The very striking Truffle found a home soon after he was featured here last October. He now lives in Kawagone, Saitama Prefecture, with Yumi Oshida, who lost her previous dog two years ago. Despite the hardship of losing a pet, it wasn’t long before Oshida started wondering whether she should open up her home to another furry companion.

“The house and garden felt really big and empty,” Oshida says. “But I was a little nervous about the responsibility of looking after a dog again.”

Fortunately, Oshida had learned about ARK’s founder Elizabeth Oliver some 10 years ago and decided that commercial breeders were out of the question if she found herself ready to become an owner again.