How a DoggySnapper gave a dog the best Christmas present: a forever home

We know from the work we do at Dogs Trust that there are lots of very kind people out there, willing to open their homes to a dog - or indeed more than one. We love that we're able to match people to their new best friends. This time, however, we got to watch the rehoming process from a different perspective. While scanning the forum on DoggySnaps, our community site, we watched a very heartwarming Christmas story unravel.

Regular member John Colby, who has documented the full story on his blog, Sum Space, saw that another 'Snapper was trying to find a home for a dog who was in danger of being put down due to a behavioural issue. Member Susiemoose was horrified by the fact that Max was under threat of destruction because wagging his tail too hard meant that the family felt their three year old might be injured. She turned to her friends online for help in finding the perfect permanent residence for Max as she already has two Border Collies.

Despite not intending to have another dog and also having two dogs - bouncy crossbreeds with "Collie in them somewhere" from Dogs Trust Kenilworth - John and his wife couldn't help calling up to find out more. Without even seeing Max, a Collie cross, who is ten years old and has a mild heart problem, they decided he had to come home with them.

You can read the full story on the blog, and I recommend that you do. I will leave you with a few warm words from it that I found particularly lovely:

Our Christmas preparations, which were ahead of plan last weekend, have now descended into an almighty rush, much as usual. The dust can wait. The dog is more important.

Why have we done it? Still don’t know.

But we could not see a dog put down because its tail wagged too much. We’re very glad to have him.

Thank you John; you've done a great thing, and we were so happy to have watched it happen!