After losing their 12-year old Pointer in 2018, and feeling the loneliness of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, Steve and family from Sutton Coldfield near Birmingham felt the time was right to give a loving home to a rescue dog.
“Our youngest daughter came across the Pointers In Need website and we soon spotted Malvin who was living with a foster carer nearby – once we met him we couldn’t say no and as we knew Pointers as a breed it just felt right straight away.
We don’t know much about Malvin’s background except that he was found near a Greek beach and was starving as there were no tourists or restaurants open due to Covid-19. He’s quite small for a Pointer so was probably a working dog that was no longer needed. Malvin arrived with us in November 2020 and according to his Greek passport was three and a half years old.
At first Malvin was a bit cautious, understandably, but he was very calm. The first thing he did was wee on a large plant in the kitchen so he had marked his territory!
He has always remained calm at home and we can trust him with any adults, children or other dogs. He does love to run and especially chase squirrels – we are lucky enough to have a large natural park next to where we live but it’s taken a couple of years of Malvin wearing a long line for us to be confident enough to let him off lead and know that he’ll come back. I’d love to go on a bike ride with him running alongside me but those pesky squirrels are just too tempting! We do also have a holiday home in Pembrokeshire so seeing him run free on the beach is a such a joy.
At first Malvin wasn’t overly affectionate; he wouldn’t look you in the eye and would pull back if you moved a hand too quickly. But now he can’t get enough fuss and is very affectionate. When our son and his wife came back from working in the USA they bought a miniature cream longhaired Dachshund called Willow with them – they lived with us for a while and we think when Malvin saw Willow interact with us it helped give him confidence to be more relaxed and affectionate. It’s funny seeing the two of them running together now, little and large!
We made it along to the Pointers In Need Fun Day in July and it was great to see all the good people who work so hard to rehome the Pointers. It was also interesting to see how many shapes, sizes and colours Pointers come in.
We couldn’t imagine life without Malvin, he’s such a beautiful boy who loves life and loves running for the sheer joy of being free.”
