Our last post about travel abroad was Cande’s story. Now we are at the other end of the country, Cornwall. Gustavo and the children, as you can see in the video, reduced us all to tears . Here’s what his new family had to say :
Despite us having adopted rescued dogs in the past, our local rehoming centre was unable to help us this time around when we were looking for a dog in 2020, stating that they couldn’t take the risk because they didn’t have any dogs with a known background of living with cats and young children. That’s when I reached out to a friend’s mum who happens to help-out at an animal shelter in Tenerief. Straight away, she said they had plenty of dogs in need of loving homes, and that she felt sure that they’d be able to find us the perfect dog.
Well, within a week, we received our first photos of Gustavo, a 12 month old black lab-cross. He had been living at the shelter since being taken in as a puppy, and loved other dogs, cats and children! We even received a video from the shelter`s president of his 9-month old nephew sitting between Gustavo’s paws, playing with his face whilst Gus just calmly lay there and enjoyed the attention! We received lots of information about his nature, personal circumstances, and training & routines that he had got used to. It didn’t take long for us to fall in love with him and agree with their recommendation that he was the one for us! Live Paws started making the necessary arrangements to export him to us in Cornwall. We knew that he’d come with full up-to-date vetinary checks and records, vaccinations, microchip and travel documents. We were also put in touch with the carrier company that specialise in international animal transportation, and kept in the loop about the process (we were in the midst of Brexit at the time!)
When the time came, we received a final photo of him in Tenerief, loaded into a crate about to begin his 100 hour journey to us. We were kept up to date with his travel progress and it was very exciting to be part of a small group of people all watching the tracker-app, eagerly watching their animals progress across Western Europe!
When we roundez-voused with the pet couriers, Gustavo was understandably tired and a little confused about what was happening, but he was pleased to meet us, and cuddled into Donna for the final leg of his journey to our home. We had kept everything a secret from our children, and they knew nothing about him until they came home from school the next day and met our new member of the family!
We knew it would take Gustavo a little while to adjust to life here (having come from Sunny Tenerief where he had roaming freedom and the company of dozens of dogs, to living with us in Blighty during lockdown in the winter!) but he soon settled in and responded well to his new training. At first, we started to crate—train him in a quiet corner, and leave him for short periods. He gradually relaxed and stop being anxious when we left, realising that we would come back every time! He now has freedom all throughout the house when we’re out, and can be left for long periods with zero problems — he is an accomplished day-sleeper!!
Gus has now been our dog for 20 months and we wouldn’t be without him! The children absolutely adore him and we can’t remember what it was like before he was here! We will always look to rescue dogs in the future, as we do feel that they know when they’ve ‘landed on their feet’ in a new loving home, and will always be grateful and affectionate for it. As our daughter put it too, ‘I’m glad he we gave him a second chance to be in a family. All dogs should get a second chance to be happy and trust humans if they were not looked after before. Gus now trusts us and the people we meet and that’s the best thing because if you trust the people you’re around then you can relax and have sweet dreams. ‘
LivePaws were amazing in helping us to adopt an incredible dog, and their commitment to their animals is second to none. Thank you Live Paws! ❤️
