After first learning about pets needing a new home, it made sense to adopt when I decided the time was right for me to get a dog. I found Lucy and Floyd on a rescue website about eight years ago and went to meet them at the home of a foster-carer.
Lucy and Floyd. Photo: Russ
Among a litter of four, Lucy and Floyd were a bonded pair with quite different but complementary personalities. They offer great companionship; always happy just to be hanging out together. They’re also a great reminder to be content in the moment, and can reduce stress even with just a few pats or a chat where I do the words and they do the tail wagging. If humans could be as simple, honest, loving and loyal as dogs we’d have a better world, and their presence in my life is a blessing every day.
Life now for Lucy and Floyd is good! They were very shy and untrusting of new people when I adopted them. Over the years they have improved and are comfortable in their environment and routine, but there’s still a residual anxiety about new people. They have their human and canine friends to socialise with and do a lot of sleeping when they’re not out for a walk or run around the park. Their welfare comes before my own, really.
Lucy and Floyd changed my life completely and for the better. Before having them, I was quite free to do whatever I wanted and I had a pretty comfortable life, but it meant less. I can’t go on holidays as easily now and they are a responsibility that needs to be factored into planning even the daily routine, but they give back so much more, and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Message to Rescue
Thank you to all the wonderful people who open their homes and hearts to look after those pets in need. They depend on their human parents to look after them after they’re first purchased from a shop, breeder or wherever. Some humans really are too selfish or hopeless to be able to handle the responsibility of pet ownership, and sometimes the owners’ circumstances just change. But thankfully, these volunteers are there to get these wonderful pets into their forever homes.
