My name is: Arthur (aka ArthurBear, aka King ArthurBear, aka King ArthurBear - First of My Name, King of Highbury and Clapham, Lord of the Low Down Doggos, Duke of the Dentally Challenged, Protector of My Biscuits)
I came from: China
Now I live in: North London
My favourite things are: Cuddles; attention; toys, toys, toys; walkies to survey my kingdom; reminding my human who’s boss; riding the bus; being a fierce protector of my human and my toys (typically manifested by derisively snorting at people passing by outside); monitoring my human’s videoconferences (i.e., sitting on the bed alongside the desk and staring into the camera)
Follow me on Instagram: @king_arthurbear

Arthur’s story

Flashback to the summer of 2020. My sweet Schwartzie, a rescue(ish) who lived to love and be loved, had recently passed away at home from heart failure (he had so much love to give that his heart just gave out one day). I’d had dogs for many years - Schwartzie and his best friend GinjaBean, who said her goodbyes in the summer of 2019 at the ripe age of 18 - and thought I’d give living without a canine companion a go.

Well, that lasted all of about five weeks before I began scouring the internet for a rescue to adopt. I’ve travelled a lot and been to places where, sadly, there were a lot of abandoned or badly treated dogs and I always knew I wanted to adopt a rescue from abroad. Being the height of the pandemic, when everyone seemed to be adopting dogs (and cats), I was not having any success with the applications I submitted to various rescue organisations, with those organisations typically responding along the lines of, “The dog you were interested in has been placed with another forever home. Keep at it, though - the right dog will find you!”. As lovely as those replies were - and I was happy to hear that a lovely soul had found a great home - I found myself getting discouraged and was near to giving up on finding a dog (or that the right dog would find me).

In early November 2020, I found Underdog International on Instagram, checked out the “Dogs Needing Homes” page on their website, and saw there was a little guy named Arthur who was being fostered in the UK and available for adoption. The soulful look in his eyes, the variety of hilarious hairdos he sported in the photos, his fabulous snaggle tooth…He had me at “hello” and I applied to adopt Arthur.

Eve got in touch with me and walked me through the adoption process, gave me some background about Arthur - he was rescued for a dog meat truck in China - and everything was smooth sailing from there. Eve, Sam (from Eve’s team) and Arthur’s fosterers, Lucie and Ian, were all so incredibly kind and generous with their time and patience with all my questions about Arthur. GinjaBean and Schwartzie were both very shy and frightened of strangers and new experiences, so I had some experience dealing with nervous dogs and was prepared to spend as much time as needed to make Arthur feel comfortable and confident.

That experience was not needed, though. When Arthur arrived at mine with Lucie and Ian (just two weeks after I’d submitted me application to adopt him) he bounced around my flat as though he’d always lived there, excitedly accepted a treat when I offered him one, and charged out the dog flap to explore the garden and claim that as his domain. NO confidence issues with this guy.

Since the day he arrived at his castle, it has been an absolute joy living with King ArthurBear. He LIVES for a cuddle and will forego treats and food to just snuggle and get belly rubs. There haven’t been any real challenges with Arthur; he was fully trained by the time he came to me, and the one thing that was his “development area” - that he can be reactive with other dogs - seems to be fine now (well, when he’s on walkies with his dogwalker. He can still be a bit reactive when he walks me, but I attribute this to him protecting his human.).

He is the Host with the Most and loves greeting visitors to the flat and bouncing between them to make sure they each get as much quality time as possible with him. Arthur watches telly and gets fully engaged in any programmes that feature dogs and he loves to give a warning bark to anyone who dares to walk past the flat (he knows they’re terrified of him and that his fierceness works, since they walk away). Arthur has loads of loving aunties and uncles and they, and I, love to spoil him with toys and treats. The only thing I worry about with Arthur is keeping him intellectually stimulated. He’s whip smart and, within a few minutes, literally, of getting a new doggie puzzle, he figures it out. I am looking forward to him learning to code one day soon.

Arthur and I rescued each other. I didn’t think there would be a dog who could fill the giant Schwartz and Ginja-shaped hole in my life, but Arthur did just that. The right dog really did find me.

In ArthurBear’s own words:
DAWG??? Wot dis??? Immma bearrrrrrrrrrr

- Liz