Emma
FOUNDER
Emma is our visionary founder and driving force behind the rescue revolution. She is a rescue wonder woman – running the rescue, overseeing our dogs, new intakes and rehoming, as well as getting the new site up and running. She is determined beyond belief, practical and resourceful, and still likes to be hands on with the dogs. Emma lives in a caravan full of difficult bullies and is the staff member most likely to be found on a digger.
Dawn
IRLAM CENTRE MANAGER
Dawn is Centre Manager at our Irlam site. She has been working with animals for over 25 years, including voluntary work overseas and working her way up through the ranks of a kennels based rescues to the role of Operations Manager. From emergency relief in a disaster zone, to coordinating neuter programs to managing the day-to-day of rescue life she is always calm and measured. Dawn was foster mom to Tiny Tim and Tom Thumb.
Tess
DOG HANDLER
Tess is our most experienced dog handler and Emma’s go-to woman when it comes to dog groups, movements and testing new friendships. Confident and capable, she has a talent for working with difficult dogs and oversees all of our dogs’ daily routines, happiness, wellbeing and veterinary needs – she also has a talent for training. Tess adopted Lollipop’s bestie Bumblebee from us and has a pocket bully called Boss, and is the most likely Irlam staff member to give the dogs a treat.
Diana
DOG HANDLER
Diana is our dog handler all the way from Costa Rica. She did her Animal Care apprenticeship here and was so passionate and dedicated we offered her a permanent role. Responsible and reliable, she opens up Rescue World most mornings, works with the dogs all day and is fantastic at training people and organising volunteers. She also has a flair for capturing social media content. Diana adopted Rocky and Cherry from us, and fostered Bailey so she could experience a loving home for the last year of her life.
Sophie
DOG HANDLER
Sophie joined us as a live-in dog handler, bringing with her a wealth of experience from her time working in various rescues in Thailand, as well as a lot of UK daycare and training expertise. A strong all-rounder, she can turn her hand from moving the packs around in their rotations, to working with our most scared ferals and getting dogs home ready. Sophie adopted Bean, a distemper survivor from Thailand who has become the family dog preferring a quiet life, but comes to stay occasionally.
Andi
DOG HANDLER
Andi started as a volunteer at Rescue World which led to a permanent job. After finishing her degree she trained as a Veterinary Assistant at the Budapest Animal Hospital before moving into dog rescue and developing a special interest in rescue dog training. Andi is constantly working to expand her knowledge, currently studying for a Level 4 Advanced canine Diploma at BCCS. Strong dogs learn to walk nicely on the lead, and our frightened dogs to take their first steps. Andi has two rescue dogs, Grace and Fidek who inspire her to give her best to the dogs at Rescue World.
Lily
JUNIOR DOG HANDLER
Lily comes to work with the biggest smile on her face whatever the weather, because working with our dogs at Rescue World is her dream role. Learning on the job she has a level 3 Animal Management Diploma (a distinction no less) and will turn her hand to anything and everything, from feeding to cleaning, to trust building and capturing photos and videos for our socials. Lily has always had dogs and waiting for her at home is a greedy black labrador, a lazy old English bulldog and a cat.
Sue
LIVE-IN ASSISTANT
Sue moved in with her pack of podencos and galgos. A passionate rescuer she has run Hearts 4 Paws Dog Rescue from home many years, saving the dogs of Spain one dog at a time. Sue is joining us as a live-in assistant helping with our morning routine, night time expressions, vet runs and more, reflecting our commitment to rescues working together for the good of the dogs. She is also Auntie Sue in the ferals’ caravan overseeing their wellbeing and rehabilitation.
Olivia
DOG HANDLER & CLEANER
Olivia is a dog handler/cleaner with a special interest in grooming. She loves nothing better than bathing the handicans and getting new dogs clean and pampered ready to meet their prospective owners. Olivia enjoys a varied role here including cleaning, washing, expressing the handicans and a multitude of other tasks. Olivia can’t help but take her work home with her, so much so that she adopted Ludo and Luke from us.
Charlene
BEHAVIOURIST
Charlene is Head Behaviourist at The Hayloft Pet Services (BA Hons Dip Dog Psychology) with 20 years experience working with rescue dogs and a passion for the bull breeds. With previous corporate expertise Charlene has been instrumental in helping us draw up processes and assessments, as well as coaching our dog handling team and working on site with some of our more complex dogs. Charlene also helps street dogs where she holidays in Thailand, has been foster mum to our deaf girl May, and is forever mum to two old staffies and two younger rescue pups.
Dawn
BEHAVIOURIST
Dawn is an experienced behaviourist and trainer who supports our foster homes and dogs on home trial. Dawn’s goal is to help people better understand their dogs. She knows that solid partnerships based on knowledge and trust will help overcome any misunderstandings that may lead to challenging or unwanted behaviours. A fantastic communicator, Dawn is a straight talking advocate of what the dogs cannot tell you themselves, with practical solutions to iron out niggles to give the best chance of a successful adoption.
