When I found a stray dog hiding under my car, I could never have imagined what would happen next. By Kelly Allen, 28
Yawning, I rolled out of bed. It was the morning after Bonfire Night, and the fireworks had been going off until the early hours.
Now, as I looked out the window, I could see that
it was chucking it down
with rain.
I headed downstairs for breakfast but as I pottered about in the kitchen I was distracted by a strange whimpering noise coming from outside.
‘Dad, can you hear a dog crying?’ I asked.
‘Yeah, I can,’ he said. ‘Let’s go and check it out.’
We traced the noise to my car and looked underneath.
A dog was crouched there, shaking with fear.
‘She must be terrified after all those fireworks last night,’ I said.
Dad gently called to her and, after a bit of hesitation, she approached, wagging
her tail.
‘Maybe she’s just lost,’ I said.
We led her into our back garden and gave her some leftover chicken and a bowl of water.
She was in a bit of a sorry state. Her coat was matted and filthy and she was so skinny, I wondered when she’d even eaten last.
We started ringing around local animal shelters, but
they were all full and I was worried she might be put down if we called the council dog warden.
‘We can keep her for the weekend,’ Dad said. ‘Just until the vet opens on Monday.’
In the meantime, I set about cleaning her up. It took several baths of hot soapy water to clear away all the grime, but she looked much better once I’d finished.
Then first thing Monday,
we took her to the vet who checked and found she was microchipped.
'Please can we keep her?'
Using that, the vet discovered her name was Mia, she was a five-year-old greyhound-Staffie cross, and she belonged to a family in a town 100 miles away.
At first, we were all relieved to have found her real home. But when the vet rang them to let them know where she
was, they admitted they’d abandoned her on purpose.
I’d always wanted a dog, but with work and other responsibilities it had never been the right time.
But now, I turned to Dad and said, ‘Please can we keep her?’
‘Maybe just until we find her a permanent home,’ he replied.
But over the next days
and weeks, Mia’s loving personality won him over
and we agreed there was no way we could give her to someone else.
‘She still thinks she’s a puppy,’ I said, laughing as I watched her zooming round the garden.
Yet, Mia still gave us glimpses of what had led to her hiding under my car.
She’d cower from anything resembling a stick, including mops and vacuum cleaners. And although she was comfortable walking around our neighbourhood, she was intimidated by new places, large crowds or groups of other dogs.
Keen to help build her confidence, I took her to a dog show near our home in Newark, Nottinghamshire.
To begin with, she stuck to my side like glue. But the more shows we went to, the more confident she became, sniffing the other dogs and investigating her surroundings.
I started taking
her to training classes too.
At first, Mia struggled with the ‘stay’ command, anxiously following me whenever I got too far away.
But as time went on, she became more secure.
And we even ended up achieving the Kennel Club’s highest training award.
At a dog show soon after, I noticed there was a tryout for Scruffts – the Kennel Club’s competition for crossbreed dogs, held at Crufts dog show every year.
Instead of being judged according to their breed standard, the pooches are judged on things like their personality or work with the community.
So, I took Mia along. After explaining her backstory to the judges, we had to run around the ring together. It was something Mia would’ve found overwhelming when she’d first come to live with us, but now she trotted beside me happily.
When the judges announced she’d qualified to enter the golden oldie category of Scruffts, I was thrilled.
‘Mia, we’re going to Crufts!’ I squeaked, hugging her. ‘I’ll buy you any toy you want!’
She picked out a duck and trotted to the car looking very pleased with herself.
Arriving home, I couldn’t wait to tell my parents.
‘You are joking, aren’t you?’ they said, laughing.
‘No, I’m not!’ I said. ‘She was a star!’
I really couldn’t be more proud of my gorgeous pooch Mia. She’s come so far and being invited to compete in Scruffts is recognition of that.
She may’ve looked like the tramp when we found her, but now she’s most definitely blossomed into a lady.