ADOPTED Ellie's home for most of her life was a factory car park where she survived on the occasional scraps thrown to her by the workers and water from puddles. To start with, we would leave food and water for her at a distance as she was too nervous for us to approach her. For 2 weeks we just sat on the wall and ignored her, making no eye contact, while she ate. Each night we moved the bowl a little closer to where we sat, until eventually she would eat beside us and allow us to stroke her. When we felt we had sufficiently gained her confidence, we took her home. As we had only ever seen her in the dark (during the day she would hide under parked cars), we were shocked to see how thin and sick-looking she really was. Her recovery rate, however, was truly amazing and she is now a very healthy dog with no signs of previous trauma although she can be a little shy. Although Ellie has bonded well with Osa, in general she is not overly keen on the company of other dogs and so would do well in a home with no others - she much prefers humans! Ellie has been spayed.