Dear small humans

I just thought I would write a note to let you know how happy I am that I have been offered my very own family. I have never had a family before that loves me. I am what’s called an “abandoned dog”, that means that I was left on my own with no food or water until my lovely rescuer came along, some humans were nasty to me before, when all I was doing was trying to find food to survive. There are some not very nice humans where I live in Serbia so I hope that you can understand why I struggle to trust humans a little? But with the help of my rescuer and carers in Serbia I am learning that not all humans are bad.

The lovely team at Balkan Underdogs have matched me with your family because I’ve been around children in Serbia, they are so kind and playful, and I have lots of fun with them.

I will have a mammoth journey to get to you; do you know that I will travel around 2050 Km (that’s around 1274 miles)!! I will travel from Serbia to Croatia and then via Slovenia, Germany, Belgium and France before catching the ferry at Calais to the UK, what a trip! If you ask your adult humans, they can show you on a map where all those countries are, I have my very own passport with an extremely cute picture in it! When I leave Serbia, your adult humans will be able to track my journey every step of the way, how exciting but very scary!

Which is why I’m writing to you, because I know I’m going to be scared, I will be leaving my lovely rescuer and will travel in a crate on the happy bus with other dogs I don’t really know, all the way to get to my new family, but I know it will be worth it. I will have some food and water whilst I’m travelling for the two days it will take to get to the UK, but I probably won’t be able to eat because my tummy will be too scared, so I’ll be quite hungry I expect! When I arrive in the UK, me and my travel pals go to a kennels in Kent for 24 hours so that we can be checked over and have a little rest before then getting back into our crates to travel to where I will meet you. This bit is also super scary because we don’t know these kennels and we don’t know the humans that own them, but we are told they are nice.

I guess you will be wondering how you can help me settle. I thought so, I have listed a few things you can do to help me when I arrive because I don’t know you, and I don’t know that you won’t hurt me at first, I must build this thing I’m told is called “Trust” and I know you can help me with that…

I wanted to let you know that you won’t meet me at my best, I’ll be a little smelly and very scared, after all, so many new people, sights, sounds, smells, all of my senses will be working overtime and I will be anxious, did you know a dogs sense of smell is  up to 100,000 times more sensitive than a humans?

1.  I will need a safe space for when I arrive home, so a nice bed or crate in a quiet corner or area, a good place will be where I can see my new family but I don’t have to worry that they will disturb me whilst I sleep, because I will be very sleepy, I probably wont have rested the entire trip, it’s hard to rest when you’re worrying. Your bigger humans might also have a baby gate set up and that suits me fine and will help me relax.

2. When I’m in my safe space I need you not to come up to me if that’s ok? You may make me jump and when I was made to jump whilst sleeping when I was on the street or in the pound, it was usually because something bad was going on, I will venture out of my safe space to you when I feel ready don’t worry.

   

   
   

3. You could read to me whilst I am in my safe space if you’d like? That will help me to get used to your voice, so sitting a little bit away and reading me your favourite book, if you don’t read then you can tell me a story, I like the made-up ones the best! Or you can tell me about your day, I’m a great listener.

4. Your big humans will have got me some tasty treats I guarantee it! I can’t wait! You could roll these towards me or throw some around me so that I can sniff them out, rather than hand feed them to me as I might still be scared for you to come near me, even if you have treats! But tossing them to me would be perfect thank you! Did you know that sniffing is called a calming technique? That means when I’m sniffing for stuff it helps to calm me and helps me relax.

   

   
   

5. I’m sure you and your big humans will buy me some toys, I've never had toys before and I’m sure once I have worked them out, I’m going to have great fun with them, BUT I might not know which are your toys and which are mine! So, if you can do me a favour and keep your toys out of my way so that I can’t break them, I mean, sometimes you only have to look at things and they break right!? I might get a bit protective over my toys if someone tries to take them as I've never had them before, but I understand that if I do, then I will only be allowed to play with them when I’m on my own, I will learn though as it will be more fun playing together, it will just take me a little time that’s all.

6. At first, I won’t be sure what’s your food and what is mine, so please don’t eat food or treats around me, I will get it but again it’s just going to take me a little time because after all, I have a lot to learn!

7. I might not be confident enough to go on walks with you for a little while, I need to adjust to my new home and find my way slowly around the place and if we have a garden, I’ll need to make sure I search every nook and cranny and make it smell of me! You can do things for me which the BU ladies say are called “Enrichment Activities” , your big humans have been given some links to some great Facebook pages with ideas on that I might like, so if you ask them, they might let you look for some ideas that will keep me busy whilst I build up the courage for a walk.

8. When we do venture out for a walk together although id love you to hold my lead, it should always be the adults at first because I might get scared or spooked and try to run so fast that I may pull you over or you may accidently let go of my lead, I will be scared and might not remember the way home, so please ask your adults to always hold my lead and make sure that I have two leads or a good fitting three point harness so that I can’t escape! Us rescue dogs are very good at running and hiding!

I hope that it wont take me long to settle but you can really help me by letting me take my time, I am looking forward to the days that we can play together and be wonderful pals, but the team at BU tell me that we must take this slowly, all of the best friendships are built on solid foundations a bit like a strong building!  It takes time to make those foundations and build that word “TRUST” but we will get there!

Thank you for wanting me to be part of your family, I have been told all about you by my rescuer and love you already!

Much love and licks

Me xx