Canine Cupid: celebrity florist Nikki Tibbles on her rescue dog charity Wild at Heart Foundation

What do Sophie Dahl, Noel Gallagher and Josh Wood have in common? They’ve all adopted dogs from the Wild at Heart Foundation, a charity set up by celebrity florist Nikki Tibbles. Amy E Williams talks to the canine Cupid 
Anais Gallagher with Tommy
Amy E. Williams4 February 2016

For Sophie Dahl, it was love at first sight. ‘I saw the amber eyes, gangling legs and ridiculously noble profile — and that was it.’ She’s not talking about her husband Jamie Cullum. She’s talking about her dog Jojo, a one-year-old mongrel she adopted after spotting her on the website of the Wild at Heart Foundation. Jojo had been found weeks earlier, starving, on the Greek island of Lesvos. ‘Something about her drew me in and, six weeks and much administration later, I went to pick her up from Heathrow with a bag of crispy bacon in my pocket. I loved her instantaneously.’

Based in Battersea, the foundation was set up last year by Nikki Tibbles and Nadine Kayser. As founder of the chic Wild at Heart boutiques in Westbourne Grove, Belgravia and within Liberty, florist Nikki knows a thing or two about romance — she has helped the path of true love run smoothly for more than a decade. So it’s fitting that she’s now using her profile and famous connections to raise awareness of the plight of the loves of her own life — rescue dogs.

The intention is to fund and support animal welfare projects all over the world, particularly to help reduce the world’s estimated 600m stray dogs, and to match-make abandoned and abused dogs from across Europe with loving owners in the UK. As well as Dahl, several of Nikki’s celebrity friends, including Sara MacDonald and Noel Gallagher, and hairdressing maestro Josh Wood, have taken on dogs from abroad. Wood says he’s completely smitten with Gandhi, a Romanian street dog he saw online. ‘We’re not sure what he is — we thought lurcher, Jack Russell cross — but he’s grown to the size of an Irish wolfhound,’ he jokes. ‘Not that it matters. It was love at first sight and now I can’t imagine a more loving, laid-back pet.’

‘Getting Tommy was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made — he is the gift that keeps on giving,’ agrees MacDonald. ‘Noel and our cat Boots are probably rolling their eyes at this, but he really has become an integral part of the family. The kids love walking him, so they are getting lots of fresh air and exercise.’

Nikki herself has always been obsessed with dogs. ‘As a child, my parents would send me to sleep in my own bed, but in the morning they’d always find me downstairs tucked in with the dogs,’ she says. As an adult, she found she couldn’t travel anywhere without falling in love with at least one stray. She now has five: Reuben, a ridgeback cross from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home; Lenny, who’d been thrown down a well aged six months and rescued from Spain; Smith, who’d spent three years of his life locked in a cage; Tia, a little black hunting dog who was found caught in a trap and as a result has no tail; and Ronnie, whom Nikki adopted from Romania.

Dogs you should follow on Instagram

1/12

Nikki’s ‘adopt, don’t shop’ mantra is persuasive — after one conversation you wonder why any of us would ever buy a designer schnoodle. Long-term behavioural problems are not an issue, she says. ‘There are plenty of pedigree dogs that are so in-bred and have no end of problems. In my experience rescue dogs are simply grateful to be loved and looked after.’ The foundation offers puppy training. Dahl admits the first three months were challenging — ‘Jojo was used to living in a pack and had not been socialised around children’ — but says that ‘after a great deal of humour, training, commitment and adoration on both sides she is now an indelible part of our family’. The Wild at Heart Foundation’s website features pages of dogs saved from Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Bosnia and the UK, all seeking new homes. Be warned, you’ll fall hard.

For more information on adopting a dog or to make a donation, visit wildatheartfoundation.com

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in