My name is: Dale
I came from: Cyprus
Now I live in: Surrey
My favourite things are: Food (literally ANYTHING!), ball, and using my nose to find toys and/or food!

Dale’s story

My partner, Luke, and I, adopted Dale at eleven months old through Underdog International in Dec 2021 shortly after buying our first home together. We had been signed up to Underdog International since early 2021, when we were still living in rented accommodation, but it wasn't until Dale’s face was the cover photo of one of @evewoof's Instagram reels in Nov 2021 that I knew we had to apply for him!

Both Eve and Holly were so helpful and supportive in the process and made sure that we were the right people for Dale. He would be our first dog together and we wanted to make sure we were the right fit for him with our lifestyle. Turns out this pairing couldn't have been any better!!

Dale's back story was that he arrived at the shelter in Cyprus of his own accord and was generally quite friendly and confident around humans, so potentially he did have a family and was once loved by his previous owners. This in mind, we weren't expecting any major behavioural issues. His decompression was very quick - he took to us within 24 hours (which I know isn't always the case!) and made himself right at home straight away. We followed the advice of Holly and decided to crate train him, not allow him access to the entire house straight away and took him out to the garden on a lead initially so he could explore his new surroundings in stages to try not to overwhelm him.

Upon setting a routine with him, we found out VERY quickly he was super food motivated (he came to us slightly underweight) but even since getting up to a healthy weight, his food motivation has been retained. We used this to our advantage in training when working with Karen from Maher and Hound and just found he absolutely loved being trained - from silly tricks I would teach him myself (chin, roll over etc) to scentwork or pet gun dog training with Karen. Initially the only mild behavioural issue we saw was his fear of bikes, scooters and skateboards, which we worked with Karen on and she gave us a few strategies to help get us through those moments out on walks. Now we barely get a reaction from bikes on walks and if we do, we absolutely know how to bring him back under threshold, which is great.

18 months on, I think Dale is living his best life - daily walks, paddle boarding adventures, mental games/ training and so many belly rubs and cuddles on the sofa, and the occasional sleep over in our bed! I don't remember a time before him now - so much of our life revolves around him and making sure he is happy and I absolutely wouldn’t have it any other way! He is one of the most unbelievable dogs I've ever met (and I know I am biased as he is our baby now) but he’s super smart, so loving and just generally a joy to be around!

I will undoubtedly be back to adopt another dog through Underdog in the future (if i can convince my partner that Dale might need a brother or sister!) and would recommend adoption through Underdog to anyone!

- Jess