Adopted by Denisa and Leonard
Journey of Denisa and Leonard
Denisa and I have always loved dogs so we started looking at different animal welfare groups for opportunities to adopt as soon as we got our place. We knew that we wanted a puppy so that we could enjoy going through all his/her different life stages together.
We came across the different litters of puppies that were up for adoption on LTV’s website and decided to make an application. Within a week, we received an invitation from one of their volunteers (Selene) to visit Rocket and Groot. Selene was very welcoming and she shared with us many funny stories about Rocket and Groot, as well as information about their personalities. The twist in the story comes from the fact that we chose Groot initially, as Rocket made himself thoroughly unappealing during our visit (peed on the floor, vomited, humped his toy 😅 when he was only 2-month-old). Eventually, LTV decided that Rocket is a better fit for our small family of two and we could not be happier with the decision. As my wife put it, we don’t always get what we want, but we always get what we need! Long story short, Rocket stole our hearts during his 2 weeks homestay trial with us and we decided that we never want to give him back.
“While we have made tremendous improvement in Rocket’s training, he is still “a work in progress”. Adopters should also be prepared to commit the time and effort for training, and follow through with the programme set by the dog trainer in order to achieve the best result.”
Our adoption story was short and sweet, our training story is still ongoing. We adopted Rocket when he was only about 2-month-old so he was not potty-trained and chewed on a lot of our furniture. Also, he was very wary of his surroundings and did not want to step outside the house. After the initial few weeks we spent with Rocket at home to help him ease into the environment, we engaged Kimberly from K9 Kampong to train Rocket. LTV requires all adopters to put their puppies through puppy training as part of the adoption requirements! With Kimberly’s help, we worked on Rocket’s puppy issues and learnt to train him using positive reinforcement. Fast forward, Rocket is now a confident pup who interacts well with people and other dogs. Rocket loves hugs and kisses and, if you see him outside, please feel free to say hi!
We are thankful to LTV for their hard work and for choosing us as Rocket’s adopters. Also, we recommend working with them as they’ve always gone above and beyond - providing us with lots of advice on puppy care, checking on Rocket regularly and connecting us with the other adopters for get-togethers.