*Tui's story

Every pet in Pet Refuge care receives a tailored enrichment and training plan. On average, we create 16 new plans each month* and update them weekly to reflect each pet’s progress. We track any developments dailyand adjust their plan to suit their personality, confidence, and emotional state, and progress.

You may remember Tui, a scared dog who arrived in Pet Refuge care after an emergency call. He would try all sorts of different behaviours to challenge our staff and intimidate them because he was scared. Tui’s bespoke enrichment and training plan included crate training, bonding games, puzzles, lick mats, focused body handling, and even pretend vet visits to practice.

Veterinary care is an important part of recovery, so it was critical for our team to prepare Tui for future vet visits; both at the shelter and for his life ahead. His training began with simple handling and lead work, learning to walk to and from the vehicle calmly, and practising how to enter and exit safely. He was gently introduced to handling techniques a vet would use — touching paws, mock bandaging, and even pretend injections using fingers, along with gum, ear, and temperature checks.

Tui made great progress, and the team has now started introducing different carers to these exercises so he can become comfortable with various people handling him. These activities have helped him learn that human hands and attention can be safe and enjoyable.

Every step of Tui’s journey is made possible through our Safe Beds for Pets programme — ensuring pets have access to transport, a warm safe bed, veterinary care, bespoke enrichment and training plans, and the love they need to heal from trauma and prepare for a safe, happy life. To hear more stories like this, sign up for our monthly e-newsletter here.

*Data has been calculated as an average across the 12 months of FY25.