To a neglected dog like Nutloaf, a human hand means pain.

Will you change this, and be the kind hand neglected animals like Nutloaf need?

Please be a Guardian Angel and donate today so that a dog can feel kindness this Christmas.

Think about what it means to reach out your hand to pat a dog. You’re reaching out with love, and to show your compassion. That simple gesture of affection is something most of us take for granted.

But for a dog like Nutloaf, it’s terrifying. We need your help to show animals like Nutloaf that a human hand can bring kindness.

Nutloaf is a golden retriever who was rescued at Christmas last year – thanks to kind support like yours. She was found alongside more than 100 other dogs in a backyard puppy farm.

The conditions were horrific, with dogs in filthy cages. The smell was eye-watering. The noise was constant.

Like the other dogs, Nutloaf would flinch and cower from any outstretched hand. Her past had taught her a brutal and unfair lesson: people bring pain.

Before Nutloaf could feel safe, she needed someone to change what she thought of people. She needed to experience human kindness. She needed someone like you.

This Christmas, we're writing to ask if you will be the kind hand that neglected animals like Nutloaf need. Please be a Guardian Angel and donate today to show a terrified dog that people bring kindness this Christmas.

Nutloaf’s rescue was part of one of the largest and most intense our team has ever confronted. Just days before Christmas, our inspectors arrived at a property in Canning Vale. What they found was a disgusting scene.

What you’re about to read might upset you – we know you think people have a duty of care to animals. One of our staff members, Meg, was there at the rescue. She said the first thing that hit her was the noise.

“It was very noisy,” Meg remembers. “Dogs barking, crying and howling.”

Then, the smell. “It smelt terrible. There were faeces everywhere.”

Then, she was shocked to see the cruel, neglectful conditions these dogs had been living in.

“The dogs didn’t have grass. Just sand and cement.

“Where the dogs had tried to dig in the sand, sheets of Colourbond had been thrown to stop them digging any more. They didn’t have any toys, no beds.”

Crammed into pens were golden retrievers, groodles, corgis, French bulldogs, and cocker spaniels. No matter the breed, their reaction to our team was the same: pure fear.

“Some of them would run away, some you’d not be able to get near at all,” Meg said. “Some of them would be offensive… they would growl and tried to bite as they were so terrified and didn’t want to be touched.”

Their past had taught them to be afraid. For them, a human wasn’t a source of comfort. It was the reason they were hungry, matted, and alone. 

Please give a gift today to help an animal recover from a life of misery. You’ll give an animal their first chew toy and bed, starting a journey to love and happiness.

For Nutloaf, her journey to recovery was painstakingly slow. When she first arrived at our shelter, she was completely shut down. Her assessment notes read: “Fearful, avoidant in kennel - hid in the corner. Tense, wide eyes… too frightened to move.”

She was so paralysed by fear she couldn’t even walk out of her kennel. Our team had to gently carry her outside. When it was time to go back, the notes say she “panicked and shut down… ended up having to carry Nutloaf back to kennel.” 

She had never had a toy. She’d never had a warm bed. She’d never been walked on a leash. She was scared of people – because she’d never been socialised. 

All the simple things that bring a dog joy, Nutloaf simply didn’t understand. She had been so painfully neglected, she didn’t even know how to be a dog.

We gave her a soft towel to lie on. She tried to eat it. It was so foreign to her, to have something that brought comfort, her only instinct was to chew it. This is a common but always devastating reaction in dogs who have known nothing but deprivation.

This is where your kindness can change everything. Please be a Guardian Angel and donate today to give a dog the care, gifts and treats that make Christmas day so special. Even if they don’t know that it’s Christmas – your gift can help them feel it.

By becoming a Guardian Angel, you can help to provide the gentle hand of a vet treating painful injuries and skin infections.

You can be behind the steady hand of a team member placing a comfortable blanket in a kennel, replacing a lifetime on hard concrete.

And your kindness can give the patient hand of staff like Meg, teaching a terrified dog for the very first time, that people can be a source of love, not fear.

Meg and her team spent countless hours with dogs like Nutloaf. She says the progress was measured in millimetres.

“The presence of a human was quite averse,” Meg explained. The dogs were so worried about people, they wouldn’t even eat with them around. 

“So, we would just place food in and then leave. Just to get them used to the idea that every time you see a human, this good thing happens.”

It took weeks. Weeks of gentle encouragement. Weeks of proving that we could be trusted. 

This is the dedicated care that is only possible thanks to the generosity of people like you. 

Will you please be a Guardian Angel this Christmas?

• Your kindness can provide the first taste of comfort for an animal with a soft bed, a full bowl, and special Christmas treats.
• Your gift can give safety, with comfortable shelter and gentle care for a frightened animal over Christmas.
• Your generosity can provide patient and loving behavioural care for an animal learning to trust again.

After months of intensive care in the shelter, Nutloaf was ready for her next step – a foster home.

This is another critical part of an animal’s recovery that you can make possible. In a quiet home, away from the bustle of the shelter, Nutloaf’s true personality finally began to shine.

Her foster carer’s notes paint a picture of a completely different dog.

“She’s a gentle dog with a big personality,” they wrote. “She loves her morning walk and playing in the sprinkler.”

Playing in a sprinkler! The dog who once hid in the corner of her kennel, too scared to move, was now joyfully playing in the water. 

The dog who flinched at every touch now actively seeks out love and fun.

This is the incredible transformation that happens when a dog meets kindness – when they get the help of someone like you. 

And the best news of all? Nutloaf never had to leave. Her foster carers fell so deeply in love with her that they adopted her. 

She spent this past winter curled up on a soft rug, in a warm home, with a family who adores her.

This is the second chance every animal deserves. And this Christmas, you can give a dog their first steps to this happily ever after. 

The holiday season is a busy time. Our kennels will be full of animals who have nowhere else to go.

Animals who, like Nutloaf, have learned that a human hand means pain.

Today, you can be the person who proves them wrong. Please give your gift now to give an animal in the RSPCA WA shelter their first great Christmas – their first of many. 

You can be the kind hand that offers treats instead of fear. The hand that offers a gentle pat instead of pain. The hand that leads them out of a cage and into a life of love.

Please, be a Guardian Angel for a desperate animal this Christmas. Extend your hand of kindness. 

Your gift will give an animal the comfort, and expert care they need to feel the magic of Christmas. You will show them they are safe, and that they are finally, truly loved.

Thank you for your incredible compassion.