Spanish Stray dog finds home

It is 2 weeks and 4 days since we got our handsome boy from Spain. Krypto (formerly Mufaso) has changed all our lives forever! He is truly one of the family now and has settled in unbelievably well.

First things first, we totally get why he was named Mufaso! He prowls around the house with an air of royalty and proud indifference, as if he is guarding his royal territory! He reminds us so much of a lion! 😂

If anyone thought that a rescue dog is more difficult to train, then think again! We have had dogs most of our lives, and rescued/fostered older dogs too. This boy is single- handled the most amazing dog we have ever met on learning new commands. How amazing that he only heard English 2 weeks ago and he already knows Sit, Paw, Leave it, and Stay! (Currently working on Fetch with a ball, he gets it about 7 out of 10 times!). Heel and walking well on the lead will be a longer time coming as he is incredibly strong on the lead and has an insane prey drive. Squirrels, rabbits and foxes are his kryptonite! 2 days ago he found a rabbit warren or some other animal’s home under a thicket and would not leave for 20 minutes, just standing with all senses and ears and nose pricked up, on edge, sensing, sniffing, tensed, ready to spring into action…..lol) He acts like a puppy sometimes for all his regal airs, we wonder about his age and we have been working on his mouthing issues. He now knows to lick us gently instead of chewing on us in excitement! He is gentle with the children and never mouths or nips them, although we have been extra careful with them around him.

He has been great with toilet training. However sometimes his humans are slow to react to his cues and he has a little accident. Never mind, we are working on it. Silly humans!

We don’t think he is ready to go off lead when he goes for his walks, due to his recall not being 100% yet and his prey drive being off the charts! Lol but his humans are working on it and realise that this is a work in progress and are patient. Still, we can’t help but yearn for the day we can see him totally free and enjoying life, that is a goal we are looking forward to with anticipation!

We are still learning about each other, Kyrpto has learnt that although we leave, we always come back and he is fine with that now. His humans have learnt that he hates bath time and hair dryers drive him kooky! So we need to change his perception of bath time to something more positive!

We found something sad about Krypto’s past out on our walks, I picked up a stick to see if he would want to play, and was saddened to see him jump back, cringe and cower as if he expected me to hit him. I now understand a little more about where he has been, and what has been done to him in the past. For now, sticks will be off limit until we can rebuild a positive association with fetching sticks. Or not. This will take time.

In short, we are overjoyed to welcome this new member of our family and he has brought so much joy into our lives. I lost my baby girl Cookie (a Dalmatian- very special lady) some years ago, and fostered dogs since for a while. Then I travelled and lived in a different country and then had a health scare with cancer but beat it. So for the last 5 odd years, we have not had any dogs. Which is why now that I know I am healthy and we are settled, we started looking for another fur baby. We looked for rescue dogs but it was difficult with a child under 10 in the UK. We came across SSD and the rest was history! Krypto has bounded into our lives and into our hearts. I cannot imagine life without him now. I still cry when I remember my Cookie, but now I feel like Krypto was meant to be my next special baby.

So, thank you so much Spanish Stray Dogs for bringing us together. We will share your page far and wide to friends and family and may many more find happiness and joy through your amazing organisation.

Thank you to Micheline Khan for giving this wonderful dog the chance of a happy life