Testimonials
"Give a Dog a Home is one of the best"
Testimonials written in support of Give a Dog a Home for an award nomination:
Born in 2017 in Romania, Murphy was destined for a life of luxury!
Often stopped in the street by admirers of his handsome looks and lovely temperament, Murphy is definitely living his best life and his owner says she is so grateful... adopting Murphy has been life changing!
Often stopped in the street by admirers of his handsome looks and lovely temperament, Murphy is definitely living his best life and his owner says she is so grateful... adopting Murphy has been life changing!
Tiggy and Harris... a perfect pair!
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We adopted Tiggy (aged 7 years) and her son Harris (aged 4 years) just nine weeks ago in June 2021. They have proved themselves to be the most adorable little dogs imaginable. We cannot believe our good fortune to have been given the opportunity to provide this gorgeous pair with their forever home. They really are most lovely dogs and have been so very easy to settle.
We replicated the sleeping arrangements they had with their lovely foster carers Kay and Doug in Hampshire before we adopted them, namely a medium sized crate so they can comfortably sleep together whilst having room for a water bowl. From the very first night we’ve had them, we do not hear a peep out of them all night. They wait patiently to be let out in the garden first thing in the morning and then enthusiastically await their breakfast. After breakfast they love nothing more than to launch into a fun play session with one another, chasing each other around the house and out into the garden, playfully pulling at each other’s ears and legs! They are simply the best of friends and we are sure that their ability to settle into their new home with us so very quickly (we’re convinced it only took 24 hours!) was down to the lovely month or so they spent in foster care with Kay and Doug, and the fact that they have been kept together throughout the rehoming process.
They quickly learned the ‘sit’ command and we then started to work on recall. We took them to local secure dog training areas to develop and practise their recall skills. They were so quick to learn and within six weeks of us having them they were both walking off the lead on their daily country park walks. In our many years’ experience of dog ownership, we have never previously had two such affectionate and good natured dogs. They are brilliant with other dogs, good with people including children, and travel really well in the car. We enjoy lots of cuddles with them relaxing on the sofa in the evening. Our thanks goes to everyone involved in Give a Dog a Home and the fantastic work they do, to their fabulous foster carers (especially Kay and Doug in the case of Tiggy and Harris) and to Lynne Spencer for her advice, guidance and continued support. Our lives have been hugely enriched by adopting these two gorgeous little Greek dogs. Thank you - we are so grateful to Give a Dog a Home.
Deryck and Gill Bottomley
We replicated the sleeping arrangements they had with their lovely foster carers Kay and Doug in Hampshire before we adopted them, namely a medium sized crate so they can comfortably sleep together whilst having room for a water bowl. From the very first night we’ve had them, we do not hear a peep out of them all night. They wait patiently to be let out in the garden first thing in the morning and then enthusiastically await their breakfast. After breakfast they love nothing more than to launch into a fun play session with one another, chasing each other around the house and out into the garden, playfully pulling at each other’s ears and legs! They are simply the best of friends and we are sure that their ability to settle into their new home with us so very quickly (we’re convinced it only took 24 hours!) was down to the lovely month or so they spent in foster care with Kay and Doug, and the fact that they have been kept together throughout the rehoming process.
They quickly learned the ‘sit’ command and we then started to work on recall. We took them to local secure dog training areas to develop and practise their recall skills. They were so quick to learn and within six weeks of us having them they were both walking off the lead on their daily country park walks. In our many years’ experience of dog ownership, we have never previously had two such affectionate and good natured dogs. They are brilliant with other dogs, good with people including children, and travel really well in the car. We enjoy lots of cuddles with them relaxing on the sofa in the evening. Our thanks goes to everyone involved in Give a Dog a Home and the fantastic work they do, to their fabulous foster carers (especially Kay and Doug in the case of Tiggy and Harris) and to Lynne Spencer for her advice, guidance and continued support. Our lives have been hugely enriched by adopting these two gorgeous little Greek dogs. Thank you - we are so grateful to Give a Dog a Home.
