Pluto & Otis – A happy ending

It’s been two and a half years since we first adopted our two boys Pluto and Otis from Spanish Stray Dogs UK (SSD). They are a massive part of our life and two years on we couldn’t imagine our lives without them. When I look back I’m still not totally sure how we found them? My wife has a theory that dogs find you, whatever happened Pluto and Otis just appeared and we were drawn to them.

Over the years we’ve always adopted rescue dogs from the UK, but being aware of the mistreatment of hunting dogs in Spain and finding out how many dogs were abandoned we knew we had to adopt these two and give them a loving forever home. Roll on a month after we’d adopted them we had the news that the first of our boys Pluto was on his way! Even after reading all the advice from SSD about what to expect from our new dogs we were still nervous, but our overall emotion was excitement whilst watching Pluto’s progress through Spain and France onboard the transporter.We finally got the message that Pluto was an hour away and the fantastic guys at “For the love of cats and dogs” arrived ahead of schedule on a cold Saturday morning.

Pluto arrived completely shutdown and a bit whiffy from his travels, but Scott the driver’s comment that Pluto really liked us was encouraging! The next day Pluto showed us a glimmer of his personality when he chose to come and sit next to us which was so touching and still makes me emotional when I think about it! We already had one trial run but It was a similar experience when knew Otis was on his way from Spain, the anticipation, the excitement and not knowing what to expect.

After a couple of weeks both of our boys had totally come out of their shells and were loving their new surroundings. They loved the freedom and we were lucky enough to live next to secure fields where they could run around for hours. The shy, shutdown, what we thought was a whippet mix Pluto turned out to be high energy, bullush, bonkers Podenco who loved a tuggy toy. Pluto we even nicknamed “Mr Pickles,” for anyone who knows the cartoon show! Otis the “Ginger Ninja” we found out was equally high energy and totally obsessed with catching a ball.

Even though it was winter and snowing when they came to live with us I was always amazed by how up for anything our two boys were. We did buy them some nice winter coats, which I’m not sure they totally appreciated, but we were so proud of them and how they adjusted to life here in the UK. It also turned out to be true my wife’s comment about how a dog chooses you. She was the one who chose Pluto and I chose Otis, but who they bonded with was the other way round. Otis goes to his mum for cuddles and Pluto badgers me relentlessly into playing with his tuggy toy and chooses to follow and sit next to me. Since we’ve had them we enrolled our boys in agility classes and dog training. Mainly to try and wear them out, but it’s also helped Pluto with his wariness of people. This is something he’ll never get over completely as the first bit of his life wasn’t the greatest and his fear of strangers has a lasting imprint on him, but we live with it and work around his fears.

They both went back to Spain for their holidays recently and had a couple of months in the sun over the winter, but I think these two Spanish citizens were happy to be back home in their adopted UK where they have the freedom and space to run. They’ve also recently moved to the seaside where they’ve sand dunes and a nearby golf course and woodland to run in so loving life even more!

This is only a brief little piece on our SSD dogs and can only show a fraction of what Pluto and Otis bring to our lives. Yes these two are a bit wonky and have the odd issue, strong hunting instincts due to the Podenco breed, but that aside they are the loyalest and most loving pair imaginable and to anyone out there thinking to adopt from SSD adoption may be daunting and your adopted dog may not be perfect, but it will give you back unconditional love, brighten your life and for that lucky dog you will have changed its life forever.

Blog written by Andrew and Anita both adopters and wonderful parents to Otis and Pluto