A six-legged dog that was dumped outside a shop has found happiness in a new home on the seaside.
Ariel the cocker spaniel was just 11 weeks old when her heartless owners unceremoniously dumped her outside a B&M store in Pembrokeshire.
The adorable creature was taken in by a local Greenacres Rescue, but she needed a new home.
Her ordeal pulled the heartstrings of animal lovers across the UK after Ariel, named after Disney’s Little Mermaid, made headlines.
Around £15,000 was raised for an operation to remove her extra back limbs, the BBC reports.
Alongside her six legs, she has two vulvas and one kidney.
Since cruel abandonment in September last year, Ariel has bounced back thanks to her new owners Emma-Mary Webster and Ollie Bird.
The couple, who teach disabled people to surf, had just lost their dog of 16 years, a labrador-German shorthaired pointed cross named Pippin, when they were introduced to Ariel.
Ollie, 40, the co-owner of the Pembrokeshire-based Blue Horizons Surf Club, said they were ‘heartbroken’ after losing Pippin, but decided to get another dog after the ‘hole he left in our lives was so huge.’
So they applied to Greenacres to see if there were any dogs for adoption.
Emma-Mary, 50, had no idea about Ariel until she came for a visit, where she ‘took to the place straight away,’ she said.
‘Neither of us were at all aware we had a celebrity in our midst.’
On coastal walks, strangers come and ask for selfies with Ariel, who ‘adores the attention,’ Emma-Mary said.
Now Ariel can add surfing to her list of accolades after becoming part of the ‘inclusive’ club, which the couple started after Covid after their friends ‘had gone through a very hard time,’ Ollie said.
The club specialises in adaptive surfing lessons and boat trips for people of all ages with physical and mental disabilities, including cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and dementia.
‘Ariel loves being part of those lessons too,’ Ollie said.
‘She’s always a big hit with whoever we take out onto the waves and she never stops wanting to play.’
Ariel has now made a full recovery after her difficult start in life, and ‘you should see how excited she gets whenever we get out her leash, not to mention the way she runs around on the sand.’
He added: ‘Other than a tiny bit of nerve damage in one of her back legs you’d never think she’d ever had anything wrong with her.’
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