My name is: Gromit
I came from: Cyprus
Now I live in: Sussex
My favourite things are: Cuddles, cheese (obviously), lots of attention, long walks, even longer evenings on the sofa, and people complimenting my eyebrows

Gromit’s story

We’d wanted a dog for ages, and had always known we wanted to rescue, but living in a succession of rented flats in London we never felt like we could give the kind of dog we wanted (i.e. hyperactive!) the life we’d want to give them. When we finally moved out into a house with a garden, we immediately started our search for the right dog for us. We wanted a funny, cuddly little thing with a taste for adventure. And when we saw cheeky little Gromit (or Woody, as he was called back then), with his expressive little eyebrows, we knew we’d found the dog for us.

Gromit had been left in a plastic bag in a field in Cyprus as a puppy. We know. Who could do that!? His story broke our heart, and we were so honoured to be chosen as his new owners and couldn’t wait to give him a better life here in the UK. It was decided that Nina’s parents would “foster” Gromit for a few weeks while we worked to make our new house dog-friendly, so his flight was scheduled and we were given a date for his arrival. 

Gromit came over on a flight to Belgium, then a van which dropped him (along with some other little pups) at Cobham Services on the M25. We waited anxiously at the service station. Then, when we got the message, we rushed to the van and waited to meet him. When he was handed over, we noticed three things. One, he was pretty scared. Two, he was very small. And three, he was VERY stinky. Several hours with a puppy’s bladder in a van full of rescue dogs will do that…

It was late by the time we arrived at Nina’s parents, and when we got Gromit out of the car he was quite literally petrified – carsick and frozen in place, he didn’t know what to do in this strange place with all these strange people looming over him. None of us knew what to do to make him feel at home. Well, one of us did. At just the right moment, their 15-year-old border terrier creaked out of the kitchen to sniff a little hello. Gromit’s tail started wagging immediately. And it never stopped.

Gromit is not a typical rescue dog. As in, we’d expected a scared puppy who’d take a long time to come out of his shell, and what we got was the friendliest, silliest, most cuddly little creature from the very first night. From the moment he arrived at home he was always curious, always on you, always keen for a belly rub or a goof around, and never in the slightest bit traumatised by any poor treatment in his past. He’s almost too friendly – jumping up at every stranger he sees because he thinks they’re his new best friend. But then, that’s exactly how Underdog had described him on their site, so we’re endlessly thankful to them for getting him so spot-on in their description so that there weren’t any surprises when he did turn up.

That’s not to say that it was all plain sailing: after about a month of no sleep, and whining to be with us all night, every night, we stopped trying to crate train him and started pleading to a higher power to please, PLEASE make Gromit go to sleep. Eventually, he settled, and even though he went through an incredibly naughty (and VERY bitey) patch between seven and nine months, whenever he’s been mischievous it’s always been in a way that makes us (begrudgingly) laugh. He’s always been an absolute delight and we can’t imagine life without him.

We spend so much of our time outside with Gromit now, and looking at the joy he gets in little things – leaping through long grass, or splashing about in a lake, or chasing other dogs around the park – means we’re always smiling. If you’re thinking of adopting a dog, we couldn’t recommend it enough. Gromit isn’t just the sweetest boy and the goofiest best friend, he’s the best decision we ever made, and that’s all thanks to Underdog. We’ll be adopting again, and our experience has been so positive that we wouldn’t look elsewhere than Underdog.

- Bobby & Nina