{"id":381869,"date":"2026-04-04T16:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/381869\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T16:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:09:10","slug":"she-is-perfect-for-us-woman-drives-two-hours-to-rescue-minnie-at-limerick-dog-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/381869\/","title":{"rendered":"‘She is perfect for us’ – Woman drives two hours to rescue Minnie at Limerick dog rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meet Realta Harrington, a young woman who drove over two hours to rescue a puppy from Limerick Animal Welfare.<\/a><\/p>\n

Realta (23) from County Clare and her puppy Minnie recently celebrated one year of love, happiness and fun together since adoption.<\/p>\n

The young woman recently bought a cake from\u00a0Kildare’s Happy Tails Bakery to mark the special day.<\/p>\n

“I just wanted to do something to really commemorate the day because we know her birthday, but she didn’t have the best start in life,\u00a0so we wanted to celebrate the day she came home with us and became a part of our family.\u00a0It’s almost like her new birthday, in a sense.”<\/p>\n

Realta made the long two-hour car journey to Limerick Animal Welfare because they are over capacity with dogs, “they’re crying out for people to adopt.”<\/p>\n

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“We had heard really good things about them.\u00a0I know a friend who adopted from them, so yeah, it’s been really smooth sailing.\u00a0Even when we adopted and filled out the paperwork, they were like,\u00a0look, you have any issues with her, you bring her back to us.<\/p>\n

“Please don’t dump her, we will always take them back.\u00a0Just bring them to us, you know.\u00a0They really care about the well-being of the animal and that they’re looked after.”<\/p>\n

At any one time the centre cares for up to 200 animals including up to 70 dogs, 60 cats, horses, goats, rabbits, chickens and the occasional exotic animal.<\/p>\n

The animal rescue has a no kill policy and works tirelessly to make sure every animal they rescue finds a loving home.<\/p>\n

Realta decided to rescue a dog from the centre after her childhood dog Coco passed away seven months prior.<\/p>\n

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“He had epilepsy and we had to put him down, unfortunately.\u00a0He had multiple seizures every day.\u00a0So about seven months had gone by and I thought, I need another dog in the house.\u00a0You just miss their company so much.”<\/p>\n

Realta and her mother were initially introduced to a male\u00a0Cockapoo named Andy and she said “it just wasn’t a match for us.”<\/p>\n

“He was very strong and my mum’s got back issues and we were just worried she wouldn’t be able to walk him.\u00a0So Marie in Limerick Animal Welfare actually decided to match us with Minnie.”<\/p>\n

Minnie is an\u00a0adorable little female Cavalier mix who had come in just the day before Realta arrived at the centre.\u00a0Nobody had gotten a chance to meet her yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marie from Limerick Animal Welfare told Realta: “I think she might be a really good fit for you.”<\/p>\n

“Little did she know Cavaliers are my mum’s favourite breed ever.\u00a0So, she brought her in to meet us and she was just such a loving, affectionate puppy.<\/p>\n

“I’d met a lot of puppies before, like friends’ puppies, family’s puppies, but I’d never met a puppy that was so affectionate.\u00a0Her tail was going 100 miles an hour, this tiny little tail, and she was licking us all over.\u00a0She was just the sweetest little thing and I thought, she is perfect for us.”<\/p>\n

Realta and her mum couldn’t take Minnie home straight away unfortunately because she had been turned into the centre with health issues.<\/p>\n

She had kennel cough and a viral infection.<\/p>\n

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“She had diarrhoea, bless her, and she had all these symptoms and she couldn’t leave.\u00a0She needed antibiotics and care so they couldn’t give away a sick puppy.<\/p>\n

“So, it was about 10 days before we were able to bring her home and we were both kind of nervous when we went back in.”<\/p>\n

Realta wondered what if Minnie didn’t remember them or what if they didn’t feel the same as when they had first met.<\/p>\n

“But as soon as we went back in, she was the same lovable puppy she had been the first time.\u00a0Just a ball of energy.”<\/p>\n

Bringing Minnie home was “very scary” because Realta only ever had one dog who she got when she was nine-years-old.<\/p>\n

“This was my first time adopting myself as an adult, so she was all my responsibility.\u00a0We brought her home and she was quite whiny and whimpery the first day, specifically the first night.\u00a0But then, honestly, by night two, she was fine.<\/p>\n

“She just settled in really, really well.\u00a0I think that’s one of the benefits to adopting a puppy, although I think adopting any dog is important.\u00a0She was so young.<\/p>\n

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“I think she adapted so quickly. She was about 10 and a half weeks old.”<\/p>\n

Realta said that adopting dogs and puppies is so important in Ireland because “there is no real animal protection in this country.<\/p>\n

“We still have greyhound racing and puppy farms, as much as people like to pretend they don’t exist.\u00a0I think there’s not much protection for animals in Ireland.\u00a0I think so many of them are in shelters and I think they all need a home.<\/p>\n

“People need to stop promoting such a negative business in Ireland by buying from breeders,\u00a0especially when there’s so many dogs, like I said, that need homes.\u00a0Limerick Animal Welfare, specifically, are overwhelmed with the amount of animals they get in.\u00a0They’ve had to close off their cat unit before because they’ve just had so many cats that need a home.”<\/p>\n

\n Realta said that when she is out walking Minnie people are shocked that she came from a shelter because she is so cute and friendly.\n<\/p>\n

“That’s just my point to people.\u00a0It’s not just these mixed-breed mutts that people are thinking of that look real scruffy and whatever.\u00a0There’s Bichons and Collies and beautiful dogs in the shelter.\u00a0Small dogs, big dogs, mixed breeds, pure breeds.<\/p>\n

“There’s something for everyone, and I think that’s why people need to be more open-minded to adopting\u00a0and not so set on the one image of what they have in their mind.”<\/p>\n

Realta herself has health issues of her own, having to leave school at 17, and said that getting a puppy meant she could give her the love, attention and time that she needed.<\/p>\n

“They need a lot of care.\u00a0That’s why I think for a lot of people, it’s more beneficial to adopt a dog who’s a little bit older\u00a0and can have more of a routine\u00a0where they can be okay for a few hours on their own and they won’t be pining as much.\u00a0With puppies, they need to be fed multiple times a day.<\/p>\n

“It’s a big commitment to take on a puppy, it really is, especially one that young.”<\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is looking to rescue an animal from Limerick Animal Welfare, you can get in contact on\u00a0063 91110 or out of hours 087 6371044\u00a0or\u00a0lawsanctuary@gmail.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n The rescue is located at Moorestown, Kilfinane, Co. Limerick.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meet Realta Harrington, a young woman who drove over two hours to rescue a puppy from Limerick Animal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,1396],"class_list":["post-381869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-limerick"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}