June 24, 2024 • 6 mins
Rory Cellan-Jones adopted Sophie from Romania in late 2022. The former journalist joined Jonesy & Amanda live from the UK.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jersey and Amanda gem Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Look, if you're not following hashtag Sophie from Romania on Twitter,
you're truly missing out. For all the nasty, polarizing things
you see there. This is an absolute jem. I feel
emotional even talking about this story. It's amazing. I've been
following this for some time. It follows a rescue dog's
international journey to find a safe I'm loving home in
the UK and I don't know why I'm crying, but
this story has been remarkable because this dog has been
(00:25):
so traumatized. The man bringing us the joy, the hardships,
the milestones of Sophie from Romania is his owner, his dad,
an ex BBC journalist Rory Callan Jones, and he joins
us now, Hi, Rory, Hi there, Rory.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I blame cat, not cat the animal, but cat Stevens.
As soon as you put I love my Dog on
Everyone's going to start going there and going the blob.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
That's right. This has been an beautiful story, Rory. And
when you first got Sophie, I know you said you
bought a dog lead. You put it near the door
because you thought this would be one of those stories
where this dog comes into your home, licks your face
and suddenly this energetic part of the family and Sophie's
story hasn't been that.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
It hasn't no, and we had great expectations. I've had
a lovely dog called, believe it or not, Cabbage, which
died at the beginning of last year, and we took
some time to get over that and got this new dog.
We got her from Romania. We found it difficult to
find a suitable dog in the UK. She arrived in
(01:26):
our home the Saturday before Christmas, and that morning I thought,
this is great. I'm going to be able to take
a dog for a walk for the first time for months,
part of my morning routine, part of my fitness regime
really as a man of a certain age. And it
wasn't to be. This was a traumatized, terrified dog who
(01:49):
spent a large part of the first few months he
was with us behind the sofa. She didn't come out
except at night, and she certainly wasn't going to come
for a walk with me.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So what was her story? Why is she so traumatized?
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Well, that's interesting because a lot of the dogs that
arrived from Eastern Europe, they've been street dogs, they've had
a hard time. She had been abandoned as a puppy,
but she's then been looked after in a barn by
the by the father of a vet who'd found her
before she joined us. I think she was traumatized by
being taken away from the only environment she knew, the
(02:30):
rural Romania, put in a van, driven across Europe for
three days. I mean, treated well, well fed and everything,
but it kin'd of been It must have been so different.
And then she suddenly finds herself in a house. She's
never been in the house before, she's never met, you know,
strange people before, and she she just can't go with it.
(02:53):
And it's been we're three months in now, and it's
a long, slow journey and you've seen it. Thousands of
people who have seen it because I put it, put
it on social media, and it seems to be sort
of captivated people.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
So really, you're to blame. I thought it was coming
from some war torn area or something like that. We're
going to put in a van and I was in
that great paddocks and stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And ouns in Well, she's she's lucked out in a way.
She's in a home with two people who care for her.
You know, everything's there for her food. We bought a
bed for her. She's not slept on it. She's behind
the sofa right now. Actually she does come out. She
goes in her garden at least, and she races around that.
(03:40):
But we've yet to put a lead on her and
take her out. We tried that the very first day.
She dug her heels in. She wouldn't move. She dies
behind the sofa and stayed there.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
And I know that. You know, there's footage of her
coming out to take a small piece of cheese. And
that's and I said to my husband, Sophie's taken some cheese,
and he goes, WHOA. People on the other side of
the world are cheering because she's taken a piece of cheese.
But do you think do you think she'll get there?
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Oh? God, I hope.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, I think she will. It's just we're taking advice
from a dog behavior. It's to's saying you can't rush this.
You've got to go at her pace. She's gradually learning
the tru justice. She's better with my wife than me.
The trouble is my wife is a professor in Cambridge.
She's away the first three days of the week. We're
Sophie and I are home alone at the moment, and
she is right now behind the sofa. She came out
(04:33):
for a little bit of steak. I had I add
a steak to my dinner and left the plate by
the sofa. She came out, snaffled the steak and back
behind the sofa. But she she has over the weekend.
She actually got came out during the evening and was
quite playful. She found the bed that she still reviewses
to sleep on. She found a toy and took it
(04:56):
away and ripped it up so that we were encouraged
by that. That was you know, that was brave Sophie.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well there you go, and the irony Sophie from the sofa.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
That's Sophie from the behind the sofa. And even though
Sophie isn't you're not having an experience that you imagined.
Has it been an extraordinary time?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
It has been this extraory timing. It's actually been an
emotional royal coaster. I found myself. I don't sleep very
well anyway. I've got parking either. One of the symptoms
of that is not not good sleep. But I have
been waking at four am and worrying about my dog,
which is not good, you know, worrying about if she
(05:34):
gets sick, how would I get her to the vat
when we can't even get a lead on her, you
know how, how are we going to frankly go away
on holiday because we can't leave her with anybody because
she's so painfully shy.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well still, she'd be behind the catch though, so that
wouldn't be a bad true, it would be easy. It's
not like Cooja, not like Sophie's a savage dogs and
the journey is great. You can check it out. You're
on Instagram. Follow Rory on Instagram at Rory Skellon Jones
and on Twitter at Ruskin one four seven. Rory, thank
(06:11):
you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Thank you it's been great.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Thank you, Thank you, Rory.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So hard to sayhie for us.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
It's three to seven.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It's a beautiful story.
