Essie is now ready for adoption. Here is her foster-mum’s write-up…

What can I say about our beautiful Essie? 🥰 She really is such a lovely, loving and playful girl and in the short time she has been with us, she has completely found her feet and shown us what a wonderful dog she can be. 💕🐾

Essie is an 18 month old Labrador who was privately rehomed in July. Sadly, the home she went to wasn’t the right environment for her. There were multiple pets in the household and Essie struggled to live alongside them. She was fighting with the resident dog and so her owner made the difficult decision that she needed a home without other pets where she could thrive.

Since coming into foster with us, Essie has absolutely thrived. She has lived peacefully with myself, my husband and our two teenagers and has been a joy to have around. She is a real people dog who loves attention, cuddles and most of all, playing with you!

She LOVES her toys and is particularly ball obsessed! 😂🎾 She is incredibly clever, very trainable and eager to please. She loves being told she is a good girl and responds brilliantly to praise.

Essie has some basic gundog training and one of her favourite games is hide and seek. I can ask her to sit and wait while I hide her toy somewhere in the house or garden, then tell her to “find it” and off she goes! She will also wait patiently for her food until she is told it’s okay to eat.

She has been very good with other dogs while out on walks and is keen to meet them, although she does pull on the lead because she is so excited to say hello! Her lead walking has improved noticeably over the last couple of weeks, but this is something her new family will need to continue working on.

Essie is fully house trained (not one accident) and can be left for a few hours without any problems. She can get bored if she hasn’t had enough exercise or mental stimulation, so an active family who will keep her busy is important.

We have found that a 20–30 minute walk in the morning and a longer walk in the afternoon works really well for her. When she has had her exercise and stimulation, she is honestly a dream. She settles beautifully, enjoys lying on the sofa and sleeps through the night downstairs. She cried a little for the first couple of nights but quickly settled, and now she takes herself off to bed when she knows it’s bedtime. 😂

Essie has been wonderful with our two teenagers and we would recommend children aged 12+ due to her age, energy and playful nature.

The most important thing for Essie is that her forever home is completely pet free. She needs to be the only pet in the household so she can have all the attention and companionship she deserves.

Essie really is such a gorgeous girl. She is funny, affectionate, clever, playful and incredibly loving. She has so much potential and I know she is going to make someone a wonderful companion.

She doesn’t bark very often only, like most dogs, if she hears something she will ‘alarm bark’ but settles when told.

Whoever is lucky enough to adopt Essie will have a very special Labrador by their side”.

Essie will need to stay local to Derby, Nottingham, Chesterfield or Stoke for her second vaccination and to be spayed at a safe time in her season cycle.

She can go a little further afield to Stoke or Newark areas, but would have to be brought back to the areas previously mentioned above for her second vaccination as it is already paid for and to ensure that it is compatible with her first vaccine.

Essie is currently in foster in Derby.