Blindness hasn’t stopped Humphrey’s happiness

Why did you adopt a Romanian rescue via EverMore?

We’d been looking to adopt on and off and knew we wanted an older rescue dog. I had seen EverMore shared on my Facebook page and was impressed with how professional and caring their page was. There are lots of rescue dogs in the UK, but we knew that in Romania things are quite desperate for street dogs, so wanted to give a homeless dog the chance to have a loving home. When we saw Humphrey and his sad story [which left him blinded], we knew we wanted to help. Older, disabled dogs can be more difficult to rehome and we knew that it could be challenging. But in the words of my husband, we thought, ‘let’s take a chance on the little fella’.

How has your dog settled into life in the UK?

When he arrived we were expecting a very nervous dog who wouldn’t be able to be walked or socialised and that it would be a long road ahead. Humphrey amazed us from day 1. He quickly worked out the steps in our garden, found his bed and food bowl and within a week was walking with a harness in the fields. We quickly abandoned the crate as he settled so well and the only real challenge was him getting used to the new noises in the house. He did bark a lot at first – but being blind, he was just protecting himself.

Humphrey is just wonderful. He is so low maintenance. His blindness doesn’t cause him any real issues, he just circles and maps his surroundings and adapts. He sleeps like a baby at night (snores loudly!) and loves his walks. We got him an [outdoor] kennel as he prefers to be outdoors during the day and he snuggles up happily in there in all weathers (with his hot water bottle – he is a little spoilt!). We absolutely dote on him. He’s had a very hard life and been the victim of such horrible treatment that we want to make his life as pleasurable as possible. He is also a minor celebrity in our village. People see his ‘Be Kind, I’m Blind’ neckerchief and stop to chat and fuss him.

What would be your dog’s idea of a perfect day?

A late get-up to start – Humphrey rarely gets up before 9am – then breakfast of sausage and maybe share Dad’s toast! After that, a long, long walk; he sniffs EVERYTHING – being blind, it’s his stimulation and favourite thing to do. Then a sleep in the sun followed by a gnaw on a knuckle bone. Another walk and then a snooze with Mum and Dad in the living room. Maybe a visit to Nan and Grandad – there’s lots of new sniffs and usually biscuits there! Bedtime by 8.30pm.

-Rachel Washbourn, Humphrey’s adopter