After going through the care system, Darren experienced violence and loneliness on the streets. Then he found companionship in his four-legged friend, Poppy.
For now, Darren and Poppy the dog live in The Wallich’s hostel in Cardiff where they’ll be spending Christmas.
The Wallich is a Dog’s Trust accredited pet-friendly accommodation provider, welcoming animals up and down the country.
“I’ve been through quite a lot. Different hostels, obviously. Now I’ve ended up here in The Wallich with my dog.
I’ve got a basic room and a built-in kitchen type thing. But they do have a communal kitchen for you to cook in.
You’ve got Support Workers if you need any support. It seems like with these guys here, it’s more than a paycheque, they actually care.”
“It was hard because at first I didn’t have my dog, so it was just me rough sleeping all around Cardiff really.
So you can imagine that, a tent and me wandering around Cardiff.
Poppy’s now 6 and a half and when I first went on to the streets, my mental health wasn’t too good, but then obviously while I was on the street, it started deteriorating.
So I chose to get Poppy as a companion really, because I find it hard to open up and speak to people. I’m a very closed person so I don’t have many friends.
Poppy brightened up my life really, to be honest with you.
Poppy just seems to love everybody, because over time, in the years that I’ve had Poppy with us being in and out of different hostels, Poppy’s obviously become a street dog.
People on the street seem to know Poppy.
So Poppy’s kind of a celebrity on the street.
People judge a lot as well when you’re on the streets.
You get people who are brilliant but I had some person come up and kick me in the head while I was on the street. There’s some people are like that, you know what I mean?
So I suppose not everyone chooses to be homeless. Everybody can become homeless.
It’s only a matter of a situation that goes wrong.
I don’t wish it on anybody.”
“It’s hard at first because to be honest with you, I’m a typical guy. I don’t like to ask for help.
So I try and do everything on my own and it took me a long time to actually pluck up the courage to go in and get the help.
I was doing a lot of sofa surfing and things like that at friends’ houses.
To be honest with you, I went to prison for a bit. And when I come back out, then that’s when I decided to go to the council because it was too much, it was the middle of winter really, and it’s too cold.
So obviously after that, then I managed to get somewhere. It was quite surreal, really.
I had Poppy before I went to prison. And when I went to prison, one of my friends looked after her.
The problem I’ve found now is finding places that will accept an animal. And it’s hard because obviously, I know that Poppy’s well trained, she won’t make a mess. But it’s finding someone or a landlord trustworthy enough to believe in what you say.
There’s only a couple of hostels that will actually accept dogs in Cardiff. So animals can become a bit of a barrier. I think that’s fair to say.”
“To be honest with you over Christmas, I found it hard. Because a lot of Christmas nowadays, it’s for kids and families, and obviously with being homeless and what have you, I’ve not had much family around me because of my struggles in life.
So obviously I do tend to struggle on Christmas – because Christmas is for families.
So you’ll probably find Christmas, me and Poppy will probably go out for a Christmas Day walk, or something like that, because it’s what we’re used to now.
I almost had to stand on my own two feet since I was about 14/15 years old. Like, I grew up in quite a bad childhood and what have you. So subsequently was taken off my parents.”
“It’s hard because obviously this time of year a lot of people are out Christmas shopping. I understand where people come from when they just walk past you, or whatever.
If you’re walking past them, maybe get a hot chocolate or even something from Greggs.
Yeah, obviously offer, maybe offer a hot chocolate, a hot drink or something hot to eat, maybe.”
