Alfie arrived underweight and afraid. Eight months on he is inseparable from his new sister Nell and has learned that humans can, in fact, be trusted.
When the transport van pulled in from Romania last winter, Alfie was the dog nobody noticed. He pressed himself flat against the back of the crate, ribs showing through a coat the colour of wet sand, and refused to meet anyone’s eye. Our volunteers carried him out wrapped in a blanket because his legs simply would not do it.
His first fortnight in foster care was spent under a kitchen table. His foster mum, Jan, did what she does best: she ignored him magnificently. Meals appeared at the table’s edge. The radio stayed on low. And on day fifteen, a cold nose touched the back of her hand — Alfie’s way of announcing that negotiations were open.
The Bennett family met him on a drizzly Sunday in February. Crucially, they brought Nell — their gentle, bossy collie cross — and it was Nell who decided the matter, flopping down beside him in the yard as though the paperwork were a formality.
“He chose the sofa on his second night and he has not given it back. Honestly, we’d have signed anything.”
— The Bennett family, Worcestershire
Eight months on, Alfie has a favourite spot in the garden, a firm opinion about the postman, and a sister he shadows from breakfast to bedtime. The dog who wouldn’t leave his crate now leads the way on every walk.