Jersey and Amanda gem Nation.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Look, if you're not following hashtag Sophie from Romania on Twitter,
you're truly missing out. For all the nasty, polarizing things
you see there. This is an absolute jem. I feel
emotional even talking about this story. It's amazing. I've been
following this for some time. It follows a rescue dog's
international journey to find a safe I'm loving home in
the UK and I don't know why I'm crying, but
this story has been remarkable because this dog has been
(00:25):
so traumatized. The man bringing us the joy, the hardships,
the milestones of Sophie from Romania is his owner, his dad,
an ex BBC journalist Rory Callan Jones, and he joins
us now, Hi, Rory, Hi there, Rory.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I blame cat, not cat the animal, but cat Stevens.
As soon as you put I love my Dog on
Everyone's going to start going there and going the blob.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
That's right. This has been an beautiful story, Rory. And
when you first got Sophie, I know you said you
bought a dog lead. You put it near the door
because you thought this would be one of those stories
where this dog comes into your home, licks your face
and suddenly this energetic part of the family and Sophie's
story hasn't been that.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
It hasn't no, and we had great expectations. I've had
a lovely dog called, believe it or not, Cabbage, which
died at the beginning of last year, and we took
some time to get over that and got this new dog.
We got her from Romania. We found it difficult to
find a suitable dog in the UK. She arrived in
(01:26):
our home the Saturday before Christmas, and that morning I thought,
this is great. I'm going to be able to take
a dog for a walk for the first time for months,
part of my morning routine, part of my fitness regime
really as a man of a certain age. And it
wasn't to be. This was a traumatized, terrified dog who
(01:49):
spent a large part of the first few months he
was with us behind the sofa. She didn't come out
except at night, and she certainly wasn't going to come
for a walk with me.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
So what was her story? Why is she so traumatized?
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Well, that's interesting because a lot of the dogs that
arrived from Eastern Europe, they've been street dogs, they've had
a hard time. She had been abandoned as a puppy,
but she's then been looked after in a barn by
the by the father of a vet who'd found her
before she joined us. I think she was traumatized by
being taken away from the only environment she knew, the
(02:30):
rural Romania, put in a van, driven across Europe for
three days. I mean, treated well, well fed and everything,
but it kin'd of been It must have been so different.
And then she suddenly finds herself in a house. She's
never been in the house before, she's never met, you know,
strange people before, and she she just can't go with it.
(02:53):
And it's been we're three months in now, and it's
a long, slow journey and you've seen it. Thousands of
people who have seen it because I put it, put
it on social media, and it seems to be sort
of captivated people.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
So really, you're to blame. I thought it was coming
from some war torn area or something like that. We're
going to put in a van and I was in
that great paddocks and stuff.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And ouns in Well, she's she's lucked out in a way.
She's in a home with two people who care for her.
You know, everything's there for her food. We bought a
bed for her. She's not slept on it. She's behind
the sofa right now. Actually she does come out. She
goes in her garden at least, and she races around that.
(03:40):
But we've yet to put a lead on her and
take her out. We tried that the very first day.
She dug her heels in. She wouldn't move. She dies
behind the sofa and stayed there.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
And I know that. You know, there's footage of her
coming out to take a small piece of cheese. And
that's and I said to my husband, Sophie's taken some cheese,
and he goes, WHOA. People on the other side of
the world are cheering because she's taken a piece of cheese.
But do you think do you think she'll get there?
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Oh? God, I hope.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah, I think she will. It's just we're taking advice
from a dog behavior. It's to's saying you can't rush this.
You've got to go at her pace. She's gradually learning
the tru justice. She's better with my wife than me.
The trouble is my wife is a professor in Cambridge.
She's away the first three days of the week. We're
Sophie and I are home alone at the moment, and
she is right now behind the sofa. She came out
(04:33):
for a little bit of steak. I had I add
a steak to my dinner and left the plate by
the sofa. She came out, snaffled the steak and back
behind the sofa. But she she has over the weekend.
She actually got came out during the evening and was
quite playful. She found the bed that she still reviewses
to sleep on. She found a toy and took it
(04:56):
away and ripped it up so that we were encouraged
by that. That was you know, that was brave Sophie.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
Well there you go, and the irony Sophie from the sofa.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
That's Sophie from the behind the sofa. And even though
Sophie isn't you're not having an experience that you imagined.
Has it been an extraordinary time?
Speaker 1 (05:13):
It has been this extraory timing. It's actually been an
emotional royal coaster. I found myself. I don't sleep very
well anyway. I've got parking either. One of the symptoms
of that is not not good sleep. But I have
been waking at four am and worrying about my dog,
which is not good, you know, worrying about if she
(05:34):
gets sick, how would I get her to the vat
when we can't even get a lead on her, you
know how, how are we going to frankly go away
on holiday because we can't leave her with anybody because
she's so painfully shy.
Speaker 3 (05:51):
Well still, she'd be behind the catch though, so that
wouldn't be a bad true, it would be easy. It's
not like Cooja, not like Sophie's a savage dogs and
the journey is great. You can check it out. You're
on Instagram. Follow Rory on Instagram at Rory Skellon Jones
and on Twitter at Ruskin one four seven. Rory, thank
(06:11):
you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
Thank you it's been great.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Thank you, Thank you, Rory.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
So hard to sayhie for us.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
It's three to seven.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
It's a beautiful story.
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