My name is: Amber
I came from: Cyprus
Now I live in: Essex
My favourite things are: Cuddles, rabbits, and food

Amber’s story

We prepared for Amber as if we were waiting for a baby to be brought home from the hospital. We bought a brand-new bed, made a special area in the living room for her, carefully laid out shiny new dog bowls and planned her arrival into our home like a military operation. She arrived the next day and let us know pretty quickly how things were going to go down.

She preferred sleeping on the floor, the new bed was weed on, dog bowls knocked over and of course potty training was nil. Over the course of the next few days, it was in fact not just Amber that needed to adjust to her new life but us and our resident dog, Sir. We observed and adapted everything we could to ensure Amber felt safe and happy. She learned to sit, what her name was and 'go to your bed' by day two.

Although she arrived an adult, she was like a puppy learning everything and picked things up with uber speed. Sir was unsure for the first couple of weeks, and felt very nervous with such a dominant lady in the house. I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry like a baby worrying our resident dog wouldn't take to her and that he thought we'd brought a wild animal into our home. We had to make some changes (and sacrifices) and set clearer boundaries as Amber was very confident in pushing them. Sir wasn't allowed to sleep with mummy and daddy anymore and our attention was now shared. However, over the next few weeks an amazing bond grew between them. Amber in particular loves snuggling up to Sir, Sir isn't so impressed but he has a lot of patience with her.

Fast forward 18 months, and we couldn't imagine a life without Amber. She's flourished both physically and mentally, she's so bouncy, loyal and clever and we can really see the Malinois in her. She has learned the ropes from Sir and behaves impeccably at home as she's so eager to please. Her favourite things are jumping in long grass, zoomies with Sir, following us around the house and getting endless cuddles. She's certainly got some quirks, she's reactive with other dogs and has a tendency to warn them off with every inch of her being, she sounds like an out of tune husky when we get ready to walk her and she's SUPER alert (she flies across the house if she hears a dish being scraped), but we accept Amber entirely, even if that means we have to give her a few singing lessons.

Watching Amber enjoy life reminds us how important it was for us to adopt with Underdog International. The whole process was really everything we could have asked for and the team were so supportive, even when we had a couple of wobbles with Amber. With all the emotions we felt and challenges we've faced, we'd do it 100 times over, no hesitation.

- Ruby