My name is: Daisy
I came from: China
Now I live in: Kent
My favourite things are: Walkies by the beach or through the woods; treats; belly rubs; bones; tennis balls and frisbee; attention; rolling around in fox poo
Follow me on Instagram: @3leggeddaisydog

Daisy’s story

Rewind to summer 2020, we’d been working from home for some time during the pandemic and had just got confirmation from my partner’s workplace that his role was now hybrid working.

I had signed up to several rescue charities, particularly looking for rescue corgis. At the same time, I met up with a pal and fellow content creator, Erica, who told me about a charity she was adopting a dog from - Underdog International. After hearing about Underdog’s amazing work, I went online to their website to see the dogs that were available to adopt. To my delight, there were loads of corgis as part of their Chinese ‘Freedom Fifty’ rehoming campaign. Whilst there were lots of adorable corgis, I kept scrolling back to Daisy, a three-legged Shiba/Akita mix. There was just something about her and Lewis agreed she was special. She had been overlooked because of her three legs and was one of the only dogs that hadn’t been reserved.

Before we’d even got in touch with Underdog, Lewis and I started to discuss whether our living situation and lifestyle would be ideal for a three-legged dog. When discussing Daisy in those early days, we’d both been on the fence about several things, but I had a deep, gut feeling that she was meant to be our dog. As all people do, I thought my next best course of action would be to stalk her foster mum on Instagram to get a better idea of what Daisy would need from a forever home. I must add here that Lewis was all for this plan but did give me strict instructions to not message the foster mum. In true Becca fashion, I’d struck up an Instagram chat with her within five minutes and immediately started asking poor Charlotte 101 questions.

Seeing Daisy settle in with her foster family in Devon and seeing how adaptable and fearless she was confirmed my gut feeling. After several messages with her OG mum and foster, Charlotte, I got in touch with Eve and the team at Underdog to register my interest. We started by filling out a form online and then started to chat with the team. Whilst the Underdog team were making their decision, Charlotte kindly messaged us to see if we’d like to do a London meet up with Daisy. We hatched a plan and were incredibly excited at the prospect of meeting this formidable dog.

When we arrived in London, Lewis, and I (like the actual nerds we are) were constantly looking at different parts of the road to see where Daisy would appear from. And like in the movies, when we saw her, we stood up from our seats like we were about to meet our child for the first time. The minute I saw her I just knew she was meant to be ours. She was hopping along and wasn’t the slightest bit afraid of being in busy Chelsea. After walking with Daisy and meeting Charlotte, I was certain that I wanted to adopt her, and Charlotte agreed we’d be a great forever home.

Following the home check, the Underdog team decided we were a good fit and we arranged Daisy’s handover at a service station just outside of London. The day we got her I couldn’t contain my excitement and nerves. I knew I’d have to be strong for Daisy as she had formed a wonderful bond with Charlotte. After some whimpers from Daisy and some crying from me (I was worried Charlotte would be upset), we started the drive back to Kent.

She was very unsettled at first but within a couple days, she was starting to attempt to play and enjoyed having strokes from me. The sad part was that she was clearly still afraid of men from her pre-England life, and didn’t warm to Lewis at all, which was rather heart-breaking for him. We finished that first day with a big walk, and this is where Daisy came into her own. The next day we took Daisy for a longer walk to our local woods and this is when she really started to enjoy herself - jumping over logs and running up woodland banks.

Within a couple more weeks she warmed to Lewis, and he firmly became parent number two. She started to play and developed two different but lovely attachments with us. Lewis aka Dad, was the fun one, the king of treats and play king. Whereas I was the carer, cuddler and ultimate protector.

I look at the dog she is today and the dog she was then, and she has changed so much. She used to bark at men and other dogs, and now happily runs around the dog park chasing other pups and loves meeting new people. She can now play with a ball and a frisbee - something that she didn’t really do for six months until her trauma had melted away. It’s not always easy with a three-legged dog, but I don’t believe it’s any different to how it would be with any dog. You have good days and bad days. Being Daisy’s mum has been the most rewarding part of my life so far. I often say that I aspire to be Daisy when I grow up as I’m so in awe of her, despite me nearly being 30.

- Becca