From rescued to rehomed: Sophia's story

A member of the public reached out to our Inspectorate when they could no longer care for their dog. Our Whanganui Centre took her in, named her Sophia, and promptly fell in love with her.

“Sophia was such a gentle soul who wouldn’t harm a fly,” says Catherine, our Senior Animal Attendant. “She was just lovely, so she became the dog that we would get any of our new dog-walker volunteers to take out on walks.”

Stacey was one of those volunteers, who took Sophia out on walks.

“All she wanted to do was laze at the park and cuddle,” Stacey says. “She had kind, gentle eyes and would stare at me for long periods of time while she was snuggling in my lap at the park.

“Those kind eyes reminded me immediately of Ope, our little Dachshund that we lost to cancer a few months prior.”

After spending some time with her and getting to experience her lovable nature, Stacey asked if she could bring Sophia out of the Centre environment and foster her instead.

Fostering seemed like the right option for Stacey and her husband Jamie, as they were looking to move to Australia, where Jamie was working.

“Sophia was living in the lap of luxury, going for daily walks all around Whanganui and getting very much doted on by Stacey,” says Catherine.

“Sophia is quite solidly built, and would love to just laze by the pool and not really want to do much but sunbake - so was affectionally known as the house hippo.”

After a failed trial adoption (through no fault of Sophia), it was back out to foster with Stacey.

After being reunited, Stacey decided that she couldn't put herself or Sophia through the sadness of ever saying goodbye again – so decided to adopt her.

When Stacey and Jamie decided to lock in their decision to fully relocate to Australia, there wasn't any question Sophia was going too! After a couple of vet appointments and forms filled out, Sophia had a passport and they were ready to go.

“She travelled on the plane with me to Australia where my husband was waiting at the other end,” says Stacey. “She travelled safely and smoothly without panic, and was very popular with the ground staff at Air New Zealand.”

Since then, Sophia has been absolutely thriving in her new home in North Queensland.

“She loves being splashed when we are in the pool at home, is taken on daily walks to the beach. She loves swimming and playing in the shallows and chasing her ball while constantly burrowing it in the sand.

“She loves puppy-chino every time we go to a café, and especially loves to roughhouse play with my husband. 

“She snuggles in between us in bed every morning while we have a coffee, and loves to socialise with other dogs at the beach and our local park. She adores all people and children and will instantly roll on her back for a belly rub as soon as someone goes in to give her a pat,” Stacey says.

“Our friends always say “gosh she’s so lucky to have found you” - but I truly think it’s the other way around.”

For Animal Attendant Catherine, receiving updates and photos of Sophia living her new life in Australia is heart-warming.

“It's the best feeling seeing Sophia living life to fullest with such adoring parents.”

We couldn’t be more thrilled to see this girl living the life she deserves with her forever family. If you’re thinking of adopting an animal like Sophia, you can all those still waiting here.