Scotland's 'loneliest dog' finally finds home after two long years in shelter

A pup dubbed Scotland's "loneliest dog" has finally found a home after two years living in a shelter. Roxy, a five-year-old Staffordshire bull terrier, has spent almost half of her life in the Scottish SPCA's Lanarkshire kennels after previous owners had to give her up.

Life at the shelter was hard for Roxy was hard at first, but staff were eventually able to gain her trust and begin the process of finding her a forever home. Numerous appeals for a home for Roxy had been sent out, but to no avail.

Visitors to the centre would also overlook the pup - until dad Gerrard Brown and daughter Dawn spotted Roxy's picture on the wall during a visit. "We instantly fell in love with her face," Gerrard said.

"The team managed to arrange a meeting that same day. She came out bouncing about and was an instant bundle of joy.

"The whole family went down again to meet her and we all took her for a walk. We arranged another couple of visits and then fostered her for two weeks.

"It all went well and we completed the paperwork for her to come home with us and be officially part of our family."

Roxy has finally found her forever home but the charity are changing the way they work to ensure no animal has to spend that length of time in a kennel environment again.

Rehabilitation Operations Lead Rachael Maclean said: "Thankfully Roxy's case is rare as we want to find animals their forever home as quickly as possible. Last year we saw a 25% increase in arrivals to our animal rescue and rehoming centres across Scotland, with 6,944 animals taken into our care in 2023.

"We also rehomed 3,881 animals to loving new homes, fostered 459 animals, and treated 5,163 wild animals. Our aims for 2024 are to enhance our adoption and fostering services with an expanded team.

"This means getting animals into the right homes faster and improving the experience for animals, fosterers and adopters."

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