Steve finds his forever home

BY KELLY WICKHAM kelly.wickham@sussexpost.co.uk

AN AKITA Cross dog has finally found his forever home after searching for almost a year and a half.

Staff at Mount Noddy RSPCA branch in Eartham are delighted after the dog in their care has finally been re-homed.

Two year old Steve had been at the branch for one year and five months where he was cared for by the dedicated team.

The staff have been desperately calling on the public to help find him a new home even setting up a dedicated Facebook Page - Find Steve a home, which has almost 200 likes.

New owners, Samantha and Adam Sinfield from Chichester are delighted to have been able to adopt Steve.

Samantha said: "My husband Adam and I had been to visit Steve a few times and been to his physio appointment too and as I'm a holistic therapist, I will be able to continue with his physio myself.

"We rescued a dog from Devon our darling Ripley who was a Dogue De Bordeaux and we sadly lost her in February due to cancer.

"I had decided that the right dog would find us and I wasn't going to search for one. My daughter Jade told us about Steve and we couldn't believe he was still in Mount Noddy.

"I thought he was waiting for us to be ready for him, I had a hip replacement two years ago and when I found out Steve needed one it was just another connection we shared.

"Although I knew I would be taking on quite a challenge with him I knew I had the time and patience to mould him into the dog I know he can be and in only two days he's made so much progress.

Samantha and Adam with Steve in his new home

"I have chickens, ducklings and chicks. We had to make sure everything was ready for Steve so my husband worked really hard to get the ducklings enclosure finished so everyone would be safe.

"On Sunday, which happened to be our wedding anniversary we went to Henley to do Tough Mudder in aid of a teenage cancer trust.

"My husband had booked us into a lovely hotel as a surprise so we wouldn't be home until Bank Holiday Monday, but Anya from Mount Noddy said she could do the home check on the Monday afternoon and bring Steve with her and if everything was OK she could leave him with us so we hurried home and waiting for Steve to arrive."

Clare Palmer, branch manager, said: "Myself, animal operations manager Susie Carter and all our dedicated animal care assistants have worked tirelessly to find a suitable loving home for Steve.

"This has involved structured training and socialisation plans for him, rehabilitation following an operation involving weekly hydrotherapy sessions, several vet visits for check ups and x-rays, advertising, bucket shaking, and hours and hours of social media posts.

"We are delighted he is now finally in his forever home with such a loving family."

For more information on adopting from Mount Noddy please visit: rspca.org.uk/local/sussex-chichester-and-district-branch