Deryck and Gill Bottomley
Where once was Archie, there is now Archimedes - Arki for short!
So, what can I tell you about Arki. He is an adorable, delightful little chap who has brought sunshine and smiles into our lives-mostly!!
From the day Lynn brought him down he settled. It was like he walked in and thought, it's ok here, I'll stay. He was no trouble. Just seemed to love it here. He was not upset by domestic appliances which leads me to think he has probably lived in a home before.
He is quick to learn and remember and settled into our routine straight away. He loves walks, although doesn't like the shower proof fleece lined coat I got him for our winter weather which must be so different from what he is used to, but he tolerates it. He loves his food, his squeaky toys and going in the car. He loves people and is good with children. He loves it when we visit our mobile home at weekends in the summer, -different walks to do and different people to be with.
My 13 year old lurcher who was grieving so badly for the doggy pal we lost in July 2016 and hardly eating, is now bouncing around and eating more than I have ever seen her eat, and lets him snuggle up with her now.
On the downside he loves chasing things and disappears into hedges after birds, squirrels, anything that moves really. He's already lost one harness, presumably getting caught up and wriggling free leaving it behind! I am selective now where I let him off, usually away from hedges. He mostly loves other dogs but he doesn't like folk going too close at speed near him on foot or cycle - and yesterday I got home to find he had got a box with a Christmas present in it which was wrapped in shredded paper and bubble wrap down from the table somehow and ripped and spread it everywhere! The week before it was instant porridge sachets from a shelf in the kitchen spread all over the dining room rug! That will teach me to go out without him!!
So, to sum up, this adoption has been a great success. Can't imagine life without him. I am very grateful to Give A Dog A Home for the time and trouble they took with my adoption application, especially to Lynn who was so patient, kind and understanding.
Love from Jill
From the day Lynn brought him down he settled. It was like he walked in and thought, it's ok here, I'll stay. He was no trouble. Just seemed to love it here. He was not upset by domestic appliances which leads me to think he has probably lived in a home before.
He is quick to learn and remember and settled into our routine straight away. He loves walks, although doesn't like the shower proof fleece lined coat I got him for our winter weather which must be so different from what he is used to, but he tolerates it. He loves his food, his squeaky toys and going in the car. He loves people and is good with children. He loves it when we visit our mobile home at weekends in the summer, -different walks to do and different people to be with.
My 13 year old lurcher who was grieving so badly for the doggy pal we lost in July 2016 and hardly eating, is now bouncing around and eating more than I have ever seen her eat, and lets him snuggle up with her now.
On the downside he loves chasing things and disappears into hedges after birds, squirrels, anything that moves really. He's already lost one harness, presumably getting caught up and wriggling free leaving it behind! I am selective now where I let him off, usually away from hedges. He mostly loves other dogs but he doesn't like folk going too close at speed near him on foot or cycle - and yesterday I got home to find he had got a box with a Christmas present in it which was wrapped in shredded paper and bubble wrap down from the table somehow and ripped and spread it everywhere! The week before it was instant porridge sachets from a shelf in the kitchen spread all over the dining room rug! That will teach me to go out without him!!
So, to sum up, this adoption has been a great success. Can't imagine life without him. I am very grateful to Give A Dog A Home for the time and trouble they took with my adoption application, especially to Lynn who was so patient, kind and understanding.
Love from Jill
Bonnie's Babies: The Joy of the Reunion
Bonnie and her son, Mr B, reunited with another of the litter, Baxter
"My only wish for the pups was for them to live happily and enjoy life and I have a lot to thank to the Give a Dog a Home charity for finding them the perfect homes."
"I left plenty of puppy photos for their new families as that’s one of the things I would have loved to have had for Bonnie, but I never expected to hear back from, let alone be able to see, any of them again."
