The Hobo and the Hound

I got Sky when she was a year old. She was an abused dog. I was living with my brother and he took her from some drug dealers.She was in a really bad way when we got her. When my brother lost his flat, we all ended up on the street together. We stayed anywhere we could. At one point we were living in a dustbin shed and that was the worst place ever, with the smells, the noise, the rubbish and used needles where we slept. We even had rats as ‘house mates’ in the night time. We eventually got moved on by the police from there After that I lived on the streets around Finsbury Park, just me and Sky as my brother had gone to prison. We had tried a few homeless shelters but when you’ve got a dog it’s hard to find somewhere. There was the odd night shelter that used to take us in on a Sunday but apart from that we had to fend for ourselves.

Loads of people said to me ‘why don’t you get rid of the dog to get a place?’ But it wasn’t her fault that we were homeless, why should she suffer? If you give up a dog, most of them get put down. I couldn’t do it. I would rather have stayed on the streets than get rid of her. She is part of the family and she was my only company. When you are on the streets no one talks to you. That’s why a lot of homeless people have got dogs. It’s comfort because you’re on your own. At night she’d sleep in the bottom of my sleeping bag, keeping me warm. When I was younger, I used to walk past a lot of homeless people on the street and I did not realize how hard it is until I went through it myself. It took a couple of pounds a day to feed Sky and people would see her and give us money; some people even gave her dog food.  Then finally it looked like we could have a home of our own.

We came straight from the streets to the SHP Ashley Road project. Apart from Sky, all I had was a sleeping bag. I found out about the project through The Pillion Trust and they were amazing. An outreach worker there found out that this particular project accepted dogs. It’s one of the only places that do and I couldn’t believe it when they said yes. I had tears in my eyes. After  five years sleeping rough on concrete, and surviving the hazards of such a life, Sky and I had finally found our creature comforts. The rules are that the dog has to be well behaved and doesn’t mess up the room and that I take care of her properly. Sky is a very well behaved, friendly dog so this is not a problem, and she is well liked by my fellow residents.

Finding a home at Ashley Road has made a huge difference to my wellbeing. If I hadn’t got in somewhere I probably would have ended up dead through heroin addiction after 25 year of injecting. But now I’m back on track. It’s so important that hostels take in people with dogs. Everyone needs a home, even with pets. At the end of the day, they could be saving someone’s life.


Martin