My Forever Home

I am so, so happy to say that Sophie is now called Minnie, aka Princess Minnie, because she has sure landed on her four paws this time!

In early September 2011, on the very day she was put on here as looking for a new home, Donna checked back as she had been doing every week, and instantly fell in love. A few meetings with Donna and her husband Kevin later, including getting the stamp of approval from Nanny Bella, and Minnie was no longer looking for her forever home – she had most certainly found it. Does this look like one happy girlie or what?!

I have left her original post below so people can see her story, and the sad life she had until she came into the care of My Forever Home. Isn’t she just the most photogenic darling? She certainly enjoys having her photo taken, I’ve never seen such a little poser. I absolutely couldn’t be happier for her, and in a hundred years I could not have found her a better home, with people to love her any more than Donna, Kevin and Bella do. In return, she brings the utmost joy to all their lives, every single day. Actually, she’s such a charmer, even their kitchen fitters fell in love, but by then she was most defintely off-limits! So thrilled for my darling little snuffle chops, and the fact that I still get to see her is just the icing on the cake

Minnie’s story

Here we have the stunning Sophie. Approx 2 – 3 years old, I originally thought she was like a gorgeous mini-staffy, as she’s only 14 inches to the shoulder, possibly crossed with something a bit smaller. According to some staffy fanatics we met at a show though, this is actually the right size for a female staffy, so she could even be pure-bred – not that it matters, she is most certainly one hundred percent gorgeous! Originally found as a stray in the Blackpool area, in January 2011, she had a growth coming off one of her teats, and when she was reclaimed her owner promised to get it removed.

However she was picked up straying again in June, and STILL had the growth – but by now it was much bigger Despite her owner being offered financial help to deal with the growth she was not reclaimed this time. This was a very good thing as far as I was concerned, and when we found out about her in early August we offered to take her in straight away, because the pound were talking about putting her to slep as no-one wanted her – impossible to believe but true!

Still in Blackpool, she had the growth removed and was speyed at the same time, so she should have been really under the weather – but no. Within 24 hours she was running around like a puppy, with her Auntie Jen who found her at the pound trying to keep her from busting her stitches open! Hence this pink outfit, to stop her nibbling them, as she could only keep her big plastic collar on for a few minutes before wiggling out of it.

Luckily her growth wasn’t anything nasty, just unneeded tissue, so once she had healed for a few days she came down to us, and we discovered her love of travelling in a vehicle – if this dog was human she’s be a trucker without a doubt.

She went into foster care with Chrissie and Craig whilst I was away for a few days (here she is with their daughter), and then came home with me – and met our 3 resident doggies Indy, Tom and Sasha. She has clearly never had any socialisation with other dogs, as she was not best impressed with Chrissie and Craig’s gorgeous little JR Deefer, she just didn’t know how to relate to them, and play, or anything. It’s really sad to see when that is the case, but is definitely something that can be worked on, with training and lots of meetings with confident dogs.

Within a couple of days at our house she was playing with our dogs, although she is typically boisterous so a bit much for our quiet boy Tom and tends to just squash Sasha! Indy was initially ok with her, but has now decided 3 dogs in one house is enough for him so has withdrawn his hospitality, which is a real shame. We’d probably say for an easy life Sophie should be re-homed without any other animals, as there’s no way to tell who will get on with her and who wouldn’t, and vice versa. She is fine with other dogs when she meets them out on a lead, as long as they’re not aggressive to her, when in all likelihood she would react – further training and socialising would be an excellent idea as with any dog.

She is just brilliant around the house, she’s never had a single accident indoors, and she’s clearly used to a crate as she loves taking herself off there for a nap when she gets tired. This pic is so typical of her, it was just before we were going to bed for the night and she’d decided she was a little chilly, so snuggled under her blanket all on her own – I swear we didn’t touch her before taking this picture! How cute does she look?!

She is such an excellent little girl, absolutely full of fun and character – some of the noises she comes out with when she’s playing with her toys have to be heard to be believed. She has a fantastic array of pig-like snuffles and snorts, and she does snore sometimes but we think that’s all part of her charm. She absolutely loves chewing up old footballs but she’s never touched a single thing she shouldn’t have around the house. We don’t know whether she’s ever lived with young children so just because of the way she barrels along when she’s playing, we’d say we wouldn’t want her to go into a family with children under 7 years old, and no cats either.

She just loves coming out in the van with me as I said, I have some brilliant pics of her in all positions including this one pretty much on top of the dashboard – so if there are any truckers out there she would just adore to be your co-pilot, and would give you years of love and affection if you can offer her that lovely forver home she has been missing so far.

She has been speyed as mentioned, and vaccinated, microchipped, wormed and flea-treated – not that she needed it, we just do that as a matter of course. We’ll also be here to help if ever you should need it in the future, as we offer lifetime back-up. A re-homing fee of £125 is requested, and a lifetime of love, cuddles and providing everything she could ever need are essential requirements. In return you will get the most loving, funny dog you could ever wish for; please contact us to discuss her further. Whoever we choose to be Sophie’s forever home will certainly be one very lucky family.

Update as of Tuesday 6th September 2011: this was Sophie at a fundraising dog show we went to on Sunday. Despite wearing her best ‘I need a new family’ outfit, no suitable home came forward so Sophie is still looking – please get in touch if you think you could be the family she is waiting for. Thank you.

Update Wednesday 14th September 2011: don’t look now, but a certain special little girl has found her forever home! Sophie has well and truly landed on her paws, and will be spending her final night as a foster with me on Friday. I am going to miss her soooo much, she’s such a funny little tinker (as I write this I can hear her snorting away as she’s chewing a bone, her Auntie Jen will remember those famous noises she comes out with – half doglet, half piglet this one is ) but I have been promised visitation rights and she’s only 15 minutes’ away from me which is just perfect.

Be happy little one!

Filed under: I've found My Forever Home! on December 10th, 2011