My name is: Ellie
I came from: Cyprus
Now I live in: West London
My favourite things are: Stealing socks and sunbathing

Ellie’s story

I was initially only planning to foster a dog after the loss of our family pet a month prior. I signed up to a foster list in December of 2021, and a few weeks later, I received an email about dogs on a flight to the UK in January who were urgently in need of fostering whilst they find their forever home. Underdog already had my application and after hearing I was keen to take on a foster, Eve recommended 4-month-old hound mix Ellie - an outgoing and goofy little lady who had been found roaming the mountains of Cyprus with her more reserved sister Erin (now Daffy). Eve and Leanne expedited the home check process and everything went really smoothly from there.

When we picked up Ellie, she was terrified after a long journey, but immediately gave me all the full body wiggles and face licks once I offered her some chicken on the ride home. Over a year later, and that hasn’t really changed!

I made the decision to adopt Ellie after she wasn’t getting much interest from appropriate adopters, and, after six months, I couldn’t bear to part with her (I would literally start to cry whenever I thought about letting her go). Ellie had come to me as a puppy and was now pushing a year old, so we had well and truly bonded, not to mention that we’d come so far with her training and I could see she would make such an amazing pet and companion.

Truthfully, it was the best thing to ever happen to me despite the challenges of taking on a puppy - now almost two, Ellie is an absolute firecracker of a pup; she’s bright, confident, and eager to learn, living up to every suspicion we had about her potential. She’s friendly and perceptive with dogs and humans, but equally knows when something isn’t right and is fiercely protective when things go wrong. We do everything together and her confidence has only grown as she’s got older. She’s also seen me through one of the toughest years of my life, and I wouldn’t be here without her.

Bringing a dog, and certainly a puppy, is a challenge unlike any other, and my only regret is not being able to do more research before she joined me. Luckily, I’ve been able to learn along the way, but the saying is true; you can never be too prepared!

Potentially my favourite part of Ellie’s journey is that both her and her sister Daffy’s journey to the UK ended in London, so they still get to see each other and play in the park!

- Natalie