Ali
HEAD OF SUPPORTER LOVE
Ali is responsible for all of our marketing and fundraising and is the creative genius behind our social media. She moved in to get to know our dogs and document rescue life – she never left! Ali is Emma’s right hand woman, driving our brand, our audiences and engagement, as well as financial stability and growth, making the seemingly impossible happen. It’s because of her that we were able to buy the new site. Always to be found with an old staffy in her bed, Ali is the only person with the patience to live with Grumpy Stu.
Abby
CONTENT CREATOR
Abby joined us as a Content Creator after graduating from the University of Salford with a degree in post production and VFX. Her love for editing and telling the stories of our dogs and kennel-free life here has seen her carve out a role keeping dynamic social media content coming. She is a passionate vegan, her final uni project was about the misconceptions around the animal agriculture industry. Abby has two rescued house rabbits, Margo and Vincent, so-named after Vincent Van Gough as he only has one ear.
Amy
REHOMING Manager
Amy is our Rehoming Manager responsible for finding loving homes for our dogs and those all important foster placements that save lives. A passionate vegan and rescuer Amy was at Freshfields Rescue for 10 years before joining us here. She has a wealth of operational expertise and oversees veterinary care here, but the majority of her time is now spent matchmaking potential adopters with dogs and supporting the who’ve dogs on trial. Amy has a dapper 17 year old Yorkshire Terrier called Timmy.
Maya
DOG HANDLER/SOCIAL MEDIA
Maya joined us as a junior dog handler where she showed a real flair for capturing social media content. Often to be found filming the welcoming committee, adding stories or sending our sponsor dog updates she is capable and passionate, learning on the job and taking on more responsibility as time goes on. She loves to spend her evenings helping rehabilitate the frightened ones, or helping new owned dogs settle in. Maya has a Romanian dog at home called Penny and convinced her mum that two is easier than one.
Jamie
DOG HANDLER
Jamie is our amazing multi-tasker at Rescue World helping out on so many fronts. When we are short staffed she helps with dog handling and is responsible for bringing the dogs in every night and their bedtime routines. She is a cleaner extraordinaire and can turn her hand to most maintenance jobs here too, making her an invaluable member of the team. Jamie is the most likely staff member to be seen slipping the dogs a treat.
Becky
ADMIN
Becky is Emma’s sister, keeping us all organised and has supported the rescue from the start. She is the backbone of our admin support recently returning from Ecuador where she had been working remotely. Becky stays on top of all our e-mails and messages, knows what to prioritise for Emma’s attention and is a fantastic matchmaker. If you have fostered or rehomed a dog from us you will have spoken to her on an e-mail. Becky has a street dog from Ecuador called Frankie who is the doppelganger of Grumpy Stu, with Cherub as his fur sister.
Laura
LOGISTICS
Laura volunteers part-time helping with the movements of dogs from the UK and abroad and some admin. An ex-military logistics expert who can deal with anything thrown at her, Laura is superb at desk research and is a hive of knowledge and information, with an eye for detail like no other. She helps answer our Facebook messages on a daily basis, often helping people find alternative rescue space if we cannot help. Laura has a passion for the naughty Jack Russell Terriers.
Tim
ACCOUNTANT & BUSINESS ADVISOR
Tim is our chartered accountant and business advisor. He signs off all of our returns and financial statements as well as advising us on tax and business strategies. He uses his extensive experience working with small to medium sized businesses, his time inhouse with multinational businesses and at KPMG to help us make the most of our financial information whilst staying compliant. Tim agreed that two is easier than one and adopted Woolfie and Berry from us. He also cycled from Lands End to John O’Groats to raise funds for us.
Wendy
ACCOUNTS & MORE
Wendy volunteers part-time preparing our day-to-day accounts for both the rescue and Daycare 4 Dogs, and so much more besides. A qualified accountant with an incredible attention to detail and love of numbers, she is the spreadsheet queen who provides us with all of our management information. She has been instrumental in getting the new site and pushing through so many other behind-the-scenes achievements. Wendy adopted Lucky from us as a companion for Poppy and has even been known to post large volumes of D4R calendars.
Dave
HEAD OF MAINTENANCE
Dave is our handyman extraordinaire who can turn his hand to anything and everything – a blessing as no two days are ever the same! He keeps on top of the endless repairs here as well as making Emma’s crazy ideas happen, working in all weathers and always with a smile on his face. He will come in on his days off if we need an urgent repair to keep the dogs safe. Dave coached Manchester City’s women’s team in a former life (but is a passionate red!) and puts up with Bumblebee’s terrible trumps in the van when he’s taking Tess home.
Kenzi
HANDYMAN
Kenzi joined our handyman team to help with the Irlam site improvements and renovations. His nickname is Brussels because of his muscles / strength and his daily motivation is building and maintaining a safe place for our dogs. He will turn his hand to anything and everything, always with a smile on his face. Previously a roofer Kenzi has a rescue cockapoo called Barney who was found on the streets behind some bins.
Our volunteers
We have a small number of regular volunteers who walk our dogs and help with enrichment time, cleaning, DIY and gardening. Our Enrichment Angels enhance the days of our lifers and help with the rehabilitation of the ferals. We also have staffy cuddlers for our fusspots and handican carers for our disabled boys as well as volunteers who help with fundraising and bucket collections.