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My family and I have been fostering dogs for the past eight years. Overall, we've taken in 12, mostly puppies. I grew to love them all, and I have a lot of compassion for them. Whilst I was growing up, these dogs came into our home for sometimes only two to three weeks. Seeing them matched with another family also gave me joy. It's good to know that I was a part of the process of saving and helping many rescue dogs.
We also have dogs of our own. In 2005, four years before I was born, my mom adopted Holly, a little Jack Russel. Her owner was too sick to take care of her, she came to live with us. She was my best friend as I grew up. I played with her every day whilst my brother and sister were at school. She is very old now, nearly 19, and has trouble seeing and hearing. We still have to pick her up to take her outside, but we love her just the same.
In 2013, when I was four, we took in Bertie, a mixed spaniel. Bertie has been trained as a tracker dog. He tracks lost dogs and loves to keep busy. He often accompanies my mom to work. He is an energetic dog and wants to feel that he's got a job to do.
I have always wanted to help rescue dogs. In 2020, I came across a guy called Max Woosey, who has been camping outside since then to raise money for a hospice in his area of England. Max is a few months older than me, we're both 13. I was inspired by what Max was doing and decided to join him camping outside in his tent for a night. One night soon turned into 30 nights. I was very inspired by his idea, so I decided to create a giving page of my own, to raise money for the shelter where our foster dogs had come from.
For the first five months of camping, I raised money for a rescue dog charity based in Paphos, Cyprus. In August 2021, I took a trip to Cyprus with my mom, to visit the shelter that I had been raising money for.
As soon as I saw the dogs at the shelter, I began to cry. It was really hard to see so many abandoned dogs all desperate for a home. That's when I met Lucia, who was ten months old at the time. She had fresh burns down her back and had been thrown out of a car. My heart melted when I held her. My family decided on that day that we were going to take her in. Some members of staff cried as they could not believe that someone would adopt a dog that had so many burns.
Because Lucia was very young, we had to wait until she was old enough to have her rabies vaccination, before we could take her to the U.K. where we live. She came to live with us in Hertfordshire in October 2021.
The following Spring, I had to switch charities because the previous charity had to stop. We found an amazing charity called Paws2Rescue. My mom and I thought that the founder, Alison Stanbridge, was a very inspirational woman. She flies to Romania four times a year to help the rescue dogs there. There are so many stray dogs in Romania, because of government laws banning them from living in flats. The winters there are so cold, it goes down to 0 degrees Fahrenheit. I found their page on Instagram and just knew that I needed to help raise money for a shelter there.
Because of the Ukraine war, many dogs and cats have also been left without a home. The charity also takes food over the border to help the animals out there, too.
On March 28, 2021, I began my new camping journey, to raise awareness for abandoned dogs in Romania. I have been sleeping in a tent in my backyard for over 550 nights and I am looking forward to reaching my goal of raising £30,000 ($33,000).
When I first started sleeping in a tent, I was very excited. I began vlogging my experience every night, and still do until this day. I sleep in the tent and get up and go to school the next day. At first, I loved the experience because it was Spring. But towards the wintertime, it began to get more difficult. Some nights, it was just 19.4 degrees Fahrenheit. There was even frost inside my tent.
I'd wrap up very warm and put extra pegs down on the tent to keep it secure. When Storm Eunice arrived in February 2022, I thought that I would struggle, but it didn't scare me that much. I woke up two times in the middle of the night, but other than that, it was fairly normal. The thing I disliked the most is the slugs and toads that sometimes came into my tent. Mole holes have also been dug under the tent, too, but I don't mind.
I've gotten very used to sleeping in a tent, to the point where I can't imagine sleeping in my bed anymore. I also feel like it's better for my health because of the fresh air.
Sometimes, I become disheartened because I have periods where I feel that I am not raising as much money as I would have liked to, and I think to myself: I can't do this anymore. I want to come back into the house. But when it gets to nine o'clock, I always change my mind. I think of all of the dogs who are out there alone. Our Spaniel, Bertie, often sleeps out in the tent with me. He is very energetic and bubbly, which makes the process easier for me.
In September 2022, I was nominated for the Make a Difference Awards from the BBC. I felt very honored. Once many people knew what I was doing, they began donating more. I have now made £11,500 ($13,000) out of £30,000 ($33,000) and plan on continuing until I reach my goal. So many people have said that they are proud of me. I often get very positive comments on my giving page, and previous teachers have also told me that they are inspired by what I am doing. If I can help save one dog's life, that's all that matters to me.
Ashey Owens has been sleeping in a tent for over 550 days to raise money for a Romanian rescue dog charity, Paws2Rescue. You can find his JustGiving page here.
All views expressed in this article are the author's own.
As told to Carine Harb.
