Dog News

A Stray Dog Rescued in Time for Christmas

by Katherine

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While Royal Military Police Sergeant Ashley Rodden was stationed in Cypress this past summer, serving a on a UN tour of duty, she met an unlike friend – a four-legged stray dog she named Bob.

“When I first saw him it was one night on the base and he was covered in ticks and things,” Rodden told Belfast Telegraph. “I thought nothing of it then. But then the next day I went into my room and went back out and he was there again, curled up on a mat. I thought ‘Well, I am going to have to look after him now.'”

Bob the stray dog from Cypress enjoying Christmas with Royal Military Police Sergeant Ashley Rodden in his forever home in Northern Ireland. Photo Credit: Ashley Rodden
Bob the stray dog from Cypress enjoying Christmas with Royal Military Police Sergeant Ashley Rodden in his forever home in Northern Ireland.
Photo Credit: Ashley Rodden

 

Rodden got attached to Bob caring for him daily, and when time came to plan a trip back home to Northern Ireland for Christmas, the sergeant new Bob could not be left behind.

“I rang my mom and said ‘Look, I can’t leave him here, he is coming home with me,'” recounts Rodden.

Immediately, the soldier started a campaign to fly Bob home. She was able to raise $1,300 and along her own contribution Rodden booked Bob a plane ride home.

“He had to get a pet passport, microchipped and get a rabies jab,” said Rodden. “He flew from Cyprus to Dubai and then into Dublin, and then my dad went down to Dublin and picked him up.”

Bob made it home just a few days before his rescuer came home for the Holidays. So far he has adapted to his new life very well. He is even best friends with the family’s other pet, a chocolate Labrador named Bailey.

Welcome home Bailey and Merry Christmas to you and your forever family!