Daisy’s story: Finally a forever home that fits just right
Daisy’s fearful behaviour made it tricky for her to find the right home at first. But finally, Daisy found the forever home that fits just right.
When Anne and Neil settled down together, their home was missing just one thing: a dog! When they saw Daisy’s profile on our website, they were immediately drawn to her playful energy. ‘She looked quite cheeky. We wanted a dog with a bit of spark and just felt from her pictures that that’s exactly what she had.’
They both had lots of experience with excitable spaniels, and they weren’t fazed by her tricky past and boisterous nature; in fact, it was what they were looking for!
Anne and Neil remember the first time they came in to visit Daisy.
‘She had a little toy with her which she completely destroyed. But she was just such a bundle of joy. She was a little shy at first, but after 10 minutes she was playing with us and running about. We were delighted with her; she was exactly what we had in our head.’
Anne and Neil knew that Daisy could be quite anxious, especially around men, but they haven’t seen any of that behaviour in her new home. In fact, Daisy’s very favourite person is Neil’s dad.
Daisy has plenty of outlets for her boisterous energy; she joins Neil every morning for a 5k run.
‘Every single day, Daisy gets her picture taken on the top of the trig point, and it goes on Strava. She leaves me behind! She’s very good on her run.’
But even this isn’t enough to tire Daisy out, ‘she’ll run, and then she comes back, sits on the couch, and you think that’s her done for the day, but as soon as you go anywhere near the cupboard where her lead is, she’s ready to go again!’
Daisy has found her perfect home at last.
‘She’s brought so much happiness. We thought we were happy before, but Daisy’s just been the cherry on the cake. She’s fantastic, and she makes everyone smile.’
Daisy settled in pretty quickly to her new home. ‘It was as if the house was hers and had been for a long time.’
‘She doesn’t like a lot of noise or big crowds, so we try to avoid that because we don’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. She’s been an absolute diamond.’
Daisy’s now used to the princess treatment, ‘She plays a wee trick where she pretends she’s not interested in food until she’s hand-fed. And then she’ll eat it out of her bowl. She’s a wee bit pampered!’
Her favourite thing is exploring every inch of her garden, hunting for good smells in every corner and roaming around the nearby golf course in the evenings.
Anne and Neil share their advice to anyone thinking about taking on a rescue dog.
‘Don’t judge the dog by what’s happened in the past, if they’ve got the right environment, they can be great.’
‘Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home were very honest about what they knew about Daisy, which gave us an insight into what we needed to be for her. It was really helpful.’