OUR FAMILY OF 6....OR WAS IT 7?

THE DAY BEFORE

So we had got everything we could possibly need for a dog and then some. We had cleaned the house, put down the puppy pads and gave a pep talk to the cat. She was on her way. In the days leading up to this, me and my partner had discussed new names for her. You really don't realise how many people you don't like until you are trying to decide on a name. Many, many hours later we had settled on Jessie! Due to her coming from Romanian it takes several days of travel and there wasn't a set time for her arriving, however we were giving an estimate and just my luck, I would be working when she arrived. Well fate came back into play there and thankfully I was home when she arrived. After staring at my phone for hours watching the updates and seeing all the other dogs being dropped off, I got a message to say that she would be next!

JESSIE ARRIVES

The van pulled up (affectionately known as the Happy Bus) and she was brought out to us. She was smaller than I thought and a skinny little thing but she had those big hazel eyes that I had fallen in love with. She was shaking and scared so my partner carried her into the house. As soon as he put her down she went straight out into the back garden! She had a sniff around and then came up to us, tail wagging. After a rough start to life and 4 days travel. Finally she was home!

For the first few days she slept most of the time, only getting up for food and to go out to the back garden. By choice she slept downstairs either on the floor or on her bed. You remember all the toys we bought for her? Pointless! She had no interest in any of them. She had spent her time on the streets of Romania and had clearly never been taught how to play like a normal dog. This broke my heart but nevertheless she was content. She was still a bit wary of things but very quickly learned to trust us. She ADORED my partner. He spent most of his time on the floor with her, and she loved the attention. I was nervous about her meeting the cat but she took that in her stride, giving him a quick sniff and then walking off. It was a little different with our 2 outdoor rabbits. To begin with she thought they were food and would chase them around the garden but after we trained her to see rabbits as friends and not food she mostly just ignores them.   

When you get a dog from Romania, by law they must stay indoors for the first 48 hours but now it was day 3 and we were so excited to take her out. She wasn't sure of the lead at first, getting herself tangled up in it but slowly she got the hang of it. The first few walks were only around the block. She was nervous on the main road and frightened of the cars going past but by positive reinforcement and repetition she overcame that fear quickly.

My partner and I spent most of our time just staring at her in awe. She was just amazing! Overcoming her fears and becoming more and more confident every day. She was such a laid back dog and was happy to spend her days snoozing in the sun!      

NOW

Jessie has been with us almost 2 months now and honestly I can't imagine my life before her. She is just such a wonderful companion to share your life with. She still spends the majority of her time snoozing in the sun in the back garden. She and the cat have now become best buddies and she will affectionately lick him if he's close by. She has finally learned how to play with toys. She only likes soft fluffy toys, so we make sure she has plenty of them. We had sworn that we wouldn't let the dog sleep our bed....that lasted for about 2 weeks.

Sometimes she prefers to sleep on the floor where its cooler but more often that not she is spread out on the bed and taking up all the space. So life was great. Jessie was settled and we thought that was us done with adopting for now. Boy were we wrong! I now volunteer for the Pawprints2Freedom charity and whilst doing this I realised that one of Jessie's pups hadn't been adopted. I think you can guess the end of this story. We have now adopted her puppy Ralph,

RALPH

and he should be arriving within the next month! He is around 7 months old and by the looks of the pictures and videos he is already the same size as Jessie. He is going to be a whole new adventure and I will post updates on him when he arrives. Dogs are a bit like buses. You wait forever for one to come along and then two arrive at once!