Our Border Collie had passed away which left our Blaize feeling lonely. We were looking to adopt or foster a dog to give him a companion. One of my collegues introduced me to Deanna and told me the work she was doing with SPDC and I contacted her soon after in which she explained the horrific conditions the dogs had been though.

She was very helpful throughout the process, she found out our details – we had a dog, no young children but 4 cats (included a disabled cat) and matched us with suitable dogs whom were cat friendly and dog friendly.

She showed us Arabica, along with some puppies and a few other dogs – as a family of 3, we couldn’t decide, my brother Jamie fell in love with Arabica – we asked Deanna whom the hardest dog would be to find a home and she told us it would be Arabica because she is black – apparently they are the least favourite colour. With this in mind our decision was made up, we were having her.

SPDC kept us informed throughout the process, kept us updated with videos and pictures of her, also videoed her cat test so we could see for ourselves, and made the transport easy for us, we arranged to pick her up from Bristol airport after our home check.

They day we got her, we couldn’t believe how small she was, but we were in love. She was part of the family the minute she walked through the door, Blaize fell for her and so did we all, her training is still coming along but she is very affectionate and she SMILES at us all (and when anyone sneezes).

Shortly after we got Arabica, and got involved with SPDC and the work they all do, we agreed to ‘short term foster’. Lacey was the pounds longest resident, no one wanted her and she had spent the majority of her life in a cage, this was no way for a dog to live. We agreed to Foster Lacey on a short term basis just 3 months after Arabica arriving.  The process was very much the same; we helped raise money to get her over, had pictures and videos of her and her cat test, and was kept informed throughout the whole process.

We collected her from a service station through the Woofers pet transportation and we collected this scared little dog whom refused to walk anywhere.  We got her into the car and drove her home – she too settled in very quickly, and within a week she had come such a long way, I felt like she started to trust us all, so I made the decision she was going to stay... We adopted her.

Both our SPDC girls and Blaize are in love, we are still working on Lacey’s training as she still has fears she is overcoming, but we will get there with her and making gradual progress throughout the days.

If you are thinking of getting a new member of your family, please adopt! It is the most rewarding thing you will ever do, and you are not only saving the dogs life you are adopting, you also save another dog that can now have a space in the pound, out of kill pounds and off the streets for a chance of a new home.

Amber, Sarah, Jamie & Steve x