I always find it remarkable how sentient dogs are. They see and feel way more things than we could ever imagine. Case in point is big Larry who spent 6 months with us recently before traveling to his forever home in England.

I’ve never met a more sensitive and loving dog and I think his story can help change how people think about dog ownership around the world…

A Hard Start In life

Larry was standing on a street corner in Thailand early one morning when I spotted him. He was sort of “queuing” at a little street food stall but getting completely ignored by everybody.

Knowing him as I now do, he won’t have been looking for food but rather just the company of humans. Despite being skin and bones, all he wanted to do from the moment we brought him in was to lean against people. Literally. Human contact was always his thing.

He was so confused and upset when we first found him that Larry wouldn’t eat for weeks. We tried every test under the sun to try find out what was wrong with him. 6 vet trips and a full day in hospital revealed that he was perfectly healthy.

We slowly figured out that Larry was just sad, lonely and sensitive. He had nowhere to call home. Larry started to come out of his shell.

The Journey Of A Lifetime

We built Larry up over the course of 6 months and he settled in with all us humans at Happy Doggo land. We decided he would be perfect for re-homing…

• 6 Months to find the ideal home

• 1000km taxi ride to Bangkok including a ferry

• 1 Plane journey from Bangkok to Paris

• 1 road trip with his family from Paris to his forever home in England

We worried about him every step of the way as he is such a big sensitive soul but seeing him settle in with his new family is one of the best feelings ever. To be honest it doesn’t even feel real to me.

Changing Individual Lives

Since I started this mission we have found homes for 85 dogs. There are too many to share here but stories like McMuffin, Brad Pitt, Rusty, Mr fox, Buttons, Candy and Bowie give a little sense of what it means to each individual dog.

When I’ve faced a tough day with a street dog dying in my arms or a bad diagnosis at the vets it is always Instagram that I open to remind me of the wins. Scanning through photos of the dogs who once suffered and now living their ideal life is what gets me through the tough times.

I often think of that one little creature, the attention they get from their humans and the love that they exude in return. People who adopt dogs from us or indeed anywhere in the world are the people I see as heroes.

Inspiring People To Think Differently

I’m very conscious of having a big audience interested in dogs and I always want to try and leverage that to create change at scale. That is why I wanted to share Larry’s story.

By far the biggest issue for dogs not just in Thailand but globally is overpopulation. Humans bred dogs to be our companions and they rely on us. Like most things in the world though us humans toss them aside without a second thought.

I’ve never loved the phrase “Adopt, don’t shop” personally because I think it preaches to people. Nobody likes to be told what to do. My own approach is to try and show what amazing dogs rescues can be. They are every bit as special as a new puppy and in many cases they give you even more in return. Anybody who has adopted a rescue or from a shelter will back me up on this.

I would absolutely love if even one person read this post and decided to adopt a dog instead of buying one from a breeder. Shelter and rescues around the world are full of dogs waiting for their own little chance just like Larry.

The small number of dogs we have re-homed is not going to fix the global street dog problem. What we are doing is just a tiny drop in the ocean.

The 85 we have done so far are hopefully acting as inspiration for other dog owners to make a great choice. What I would love is for everybody reading this to really keep pushing that message to others. We need to slow the amount of dogs in the world and one way to do that is by more people focusing on adopting. We can make that change together across the world.

I look at Larry in his new home and see happiness, joy, love and kindness. To see him on his couch feeling utterly safe or staring up at his TV is the reason why I do this.

Saving one dog will not change the world, but surely for that one dog, the world will change forever. -Karen Davison

Every dog I meet teaches me something. With Larry it is that they really do rely on and need humans to survive and thrive.

Wherever you are in the world today my wish is that you are as comfortable and as happy as Larry.

Have a lovely Sunday.

Big Love

Niall

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