My name is: Dr Indiana Bones (aka Indy)
I came from: Cyprus
Now I live in: Surrey
My favourite things are: Breakfast, dinner, treats, any food that drops to the floor while cooking, belly rubs, puddles and being involved in whatever everyone else is doing 
Follow me on Instagram: @adventures_of_dr_indy_bones

Indy’s story

We were lucky enough to be accepted to adopt Indy (was Robin) after having fallen in love with his photos on the Underdog website and having read that he pawed at the other dogs to get them to play with him. The process starts by filling in the online form, but actually it had begun a while before.

We chose to look at potential pups from Underdog because we’d previously adopted with Eve and couldn’t recommend a more intuitive, caring and professional ‘service’. Eve and her work came recommended through friends who had also adopted with her. One of the factors I found to be really important was that another person I knew wanted to adopt a specific breed of dog. However, when Eve and her team understood that person’s lifestyle, another pup was suggested instead – the perfect pup for that family.

The adoption process involved a home check and contact with your home-checker both before and after the adoption. Being the person that I am, I had thoroughly cleaned the house and prepped where I wanted Indy’s beds etc to go. I was nervous because this was a HUGE deal. If we didn’t pass the home check, we couldn’t have our little boy. And yes, there is a big element of the home check ensuring that your home, and you, are suitable for your pup. That’s really important. But another part to the home check was advice, which was really appreciated.

When it comes to the big day, trust me, the emotions are enormous. I’m not ashamed to say that I was crying, with joy. Indy was a superstar, but a nervous one. I tried to give him a wee before we started our hour long journey home, but he wasn’t really interested. Having previously adopted Chewy (@chewy.barker on Instagram) who had a very sensitive tummy, I was well versed in suitable treats and had a packet of Thrive liver treats (these are only for special occasions – pick up was definitely one). These basically meant we were immediate best-friends. Indy jumped into the car, I strapped him into his seatbelt and he sat down and napped. Somewhere along the route home he picked the tennis ball out of the centre consolel.

The first few days were a bit of a blur. When he got home he wasn’t house trained and being the end of November it wasn’t ideal leave-the-door open weather. We soon learned that when he went to the back door that meant he wanted to go out. For the first few weeks we really struggled at bed time. We had a crate, but he wouldn’t go into it (we later learnt that it was too small).

We had prepped the kitchen as a place for Indy to sleep at night, thinking that if he had an accident it would be easy to clean (never mind that we’d just redone it – luckily he didn’t chew the cabinets!) He had massive separation anxiety and howl-cried. So we had to take it in turns to sleep on the other side of the baby gate which closed the kitchen off. Each night we moved our bed and his bed a bit further away. He would begin the night crying until I stuck my arm through the gate so we could touch. Even when we’d moved his bed back, away from the gate. Eventually he would get up, in the middle of the night, and go back to his bed. After what felt like forever (I think it was about 2 weeks) my husband and I could both sleep upstairs. Now when he cried (for an extended time) I would come most of the way down the stairs, so he could see me and sit there until he settled. This was an exhausting time. We didn’t only feel desperately sad that he was sad and a bit mean for not just immediately giving him cuddles, but utterly tired for not getting enough sleep.

But this passed. Eventually he was relaxed enough that he’d go to bed happily. Then the Labrador (dustbin of the dog world) in him sniffed-out the stove, and he jumped up to have an investigation… accidentally switching on the gas. He did this during the day and we were there so were able to switch it off immediately. But we realised that we couldn’t have him in the kitchen on his own anymore. He had also not had any accidents in the kitchen – so we thought we were onto a winner and could move him out of the kitchen and give him pretty much the whole rest of the downstairs to sleep in at night.

Big mistake, huge! With such a large space as his ‘bedroom’ he decided to use the sofas in the living room as his bed and the dining room as his WC! I spent hours cleaning the carpets. We even set up an indoor camera to see what was going on. One time we’d just let him outside before going to bed. When we’d gone upstairs he promptly relieved himself in the dining room. The next day we got a bigger crate.

He was delighted with it, ‘helping’ with the construction. We gave him treats every time he went inside and left toys and an old t-shirt of mine to make it smell ‘good’. When we leave him at home during the day he doesn’t go into his crate. He was quite determined about this. But he also doesn’t have accidents, so we’re okay with this compromise. These days, at night we say ‘bed time’ and point to his crate. He happily plods over and waits to be tucked in. He’s happy and so are we.

Our challenges today are mostly sock-based… we have many more socks with more than the standard one hole in them. He’s also partial to a slipper. And is so friendly – he seriously LOVES dogs – that he bounds over to other fur-friends and sometimes forgets his name when we call him back. But he’s also only 11.5 months old. And he’s only been with us for 3.5 months.

It’s been 3.5 months of challenges, but also incredibly rewards. Our hearts were broken when our previous dog Chewy passed away. Indy didn’t replace Chewy, he’s made his very own space in our hearts. He absolutely adores cuddles – seriously I can’t state this enough. I often wonder how he’s managing to breathe he snuggles in so hard. It’s fantastic and exactly what we want at the end of the day (or any time really).

He now needs about two hours of walks a day, so that means we’re getting plenty of walking exercise too. The lovely fresh mornings, the warm (and wet) afternoons or the cooling of the days at sunset. He’ll even bring us his lead if we’re taking too long!

He really is all about the fun, it’s amazing. Playing, being a part of everything. He’s keen to help garden – from raking to planting to digging (some more successful than others). Everything is exciting for him, be it that sometimes surprising tail that keeps chasing him, the sound of plastic indicating treats or just bounding up and pouncing on you for a cuddle.

Indy is a bright pup and it’s so very rewarding watching him learn and succeed at both his training and life in general. Knowing that he’s settled in, become comfortable – it’s not just our home, it’s very much his too. We love him so very much, he is 1/3 of our family of 3.

Thank you to Eve and the Underdog International team for all your amazing work.

- Lucinda