Below is a wonderful update from Murphy’s people but here’s a brief snippet about his background.

Murphy (affectionately known by staff as ‘Smurf’) was terrified of people when he arrived at the Sanctuary with his brother Ollie and showed aggression towards nearly all dogs he met.
He was at the sanctuary for several years, looking for the right people.

Hello,

I wanted to give you an update on Murphy, who came to live with us in May.

We spoke to you a lot in those first few weeks, as it was not straightforward to begin with. Murphy really didn’t like being left on his own, and he made sure that anyone nearby knew he was there and that he was unhappy. Since then we have not really had to call you up for further advice as he has settled in and given us no problems.

When we adopted him he was not very good around men, but I am happy to report he hasn’t had any issues or shown us any problems for a long time. Since those difficult first few weeks, Murphy has gotten to know a lot of visitors to our house and has been out and about meeting friends and strangers with no trouble at all. He can sometimes get nervous around other dogs still, but this is rare and very easy to manage.

He has been able to join us on holidays, days out, and adventures over the summer. He has been to family BBQs with kids and other dogs and spent a week camping in Cornwall. He climbed Pen Y Fan and completed ‘The Big One,’ covering about 11 miles and 30,000 steps without missing a step. He has visited a seal sanctuary to see the seals, had a day out on a boat, been to a (small) music festival and country show, and enjoyed a swim in the sea. He attended the village show and entered the dog show, hung out with the Mayor of Basingstoke, joined us on a scavenger hunt across Derby City Centre, and loads, loads more.

We moved house a couple of weeks ago, and he is settling in nicely again. He is a regular at our local pub already and has made some dog friends with whom he shares the fireplace. I’ve attached a few pictures with highlights of his exploits.

Today, Murphy has gone to work with his mum. Her colleagues allocated certain offices as “Murphy Friendly” and he is the test case for them allowing dog-friendly locations.

He is a part of the family, and we are head over heels in love with him. I cannot imagine our home without him now, and I only wish that we had adopted him sooner.

Seeing him become more settled, confident, and happy has been so rewarding. Whilst acknowledging that he has done well, and it is not necessarily the case for all dogs, I hope that his progress shows that there are plenty of dogs in kennels and care who need someone to give them a chance.

It would be great to bring him back over to say hello one day if that is ok.

Thanks,
Murphy’s mum and dad.

*******

Obviously, we are delighted to hear this and cannot thank his owners enough for taking such good care of him.