"That is one thing I love about this charity, everyone stays in touch with one another. Baxter has a really amazing family and it’s really lovely to see he’s become a special part of his family just like Bonnie is to me"
"I feel so incredibly lucky so many of the pups families stay in touch and send the occasional photo of how they're doing, it always makes my day when I hear about how one of the pups is getting on!"
"It’s also so sweet to hear the pups meet up and go out on the sponsored walks together alongside the other Give a Dog a Home rescues"
- Netty & Zoe (Bonnie's Babies' rescuers)
"I left plenty of puppy photos for their new families as that’s one of the things I would have loved to have had for Bonnie, but I never expected to hear back from, let alone be able to see, any of them again."
"That is one thing I love about this charity, everyone stays in touch with one another. Baxter has a really amazing family and it’s really lovely to see he’s become a special part of his family just like Bonnie is to me"
"I feel so incredibly lucky so many of the pups families stay in touch and send the occasional photo of how they're doing, it always makes my day when I hear about how one of the pups is getting on!"
"It’s also so sweet to hear the pups meet up and go out on the sponsored walks together alongside the other Give a Dog a Home rescues"
- Netty & Zoe (Bonnie's Babies' rescuers)
Baxter also meets another littermate (Scamp) regularly at reunion walks
Izzy (AKA Izzy-Whizzy!)
A sweet success story from Kristy-Lee and family, who adopted Izzy in 2017:
"We made the decision late in the summer of 2017 that we would get another dog to join our home along with our beloved Tilly who we adopted some four years before. We've always had two dogs and the timing seemed just right, so after much research we found GaDaH - for us having adopted a dog already from Greece it was a no-brainer to adopt another pup from a country that is over-run with strays and loving humans desperately trying to help as many furbabies as possible. We kept an eye on the website and it wasn't long before we noticed our Izzy (previously known as Isla) from Romania. She had already stolen our heart and we hadn't even met her! We went through a nice straight-forward pre-adoption process with Lynne - after a home visit and a rather wonderful chat we were collecting our new furbaby in a matter of weeks!
Now the excitement really began! Collection of Izzy was easy, made all the easier by being there with the every supportive Jackie (GaDaH team member), the drive home was a breeze with Jackie! She met our Tilly (our Greek adopted girl), the meeting was deliberately short and sweet, just enough for a quick greeting before settling down to sleep for the night.
The fun began the very next day..... the first few weeks and months were a wonderful experience, my daughter, my mum and I have had great fun teaching Izzy basic commands, recall, housetraining and have now moved firmly onto more complex training like search and find (humans, objects, treats etc.). It hasn't all been plain sailing, Izz went through a couple of "disobedient" phases - the first was a refusal to actually walk went we took her out for walks! But with patience we overcame that one! It also took Tilly a little while to get used to the interloper that had joined us - so lots of reassurance was needed for her and now we have two dogs that completely love each other are are firm friends! Izzy has absolutely no vices whatsoever, she's amazing! She is now estimated to be over a year old and is such a fun-loving and balanced girl.
Izzy is affectionately known as "Izzy-Whizzy" in our house - she loves running, jumping, tumbling about the garden and on walks - she is a complete delight - her little tail never stops wagging (no exaggeration there!) and I'm pretty sure she has a permanent smile on her face! She has filled our lives with such joy! I have no hesitation in recommending adopting a dog from a "foreign" country/ Dogs are dogs - it doesn't matter what language we speak - however I will always think that dogs that come to the U.K from abroad are extra special. "
"We made the decision late in the summer of 2017 that we would get another dog to join our home along with our beloved Tilly who we adopted some four years before. We've always had two dogs and the timing seemed just right, so after much research we found GaDaH - for us having adopted a dog already from Greece it was a no-brainer to adopt another pup from a country that is over-run with strays and loving humans desperately trying to help as many furbabies as possible. We kept an eye on the website and it wasn't long before we noticed our Izzy (previously known as Isla) from Romania. She had already stolen our heart and we hadn't even met her! We went through a nice straight-forward pre-adoption process with Lynne - after a home visit and a rather wonderful chat we were collecting our new furbaby in a matter of weeks!
