'Cheeky Charlie' gets a new home in Luton

A Maltese stray dog that won the affection of visiting British tourists has ended up living in their home in Luton, and has even made it to the Luton Post newspaper.

Cheeky Charlie was the star of the show at Caddington Village Fete on Sunday and won the ‘best rescue dog’ section, the Post reported.

He had been adopted by Kevin, Sandra and Alex Collins  while they were visiting family in Malta this summer.

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The dog, believed to be between 18 months and two years old, was “dirty, grubby and nervous” when he was first spotted skulking around garages.

 “We saw him a few times and my wife put food out for him, but he would only eat it once she’d left as he was so scared. He would wag his tail at passers-by but was too nervous to let them approach him. On our last night we managed to get hold of him and put him on a lead,” said Kevin Collins

“We gave him a good wash – it took six goes to get all the dirt out of him. First thing in the morning we got in touch with Association of Abandoned Animals (AAA) in Malta. They couldn’t take him in but we said we wanted to take him home.”

The charity helped the Collins with the rehoming process and looked after Charlie free of charge for three weeks while he had his vaccinations, the Post said.

Once he’d been microchipped and given his pet passport, Charlie was carried to Heathrow where Kevin was waiting for him at the airport.

  “We slowly introduced him to his new surroundings and he started to explore. Charlie latched onto our other dog Jasper, who is six, and has hero-worshipped him ever since,” Kevin said.

“Charlie is still in the puppy stage – he never walks anywhere, he has to charge about and his tail wags non-stop. He gets out all Jasper’s old toys to play with every day. We walk him in the field near our house with other village dogs and he has a fine old time. He is very, very happy, it’s such a transformation.

“We’d like to thank the AAA as they were instrumental in saving a little life. We couldn’t believe it when his name was read out as the winner in the dog show at the weekend, it was just great.”