A year ago my heart broke
when we had to have our dog Daisy put to sleep. Before it happened
we decided we wouldn't get another dog as they are such a commitment
and then when we did lose her the pain hit me so hard I was convinced
I never wanted to feel like that again.
Daisy
Willow really wanted to get
a puppy though, so we fobbed her off with a few rats and she stopped
asking.
It was me that broke. I
started to feel something was missing and then I realised that 30 of
my 44 (45 now) years on this planet I have had a dog. Pip, my first
dog made it to 18 and Daisy was 12. I slowly realised that even
though I was devastated when Daisy went, the joy she brought to our
lives was so worth it.
Pip
When we were looking for a
dog way back I saw a photo in a book of a poodle that was black and
white in colour and fell in love. I had never seen a poodle that was
more than one colour before and the text with the photo said that
this sort of colour was 'undesirable' and you very rarely found them,
if ever. This was also before everyone had access to the internet so
there was no way to really research it either. So I thought no more
of it and we finally bought Daisy, and we were very happy that we
did. While we were in America though we saw a black and white puppy
called Bailey, who was adorable and made me realise that they were
out there and were called parti poodles, though I think they use to
be called harlequin.
So when we decided to get
another dog I had my heart set on a parti poodle. One because I
thought they were amazing and two, even though it would still be a
poodle it would be quite different from Daisy and hopefully not
remind me too much of her. So the search began but I knew it was
going to be a tough one as parti poodles aren’t that common and it
seemed girls were even harder to find. Every dog I came across of
course I wanted but I knew it was important to find the right dog for
the family as it would have so much to live up to, and waiting was
definitely the right thing to do as Apple is just wonderful and came
from an amazing home and has amazing parents, which was also
important. We met her Mum but not her Dad, though I am now friends
with him on Facebook, and yes I do mean the dog not the owner of the
dog.
So our home once more feels
complete, with a puppy bouncing around it and she certainly does
bounce. She is an amazing little thing and very well behaved (so
far) for a puppy and has settled in really quick. The first couple
of nights she slept on the floor next to me and only cried for five
minutes the first night. After we knew she wouldn't have any
accidents in the night she was on the bed. Though one night she
curled up on the floor again quite happy and went to sleep. It was
me that caved in and went and got her and put her on the bed. She
still hangs on to her lead on walks if not distracted and seems to
like Tweedy and Willows trouser legs quite a bit, but we are getting
there. Most of the time she asks to go out if she needs to and sits,
comes and drops when asked. She also seems pretty settled when we
leave her alone in the kitchen for short periods of time, so that
should please the neighbours.
We have managed to find some
really good puppy classes that Willow and Apple are doing really well
in and a really good vet that does free monthly puppy checks to get
them use to the surgery. I think this is a great thing to do as the
dog won't associate the vets with something horrible like injections
or somewhere to go when only ill. Next thing to find is a dog
groomer with poodle experience. We went to lots of different ones
with Daisy over the years due to travelling and some of them were
really hit and miss when it came to poodles. Hopefully we will find
a good local one now that we are more settled.
And so a new adventure
begins in a fluffy, black and white Apple shape...
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