Now the excitement really began! Collection of Izzy was easy, made all the easier by being there with the every supportive Jackie (GaDaH team member), the drive home was a breeze with Jackie! She met our Tilly (our Greek adopted girl), the meeting was deliberately short and sweet, just enough for a quick greeting before settling down to sleep for the night.
The fun began the very next day..... the first few weeks and months were a wonderful experience, my daughter, my mum and I have had great fun teaching Izzy basic commands, recall, housetraining and have now moved firmly onto more complex training like search and find (humans, objects, treats etc.). It hasn't all been plain sailing, Izz went through a couple of "disobedient" phases - the first was a refusal to actually walk went we took her out for walks! But with patience we overcame that one! It also took Tilly a little while to get used to the interloper that had joined us - so lots of reassurance was needed for her and now we have two dogs that completely love each other are are firm friends! Izzy has absolutely no vices whatsoever, she's amazing! She is now estimated to be over a year old and is such a fun-loving and balanced girl.
Izzy is affectionately known as "Izzy-Whizzy" in our house - she loves running, jumping, tumbling about the garden and on walks - she is a complete delight - her little tail never stops wagging (no exaggeration there!) and I'm pretty sure she has a permanent smile on her face! She has filled our lives with such joy! I have no hesitation in recommending adopting a dog from a "foreign" country/ Dogs are dogs - it doesn't matter what language we speak - however I will always think that dogs that come to the U.K from abroad are extra special. "
Evie
Travel authors Robin Mead and his partner Val Field adopted a dog through Give a Dog a Home a year ago. Here, Robin tells their story:
How can we ever repay Give a Dog a Home? The organisation has been instrumental in giving us more happiness than we could ever imagine. And the source of that happiness is: Evie.
She’s a dog, of course. To be precise, she is a German Shepherd/collie cross who, until early last year, was a stray running wild on the streets of Livadia, in central Greece. They don’t like stray dogs in Greece. They poison them, or hit them on the head with a hammer to kill them. Somehow, Evie escaped this grisly fate and fell into the hands of a Greek rescue organisation called Elpida. Then Give a Dog a Home brought her here. In fact, they brought her to the house next door to ours, to be fostered.
And we fell in love over the garden fence last summer. Simple as that!
Val and I had just spent 12 years working as lecturers on cruise ships, and had seen most of the world en route. But you’d be surprised how often we sat on some tropical beach and yearned for the wonderful German Shepherds I had once owned, and even bred.
All good things come to an end (even if it does mean facing British winters), and we became landlubbers again 18 months ago. At home, we pored over the adverts for German Shepherd pups – but none of them seemed quite right.
And then Evie appeared next door. She might not be a pure-bred German Shepherd, but she looks awfully like one – and we exchanged daily greetings over the garden fence. Within three months she had moved to our side of the fence, as we completed the adoption process. And within about three minutes, she was part of the family.
It is only fair to say that we very nearly gave up during the adoption process; we found the home check intrusive. But, in retrospect, we recognise how vital it was. Evie has settled down completely now, but she came with her own itinerary regarding where to go and when, and high fences were essential. (Well, not all that essential, because Evie can easily clear 6ft without taking a run-up if she feels like it, but at least fencing is a deterrent; a boundary marker).
We think reward-based dog training classes are extremely important, but ours seemed to multiply apace. We took Evie on a self-catering holiday to Cornwall, where a local trainer offered one-to-one hour-long training classes, and that started everything off. Evie just loved it, and was extremely quick to learn, so as soon as we got home we enrolled her in a Kennel Club Bronze medal class. She completed that successfully before Christmas, and got her Silver in the spring. She’ll do Gold this autumn, and the delay is because she is so busy! What with weekly activity classes (jumping over hurdles etc), socialisation classes (she’s palled up with an energetic Springer spaniel and a tiny Chihuahua – as strange a trio as you’ll ever meet!), plenty of woodland walks, and trips to her beloved beach, she hardly has a moment to call her own.
