An elderly hairless dog who struggled to find a new home because people thought she was ugly has finally found a paw-fect new owner and is an Instagram star.
Hairless Chinese crested Morissa arrived at the RSPCA’s Danahar Animal Home, in Essex in April having been rescued by inspectors from a muti-animal household.
Staff at the home all loved the cheeky little pooch but were worried that her unusual looks were putting off potential adopters. 
Craig Horsler, senior supervisor at Danaher, said: “Morissa is unusual and also didn’t have age on her side. At 13, she also had a number of health problems, which made it even more tricky to find her the right home.”
But when Rio Maye, 28 from Wilstead in Bedfordshire came along it was love at first sight. Now Morissa – renamed Morticia – has settled in with Rio and her 14-year old Chihuahua, Pea.
Rio said: “Morticia settled in straight away, she was thrilled with her new bed that she dived straight into it and rolled around in joy. We introduced her to Pea – her new best friend and our horses. She spends lots of her time pottering through the fields and loves to walk through the hills and woods.
“She is almost blind, but she listens to me talking to her and when I call for her she is incredibly alert. She has memorised the furniture and snack station but does have the occasional stare at the wall thinking it’s a window, we try not to giggle.
“Mort loves nothing more than being right beside me, she follows me everywhere and when I return home from work, she is over come with excitement that she throws her paws in the air and jumps for me to pick her up and cuddle her.
“I take Mort everywhere with me and have recently purchased a pushchair as some days we can be out for hours. She loves the pushchair and we recently found ourselves at a festival where she enjoyed watching the brand from the comfort of her shaded pram.
“We’re on a mission to promote rehoming senior dogs and feel Morticia is a wonderful example of the fun and love to be had with adopting a senior dog. That’s why I started the Instagram account for Mort and Pea, and I hope people will see how wonderful adopting a dog – particularly an older dog – can be.”
Follow Mort and pea’s adventures on Instagram @littleseniormoments. To adopt a dog you can visit www.rspca.org.uk/findapet.
