My name is: Frankie
I came from: Cyprus
Now I live in: Brighton
My favourite things are: Running and sniffing in the woods, sticks, cheese, playing hide and seek, hanging out with my boys

Frankie’s story

We’d been wanting to get a rescue for a while but a lot of the local shelters wouldn’t allow you to rehome an older dog if you had young children, so we’d been keeping an eye out for the rare chance to adopt a rescue puppy.

Our search led us to Underdog and as we were looking through their list of dogs we immediately found a litter of four month old hound pups that had recently been born in a Cypriot shelter. We sent an enquiry, listing a few of our favourites, and Eve got back straight away suggesting that Frankie might be a good match for us. Not only that but she and her littermates were ready to come over to the UK within just a few weeks!

We were pretty much sure there and then, even though it all happened a lot quicker than we’d imagined, and once we’d had our application approved by Underdog we started prepping our house and garden for the new arrival. Eve and the team were amazing from start to finish, sending us detailed updates on travel and pick-up arrangements, sending pictures and giving us loads of advice.

We picked up Frankie late one evening at a service station with a load of other soon-to-be adoptive pet parents, and when they passed this tiny little pup over to my husband she rested her head on his shoulder and slept on him the whole way home.

Acclimatising Frankie to living in a house was a long process - everything was brand new and lots of it was quite scary for her (including her nemesis, Mirror Dog, who kept appearing unexpectedly in every reflective surface!). But she’s such a clever pup she picked things up really quickly, including ringing a little bell to tell us she needs to go outside. She’s definitely an anxious dog so we had to take some things quite slowly, but patience and understanding really does pay off.

At first, she was pretty terrified of everything outside and couldn’t even make it a hundred yards down the street or get in the car. She would freeze every time she saw another dog or pull like crazy on the lead to follow a scent, or find it impossible to settle herself down in the house. Now we go on 5K runs together in the woods, she has a tonne of doggy friends, and can even use ‘talking’ buttons to tell us when she wants to play, eat, or go for a walk. For a while we worried that we’d never be able to let her off lead except in a secure place but she’s really impressed us with her recall (rewarding EVERY single time she comes back helps a lot!) and she now loves having her freedom in safe, familiar places.

She’s nearly two now and sometimes we still can’t believe how far we’ve come. I’m sure we still have a long way to go, too. There are still lots of areas of training we’re working on, and there are still plenty of moments where we have to remember that she’s experiencing so much of the world for the first time and some things will always be scary for her. But she’s so worth it. She gives the best nuzzles and kisses whenever anyone comes home. She has an incredibly close relationship with our youngest son and will come running to lick his ears whenever he’s upset. She’s my faithful work-from-home companion and makes sure I get loads of walking breaks instead of hunching in front of my computer all day. We love our girl so much and genuinely couldn’t imagine life without her.

Our advice to any adopter is to take it as slow as possible, be patient, and try to listen/observe what your dog is trying to tell you. Don’t compare your pup to others — let them set the pace and give them the best second chance at life.

- Jo