Sunshine was a street dog in Cyprus who Laura found in the pound when she was helping out there on holiday. She had just been brought in by the dog catcher, and dogs in the pound can be euthanised after 30 days if there’s no space for them in the shelters. Sunshine was a skinny and scared little pup who looked at Laura and said with her soft  brown eyes and big tongued smile: “take me home with you”.

Laura fell in love with her and sponsored her to stay in shelter while she organised flights back to Cyprus. She came back for an extra month to get Sunshine vaccinated and acclimatised to living in a home, renting an apartment for them both near the shelter. Each day Laura walked to the shelter with Sunshine, where Laura helped out with the dogs with Sunshine played with the puppies, helping to socialise them. Sunshine slept outside the apartment for the first few nights then bit by bit got more confident and by the end of the stay was curled up in bed with Laura.

Sunshine was really nervous with people, especially men, at first so Laura would take her to sit in quiet cafes with her and ask strangers to give her treats. It worked and now Sunshine loves people, and people love her. After a month Laura put Sunshine on a cargo flight while she hopped on a passenger flight, and met her at the other end in London. Laura’s husband Adam had bought them a car for Sunshine (yellow of course) and picked them both up. He fell in love with Sunshine too, and the next year they had Sunshine’s human brother who thinks he is a dog (yes, he barks). They adore each other and Sunshine is living her best life as a therapy dog in London with her family and all her friends. Training Sunshine gave Laura a purpose she hadn’t had before and now she is qualifying to be a dog behaviourist, working in shelters in her spare time.