Take Me Home: Tales of Battersea Dogs

An irresistible look at life in the Battersea Dogs &amp; Cats Home, with real-life, heart-warming stories and tips on how to take care of dogs and give them the best home possible,

Melissa Wareham spent fifteen years at Battersea Dogs &amp; Cats Home, from February 1988 to September 2004. Her first job was as a kennel maid at the age of eighteen and she went on to become their rehoming manager and the TV face of the organization, appearing on Pet Rescue, The Big Breakfast, GMTV, The Generation Game and various interviews for national news programs. She lives in South London.

Melissa Wareham always wanted to work with dogs - and got her first job at the Battersea Dogs &amp; Cats Home, cleaning out the kennels! Over the years she met thousands of lost pets, including mongrel Tulip, who liked to ride solo on the 159 bus, stinky Pepe le Pew who was in dire need of a bath, and Benjamin the lurcher, chosen to greet the Queen when she visited the Home.

My Life with the Battersea Dogs

Rescue Me

An enchantingly moving and funny look at life in Britain's most-loved dogs' home

Melissa Wareham spent fifteen years at Battersea Dogs Home, from February 1988 to September 2004. Her first job was as a kennel maid at the age of eighteen. She went on to become their rehoming manager and - as the BBC discovered the 'power of Battersea' - she became the TV face of the organisation appearing on Pet Rescue, The Big Breakfast, Kilroy, GMTV, Battersea Dogs Home (BBC), Style Challenge, Motormouth, The Generation Game and various interviews for news programs including London Tonight, BBC local news and Sky News.

Melissa Wareham always wanted to work with dogs. After failing her biology O-level she realised she'd have to start at the bottom, cleaning out kennels at Battersea Dogs Home. 
 
From frail old men looking for a four-legged companion to famous folk who've lost their favourite hound, it seemed that at some point everyone passes through Battersea's doors. Amongst the clamour of thousands of lost pets crying 'Rescue Me!' and the noise of the railway lines above, Melissa found she had come home. 
 
The first dog Melissa fell for was Tulip, a sweet, elderly and somewhat dotty mongrel who decided a solo bus ride into the West End might be fun. Next up was Roscoe: found by the ambulance team with his dead owner, he is rehabilitated with a little help from his master's hat. And then - many, many dogs later - there is Gus. With his owner in jail, Melissa finally finds the dog she is to take home as her own. 
 
Heart-warming and compulsively readable, Rescue Me is Melissa's memoir of her fifteen years at Britain's most-loved dogs' home.

Melissa Wareham

Melissa Wareham loved her job at Battersea Dogs &amp; Cats Home, caring for lost and abandoned animals. When Gus - elderly, smelly and poorly - arrives at the Home one day, she knows that she has found the dog for her - and that he has found the human for him! 
Life with Gus takes some getting used to... from him insisting on drinking out of the toilet bowl, his sleep-destroying snores and his bath-aversion tactics... but Gus is a funny, gentle, loving dog and Melissa and he quickly become completely inseperable. 
This is a funny, sad, wise and kind tale of the joy that adopting a rescue animal brings.

Melissa Wareham

Books by Melissa Wareham

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