A family who helped to rescue an injured dog in Turkey are getting ready to bring him home to Dundee.
Bobo the German Shepherd cross will start a new life next week after his chance meeting with the family last year.
The canine hobbled into the Ballumbie family’s lives last September, at resort in the city of Antalya.
He had an injury to one of his back legs and his fur was severely matted.
Rescue mission
Mother-of-two Lianne Hutchinson said it was “heartbreaking” to see the poor condition of the injured pooch when he passed while they were waiting to be seated for a meal.
She knew she had to help and sought a vet to treat Bobo.
Now, Bobo will fly back to the UK next week to live with the Lianne, her two children and partner.
The dog was named after the former Celtic defender, Bobo Balde, by her Celtic daft partner, Kevin Walton.
Lianne said: “Kevin had actually said ‘Lianne don’t look’ when he first spotted Bobo, he was in such bad condition.
“He walked right into the hotel from the beach on our last night, it looked like he only had three legs because his hind leg was tucked in.
“Me and my two kids, Christopher and Reuben, ran towards him.
“I sat with him for four hours until the vet arrived and cut all the matted bits out of his hair.”
Action plan
Lianne, who has her own doggy day care business, knew she wanted to do as much as they could to ensure the animal was given the best possible care.
She added: “The reality was that Bobo could have essentially just been released back on to the beach once the vet had given him treatment.
“The rescue centres there are so jam packed cause of lockdown and the kindest thing they said was to put him back on the beach.
“I couldn’t have that, but I didn’t know the first thing about bringing a dog into the country.”
As the couple looked at ways of getting Bobo home friends and family suggested they started a crowdfunding page to help support some of the on-going costs.
She added: “We started a fundraiser around five months ago, calculating the costs of him staying at a dog hotel, putting him into quarantine before a flight.
“We raised £1,000 in the first 48 hours, it was amazing.”
Last leg of Bobo’s journey
The family were scheduled to welcome him to Dundee on Valentines Day before a combination of Brexit and Covid-19 thwarted the reunion.
He added: “The first batch of fundraising had helped to cover all the costs before Bobo coming in February.
“We covered the next period ourselves but with all the ongoing problems, what was initially meant to cost a couple of hundred Euros to bring him back is now costing £1,100.
“Friends who had helped to support the crowdfunding previously told us to open again to help try and cover some of the additional costs.
“We have now set a new target of £2,100 and people have already been really generous in helping out.”
Lianne said Bobo will arrive in Dundee by the end of next week.
“We can’t wait to see him,” she said.
“It will be an emotional reunion and because of the crowdfunding and the back story people can’t wait to meet him as well.”
Donations can be made at the Go Fund Me page here.