I am a senior specialist scientist helping research, protect and promote the Scottish environment aiming to provide improved health and a strong economy in Scotland. As part of this I develop a lot of web based tools to aid research (using Asp.NET, MVC, JQuery, Javascript, Spotfire, S-plus, R, SQL etc). Inspired by my wife's volunteer work for various charities such as the SSPCA and Riders for the Disabled, I wanted to use my skills to do some more good. Hence this site was born! My ultimate aims are:
I hope to continue getting more and more shelters onboard as well as advertising the site as much as I can. If you want to link to my site you can and I would really appreciate it :)
Want to get in touch? You can email me at and find Rescue Scottish Pets on facebook by: clicking here... I would love to hear your thoughts on the site, or any ideas you have to help improve it.
If you are interested in hiring my web development skills please feel free to contact me also.
I have two dogs. They are both cross breeds. Paddy is a dog we rescued from the SSPCA during the time my wife volunteered there. He was found wandering the streets of Cumbernauld with damaged ribs. We don't know what breeds he is except that he is part Collie. He has all the classic Collie traits - hyper, nervous, constant need of stimulation. He was very hard work due to being very nervous around new people and especially men where he would display fear based aggression. However we worked hard and he is such a wonderful dog who is so affectionate and now accepts people very quickly, quickly followed by demanding they play with him. However it is always prudent to remember how much time you need to devote to helping dogs especially if they have had a rough start to life. However we have found the effort required was massively out-weighted by the gains of having such a wonderful creature in our lives.
Poppy (the small one) is our newest member of our family. In the pictures here she is around 5 months old. If you can guess the 2 breeds she is a cross of then I would be amazed.... they are Jack Russell (that's the easy part) and ... Hungarian Vizsla! She has the nicest temperament I have ever seen in a dog. Loving all people and other dogs alike. She has been a wonderful aid to Paddy helping him learn how to play with other dogs and not fear them. They spend so much of their time playing and grooming each other it has been a great success introducing a new dog into our family.
I have 1 rabbit; Khufu (the white one) who is around 9 years old. Sadly Pepe his life long friend did in March 2010. Initially they were house rabbits but after speaking to Vets I moved them outside. They have a large hutch and run and their health and quality of life have greatly increased with the move. I can only recommend that if you have rabbits keep them outside and buy the biggest run you can. So often the runs and hutches in pet stores are woefully inadequate. My guide is get the pet size up from what they pet stores claim. So if you have a hamster buy a guinea pig cage, a guinea pig get a rabbit cage, and for a rabbit... well build one or source a large specialised one. Remember the creature has to live their whole lives in the habitat you create.
Please consider the animal, the size they are and the fact that they are limited to the space you provide them. Always read up on what makes a suitable habitat for them and take very careful consideration if the pet is for a child.