy farm as ‘stock’ for a puppy farmer. Her only worth was the puppies that her body could produce. That was until the volunteers of Puppy Love Campaigns found her. But it was to be some months before they could take her to safety.

In September, Bella arrived into the care of the Friends of Animals Wales. She had been saved from a life of breeding in a puppy farm. She brought with her all the trauma of that life, plus health problems with included eyes damaged by cataracts.

In early March, an elderly, stray schnauzer was taken in by Bleakholt Animal Sanctuary. He was in a poor state and it was clear that he had several health conditions. He wasn’t microchipped and his owners were not able to be located. Bleakholt has many decades experience in providing excellent rescue and sanctuary for vulnerable animals, Teddy was in safe hands.

Esme arrived with Ember into rescue 3 days ago. She’s around 3-4 years old and has lived her whole life in a puppy farm in Wales. It’s clear to her rescuers that she’s been bred from repeatedly and it was thought she might be pregnant. The good news for her is that following a scan yesterday, this is not the case. Her days of delivering puppies are over for this sweet soul.

Ember is a year old and has already had at least one, possibly two litters. Together with Esme, she’s been recently lifted from the grim reality of a Welsh puppy farm. Ember has bilateral cataracts. Her vision is poor, she’s been badly traumatised by what life has meant for her so far, but now she’s safe. She has a future. She will have everything she needs in order to live a great life in due course.

Elsa is a miniature schnauzer whose detailed background is unknown. What can be deduced is that her life has been complicated and undoubtedly involved producing puppies many times over. It’s quite possible she once lived in a regular home. But somewhere along the way she was bought by an unscrupulous breeder who saw the money to be made from this sweet dog.

Penny is four years old. She arrived at Diana Brimblecombe Animal Rescue Centre will a bad lesion on her leg. She also has double cataracts, infected ears and a poor mouth. The result of life in a puppy farm.

Wispa has spent her life in a breeding kennel, probably a puppy farm. She certainly hasn’t been cared for. But, despite this, she is a happy, waggy dog, eager to get on and enjoy life. She does have significant health issues, namely problems with both back legs, with one stifle worse than the other. She is currently being assessed by a specialist to decide whether surgery is her best option. This will be costly, but donations will ensure it is possible.

Topsy’s is a difficult story, one that’s thankfully rare when it comes to DBARC’s schnauzers. Eight years ago Topsy arrived at DBARC in serious need of help, having been rescued from a puppy farm. Over a period of months she was given all the necessary veterinary care needed to get her new life off to a good and healthy start. This included restoring her eyesight with cataract surgery. She was fostered by Janet and loved by the whole DBARC team during her stay at the centre, before being adopted.

Roll on 8 years and Topsy is now around 12-14 years old. And she is back at DBARC

Schnitzel lived for several years in a puppy farm. The deprivation of this kind of life is something most humans cannot imagine our beloved dogs living through.

However, Schnitzel did and was rescued from it, landing into the safe care of the Diana Brimblecombe Animal Rescue Centre shortly after the October weekend of Schnauzerfest Walks. However, things did not go as expected for this sweet soul.

Meg arrived at the Diana Brimblecombe Animal Rescue Centre in a state of fear and confusion. She had been saved from a life of breeding in a puppy farm. Her fear of humans is typical of dogs who have been starved of human affection, regular, normal human contact and been subjected to the awfulness of living in a breeding shed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For a dog like Mara, from a puppy farm background, they are faced with a lot of challenges adjusting to living with humans. When the dogs are blind, this adds enormously to those challenges. Restoring Mara’s eyesight is one of the biggest gifts she can have, ready to head off to her new life with. This is what donations to Schnauzerfest achieve.

Pansy and Dennis arrived at the same time at DBARC. Both had eye problems but the extent of their vision wasn’t known for some time. While Dennis was a live wire from the start, despite years of ordeal in a puppy farm, Pansy was far more reserved, timid and wary of human interaction. Both had a long road ahead, but it was a road DBARC made as bright as possible for them both.

Buddy was born and raised at DBARC when mum Lara was saved, pregnant, from a puppy farmer. Just as he was about to head off to his new family and the rest of his life, disaster hit. It was found that he had been born with a cleft palate. If left untreated this would seriously compromise his health.

While their mum clung to life having undergone emergency surgery, Clara’s ten puppies faced an uncertain future. With no mum to feed them, it was down to Janet and her small team of volunteers to save their lives. With feeds needed every 2 hours and each feed taking that long, this was a mammoth night and day task that the Diana Brimblecombe Animal Rescue Centre faced.

At the end of January an 8 year old miniature schnauzer arrived at the Diana Brimblecombe Animal Rescue Centre, having escaped life as a breeder in a puppy farm. It’s unknown how many litters in those 8 long years she would have produced before being discarded by the breeder, but judging by the poor state of her, it was many. However, unlike the other dogs who arrived with her, she seemed a good weight, if anything, plump.