it’s a dog’s life!
While some owners search for their missing dogs, others find the perfect pooch to adopt…
Dog-lover and mum-of-two Jane was devastated when the family’s beloved Staffordshire Bull Terrier died.
‘He was only seven,’ she says. ‘We were all so upset. To me he was irreplaceable and I couldn’t think about getting a new dog.’
However, son Jonny urged her to consider finding a new family pet, and when
Jane spotted an advert for a Staffy-Terrier cross called Ida at their local Dogs Trust centre in Essex, she couldn’t wait to meet her face to face.
Two-year-old Ida had been discovered as a stray in west London and could hardly walk. Suffering with a dislocated knee, she underwent three operations to save her leg before being sent for physio in a state-of-the-art hydrotherapy pool.
When Jane and Jonny arrived to meet her, the pair fell in love.
‘I thought she’d be a lot of fun and enjoy being fussed over,’ says Jane. ‘I knew she’d fit in perfectly!’
On the mend
Jane is just one of the people featured in this new series, which follows dogs getting new homes as well as people desperately searching for their lost canines. Every year in the UK over
10,000 dogs are reported missing and sadly over half of strays found are never reunited with their owners.
But since being adopted by Jane, husband John and children Jonny and Ruby, Ida is thriving. ‘When we brought her home we could only walk her for 10 minutes, but now she can go for up to half an hour,’ says Jane, who continues to take Ida for regular hydrotherapy sessions. ‘She’s the perfect dog for us.’