Hi Ladies,
Well that's us had Lass for exactly one year now, and what a year it's been.
Angie and I first started talking about getting a dog in the autumn of 2005. We thought about various options from getting one of the ones who didn't make the grade through the British Transport Police, to adverts in the papers and then I found your website by mistake.
And what a wonderful mistake it was. You had a picture of Lass in her favourite position, "resting", and we thought we'd just have to make the long trip down and have a wee look. We took her for a quick walk, or rather we got her to the end of the path at the kennels before she decided she'd had enough of us and wanted to go back. But there was something there that we couldn't put our fingers on and we arranged for a weekend visit.

The visit went reasonably well, considering we were taking her away from everything she knew and we made the decision to re-home her. It was very hard work at first, certainly a lot harder than either of us had anticipated, but we stuck by her and gave her lots of attention and cuddles. And then it wasn't long before us, and our fellow dog owners up the park, started to notice the difference in her. She started getting a bit bolder but was still, at heart, a very timid dog. The slightest bang and she'd be under our bed, and for some reason I can't understand, the wind has the same effect on her.

Anytime we went away we always took her with us. On our trips to Scotland our nieces and nephews fell in love with her, and she was so very patient with them. One of them even overcame his fear of dogs because of Lass.

Then in July last year, Angie and I started talking about moving into a bigger place just because of the dog. Can you believe it!! Here we were thinking of selling the flat in the area where I had lived for twenty years just because of a dog. We must have been mad. But we done it. We moved from Archway in North London out to the countryside in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. We now have a lovely three bedroom house with two big gardens, and all because of the dog….

Lass herself has changed so much since we moved. She has now settled in and joy of joys, she has actually started playing. Something she never really done in Archway. We let her out into the garden and you would think the trap had just been sprung the way she runs about. And then she comes bounding back, all out of breathe and with that big dopey smile on her face. She has also discovered a new hobby, digging big deep holes in the garden. The "Great Escape" film has nothing on our dog. She is just so funny when she starts digging. She only stops when she's too tired to continue then she struts into the house like the Queen of Sheba!! What a dog…. Indoors she chases us and, unfortunately for Angie, has taken a very big shine to two of her new cushions. Big red things they are, but that doesn't stop our Lass chasing after them when you throw them and running back to her bed with them firmly tucked into her mouth.

And she even occasionally "steals" from the kitchen work tops. She knows when her favourite chicken is lying there cooling down and she starts whining until Angie eventually gives in and gets it for her. And when she thinks no one is looking, she gently gets up on her back legs, takes what she wants from the work top, and scurries back to her downstairs bed to eat whatever she has just nicked… And I know we shouldn't, but we can't help but laugh when she does it.
If someone had said two years ago that (1) Angie and I would be married, (2) that we'd have a gorgeous big dog, (3) that we'd move to the country because of aforementioned dog, and (4) that we'd actually take said dog on our honeymoon!!! I would have phoned the men in white coats myself.

But we've done all those things, and with no regrets. Lass really is a special dog. I still don't know what we seen in her that first day, but whatever it was, it has worked for us. We got ourselves a wee gem. Angie still has a photo in her phone that I sent the day Lass and I arrived back in Archway when we took her for good. My text message to Angie that day was "father and baby doing well". Little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for, and little did we know the drastic changes to our lives that would happen because of a dog.

Every few days I check the website from work. And every few days I tell Angie about the new dogs on there. Just looking at Bill and Ted makes me want to rush down and give them a new home, but until we can sort out our travelling times for work, we will have to wait before we get another one of God's favourite creatures. When we heard about the guy up north with the bolt gun, our hearts went cold. How could anyone do that? We couldn't understand it. And to make it ten times worse, he wasn't breaking any laws!!!

We just love our big wonderful dog, though when she's asleep under our bed and farts at four in the morning, ach well, we just smile and let her get on with it. We are hoping to get over to Ireland in the summer, and three guesses who will be coming with us. How we are going to manage with all of Angie's shoes and a thirty kilo greyhound, I don't know, but I'm sure we will.
We got some result when we got Lass, I hope the other people who re-home are as lucky as we are. Someday we will re-home another, Lass of course will choose who that dog will be. It won't be our choice, but I'm sure she'll make the right decision.

I'll sign off now ladies, I have to open up the station shortly, one of the pleasures of working for London Underground. Once again, thank you for letting us adopt this wonderful creature. We can't praise her enough. Please keep up the great work you do down there, it is a godsend to the dogs. And please, if the is anything we can do, don't hesitate to ask.
All the very best for now,
Garvan, Angie and Lass...