She has made fantastic progress in obedience terms, and we reckoned she had finally adopted us when she began vigorously defending the house. But she is a gentle soul at heart: wonderful with the grandchildren, and even accepting of the two rescue kittens that we added to the household in the spring.
There was a bit of jealousy with the kittens at first, and Evie decided that she was going to assert her status by moving into our bedroom at night instead of using her bed in the dining room. But now, confidence restored, she has moved back to her own bed. The cats rule the roost of course, but they have learned one golden rule: don’t go near Evie if she is chewing on a bone.
So thank you, Give a Dog a Home, and thank you Evie, for bringing so much happiness into our lives. And if you are thinking of adopting a dog yourselves – do it! It will change your life for ever, but it will also change it for the better.
She’s a dog, of course. To be precise, she is a German Shepherd/collie cross who, until early last year, was a stray running wild on the streets of Livadia, in central Greece. They don’t like stray dogs in Greece. They poison them, or hit them on the head with a hammer to kill them. Somehow, Evie escaped this grisly fate and fell into the hands of a Greek rescue organisation called Elpida. Then Give a Dog a Home brought her here. In fact, they brought her to the house next door to ours, to be fostered.
And we fell in love over the garden fence last summer. Simple as that!
Val and I had just spent 12 years working as lecturers on cruise ships, and had seen most of the world en route. But you’d be surprised how often we sat on some tropical beach and yearned for the wonderful German Shepherds I had once owned, and even bred.
All good things come to an end (even if it does mean facing British winters), and we became landlubbers again 18 months ago. At home, we pored over the adverts for German Shepherd pups – but none of them seemed quite right.
And then Evie appeared next door. She might not be a pure-bred German Shepherd, but she looks awfully like one – and we exchanged daily greetings over the garden fence. Within three months she had moved to our side of the fence, as we completed the adoption process. And within about three minutes, she was part of the family.
It is only fair to say that we very nearly gave up during the adoption process; we found the home check intrusive. But, in retrospect, we recognise how vital it was. Evie has settled down completely now, but she came with her own itinerary regarding where to go and when, and high fences were essential. (Well, not all that essential, because Evie can easily clear 6ft without taking a run-up if she feels like it, but at least fencing is a deterrent; a boundary marker).
We think reward-based dog training classes are extremely important, but ours seemed to multiply apace. We took Evie on a self-catering holiday to Cornwall, where a local trainer offered one-to-one hour-long training classes, and that started everything off. Evie just loved it, and was extremely quick to learn, so as soon as we got home we enrolled her in a Kennel Club Bronze medal class. She completed that successfully before Christmas, and got her Silver in the spring. She’ll do Gold this autumn, and the delay is because she is so busy! What with weekly activity classes (jumping over hurdles etc), socialisation classes (she’s palled up with an energetic Springer spaniel and a tiny Chihuahua – as strange a trio as you’ll ever meet!), plenty of woodland walks, and trips to her beloved beach, she hardly has a moment to call her own.
She has made fantastic progress in obedience terms, and we reckoned she had finally adopted us when she began vigorously defending the house. But she is a gentle soul at heart: wonderful with the grandchildren, and even accepting of the two rescue kittens that we added to the household in the spring.
There was a bit of jealousy with the kittens at first, and Evie decided that she was going to assert her status by moving into our bedroom at night instead of using her bed in the dining room. But now, confidence restored, she has moved back to her own bed. The cats rule the roost of course, but they have learned one golden rule: don’t go near Evie if she is chewing on a bone.
So thank you, Give a Dog a Home, and thank you Evie, for bringing so much happiness into our lives. And if you are thinking of adopting a dog yourselves – do it! It will change your life for ever, but it will also change it for the better.