My name is: Lady
I came from: Cyprus
Now I live in: High Wycombe
My favourite things are: Hiking, splashing in rivers, chasing squirrels and pizza crusts

Lady’s story

After both of my mum’s successful adoptions of Underdog’s Aliyah and Trina, when considering expanding my own family by four paws, I already hoped I’d be accepted for an Underdog myself! I was scrolling through the site out of curiosity, and as many eventual Underdog adopters will probably relate - I saw my girl’s photo, read her story and immediately knew she was meant for me!

Lady had clearly had a rough start to life, but luckily some time in foster in Cyprus before she came to live with me in the UK helped her transition to a home environment quickly. She is extremely house proud, and has never had an accident in the house or chewed/destroyed anything. I know am extremely lucky, as this is rare behaviour for any dog, let alone a rescue who hadn’t had a home before!

However her transition to life here wasn’t 100% plain sailing, she had a lot of trauma we needed to work through together, and she presented with some food/resource aggression when around our cat, Zazu. There was a point where I had broken down, wondering if I’d made a mistake and if she needed more than me. Luckily my partner was on hand for some tough love and told me to get it together for Lady, that she wasn’t going anywhere and that I could turn it around. The support of our home checker Lauren was also great, she let me rant when it was all feeling a bit much, and assured me that she had her own struggles when adopting her Underdogs - and overcame them all with time.

Fast forward nine months, and she is physically and behaviourally unrecognisable from the street dog I first met! Unfortunately Lady has needed two rounds of dental surgery since her arrival to me; somehow she had hidden having a lot of fractured teeth even though they were certainly leaving her in a lot of constant pain, which is likely why she had reactivity with our cat etc in the beginning before we discovered this. Luckily almost all of her treatment has been covered by her insurance, and she is such a good, gentle natured dog she takes it all in her stride and is a favourite at our vet practice with the staff!

She loves her walks, and the greatest improvements in her behaviour came when I got her into a good routine - we’re walking for 2-3 hours a day now! I knew because of her breed she’d need a lot of physical and mental enrichment, and I was excited to get fit and healthy with her which has definitely happened! I’d say the most important thing when adopting is to think carefully about the breed you decide to rescue, there is a dog out there for everyone, and the best success stories will come from choosing a dog that works with your lifestyle - not just one that you like the look of.

With simple daily training and clear boundaries, Lady now gets to enjoy everything she wants to in life! We have taken her on holiday to Devon; sleepovers at her grandma and grandad’s house with their Underdogs; coffee shop dates for puppachinos, and even to fancy tapas bars where she was served her own platter of doggy snacks! She is learning to chase a ball at the moment (made possible by my lovely partner putting the ball in his own mouth to show her how it’s done haha) which is a huge step as she hasn’t wanted any toys until now! She comes with me almost everywhere I go, and when I have to work she is looked after by two amazing dog walkers who love taking her out and spending time with her too. Lady is now so amazingly tolerant of our cat, who loves her so much and is always wanting to be close to her in bed when we’re relaxing together! She is very protective of me, especially around men probably due to her past trauma, but she makes me feel so safe because of that and she definitely understands that it’s my job to protect her now too.

Adopting Lady has changed my life, the daily routine we have settled into has improved my mental health so much, and I am thoroughly enjoying the journey we have been on together. I’m so proud of her for all she has been through, and I’m proud of myself for putting in the work and training to help her exist in her little brain far more happily than when she first arrived! The whole experience adopting with Underdog was as easy as possible and I’d recommend it to anyone; as soon as we move to a bigger property I’ll be expanding our family all over again with them!

- Jess