Marty (was Buddy) is a stunning retriever x boy who looks very like a purebred flatcoated retriever.

He was found as a stray in West Cork in Ireland at the end of 2006 and arrived here in January this year - a bright, lively, playful youngster whose confidence had been knocked a little by his bad start but who was obviously full of promise.   We could have rehomed him several times over such was the level of interest in him, but found him the most perfect home with Ian and Nicola, in the West Midlands. Ian and Nicola had never had a dog before but had done so much reading, planning  and preparation that we had no hesitation in letting them have Marty. It’s proved to be a match made in heaven, as these wonderful pictures show. 

For more pix (and video) of Marty, check out Marty’s own photostream on Flickr, here.

Ian, a producer at Heart FM in Birmingham, also sends us lots of email updates, including this early one which made us laugh:

“Well, we went to the first dog training class last night, as observers .. and he was really good .. a bit barky at first.  but then fine once he calmed down a bit !  We've signed up for a 6 week course starting early March. Tuesday was his first day home alone, and he was pretty good. All was fine when I went back at lunchtime, and in the evening it looked like he'd had a party.. I like to do card magic (such an amateur though) and he'd found my packs of cards - chewed them and spread them around his basket !  He'd also selected a bottle of white wine out of the rack... which was stood neatly next to his basket!Looked a lot like he'd had the boys round for a game of cards.”

A huge thank you to Ian and Nicola for giving Marty such such a fantastic home.  He’s a very lucky boy...!

(updated 22/4/07)