Alison & John’s story of adopting Winston.

Alison and John have rehomed 3 pugs including PDWRA adoptee Winston, who joined the family in December 2023. Apparently, Winston thinks he’s the boss but really he’s at the bottom of the pack, being a sort of joker!

They weren’t initially looking for another pug but they heard Winston’s story of being quite a feisty pug who wasn’t easily finding a new home and decided to apply for him.

Alison believes that they were chosen by fate! They definitely had the space, support and big hearts to train him and give him the restart to life he needed and knew that he could learn how to be a proper dog in their family and be lead by his new brothers.

Here’s Alison’s interview:

My husband John and I are the parents of Winston, we have rehomed 3 pugs Winston being a PDWRA adoption and we also have Marley & Bruno. I think a suitable title for the story would be Winston and the Barkers. He thinks he’s the boss but really he’s the bottom of the pack being a sort of joker.

• How did you first hear about the PDWRA?
  10 years ago we bumped into a member of PDWRA walking their pugs and John has known her from a young age living in the same village, of course we spoke about her grumble and the PDWRA. This led us onto following the socials, reading about the stories and the great network of caring volunteers for the pugs in need out there.
• How did you come to make the decision to adopt through the PDWRA?
  Only by chance to be honest as well as already being followers of the PDWRA on Instagram and Facebook. We fully noted how much love and support was in this organisation and we trusted them.We are very caring for dogs, to have space in our lives and support from our parents who love dogs too. We are very fortunate that we can bring our pugs with us to work and everyone cares dearly for them.

  The very start of our love for pugs was when we had our dear George who sadly passed away with cancer aged 6, with the knowledge of his health declining we rehomed Marley. When the time came and George left us we had a very sad Marley and it was too hard to bear therefore we rehomed Bruno for company.

  

  Without knowing, John’s sister was talking to her neighbour (the member of PDWRA) and they came on to the subject of Winston who needed a home and had not been successful in his adoption so far. Being a feisty puppy, he needed a suitable forever home and I believe we had been chosen by fate! We definitely had the space, support and big hearts to train him and give him the restart to life. Winston needed to learn how to be a proper dog and be lead by his brothers.

• • What made you decide to adopt?
    We weren’t initially looking to take on another but hearing his story and knowing he needed to be shown the ropes, we knew we could take him on. We really feel the family that originally owned him thought he’d be a sweet, cute little puppy but he’s quite the opposite! We have a suitable home with a big garden, and we can give them human presence 24/7 taking our pugs to work where they can run in the yard, snooze in the office, or get fussed by the team. Winston is similar age to Bruno so they hit it off straight away playing and snuggling.
  • Can you tell us a little bit about Winston?
    So funny, cleaver and very naughty, always up to some sort of mischief. Picked up basic commands within a few months of adoption following his brothers settling in easily. He will pull all the stuffing out of the bed, run off with crocs, steals pencils, chewing them to pieces, barks at anything with 4 legs, always wants what the other two have, extremely noisy with tug of war and will play fight all the time. When it’s time for bed he is very sweet though being very cuddly and super soft and first thing in the morning he dances about in joy patting you off the end of the bed in flirty manner. He did have a fear of bridges on walks so much so he would avoid them and go the other way but recent times has succeeded this fear.

• How did you find the adoption process?
  Relatively straight forward. We followed the process and answered all the question etc. It helped that we had been involved with dogs our wholes lives and understood the importance of giving them a safe & secure forever home.We also had a huge experience with the sad decline of George and he also very nearly had an ulcer on his eye through a scratch but with intensive round the clock care we managed to save his eye, so have learnt how to be better prepared in the future if needed
• Anything you think prospective adoptive or foster parents should know?
  Be open minded and not all pugs are cuddly and calm. Our Marley and Bruno are very sweet but Winston is like a bull in a China shop. They are a grumble but they are extremely different characters.
  Time – pugs are social and need constant company.There’s a fact out there that some dogs spend a huge part of their lives waiting for their owners to come home which is totally unfair, they only want to be in your company and only live about 12-16 summers so spend time with them. They love you unconditionally.

• What has life been like since adopting Winston?
  Brings a lot of noise and personality. Not just him, also family, friends and co-workers laughing at him or telling him off. He has put his stamp on our hearts and we all love watching and playing with him. He can be completely crazy and then someone will pick him up and he with go dead calm, its uncanny.

We’re very grateful to have Winston and he’s living his best life!

Lots of Love,
The Barkers.

If you would like to adopt a pug like Winston, please go to:
https://pugwelfare-rescue.org.uk/adopting-a-pug/

For more joyful stories like his, please see our rescue stories at:
https://pugwelfare-rescue.org.uk/category/rescue-stories/