One cold Sunday evening in October 2014 a little dog was running in and out of traffic in Shoreham-By-Sea. Lots of people saw her and some tried to catch her but she was too scared and hid from them.

Eventually she got so tired that one of those people was able to pick her up and take her home. That person happened to be one of my friends, who called on me to help.

I went to collect her, to be confronted with a dirty, scruffy, timid little thing. But she was friendly and just wanted a cuddle. I decided to take her home with me that evening and call the dog warden in the morning. She was so grateful to have some food and a bed to sleep in she just went straight to sleep.

The next morning the dog warden was called and checked her for a microchip. Unfortunately there was none. It was agreed that I would foster her until such time as her owner came forward to claim her. I wanted to have a name to call her and after testing different names she seemed to respond most favourably to Poppy so I settled on that. Her picture was shared with the police, all vets in the area and all over Facebook and the internet, but there was no response from anyone looking for her. It looked like Poppy had been abandoned.

Initially I wasn't looking to adopt a dog and had every intention of putting her through the normal adoption process if an owner didn't come forward. But she was so sweet and loving she absolutely stole my heart! After no owner was found I decided that I would like to go ahead and formally adopt her.

She was checked over by vets and was found to be in generally good health, despite her appearance, aside from a few problems with her teeth which are now all sorted.

I finally completed the adoption process and brought her home with me for good on the 11th of November 2014, Poppy day!

Poppy has gone from strength to strength since then. She has gone from being timid and clingy to bouncing around and barking! She loves Megan and all the other dogs and she even loves my cat!

I truly believe that Poppy and I were meant to find each other, she has really stolen my heart and I hope to have many years with her as my loyal companion.

**2020 update** 

In January 2020 Poppy was unfortunately diagnosed with terminal cancer. It was tough but she fought on until June, still enjoying her walks and her beloved food until the very end! I was fortunate enough to be able to have Suzen from Vets2Home/Peaceful Pet Goodbyes come to my home to give her the most peaceful and pain free send off she could have wished for.

Her memory will now live on in my new logo as the face of Sticks and Tricks.