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Meet Bertie Bassett!

Half term madness - we have a new puppy! We've been talking for a while about when is the right time to have a puppy, do we wait until Scooby is much older,  what type of dog etc etc. Against this discussion we have the girls asking, begging for another dog. Why we need more than one I don't know but there we go. The one thing I was absolutely clear on was we were not having another boxer, definitely not a male and preferably a smaller breed. So, welcome to Bertie, a 5 month old male boxer with enormous paws. He is such a cutie - very chilled out and very much part of the family already. We found him on a website just by chance - I'd decided maybe an older puppy would be best (the only criteria I stuck to!) and just as I was looking up he popped, just put on by a breeder in Wiltshire who had been raising 2 puppies and decided the other was more suitable to continue with so Bertie was for sale. We met her husband at her daughter's house in Devises where 2 other boxers were also running free - 4 boxers in total including Scooby, chaos! So far so good. The girls love him, Scooby is making the most of the extra attention he's getting and being that bit older he's a bit less trouble. He lives being outside is very happy with everyone he's met and is generally lovely to be around. As far as manners in the house, he gets the fact that he should be outside to pee, but seems to be far more interested in everything else when we are walking to do anything else. So we are getting obsessed about dog poo - just as I thought my life had moved on for that side of things! Our house feels full of dog but also full of fun and smiles - not a bad combo.

What it's not full of now is hamsters. Bella has found a new home, going to a friend of Glenn's sisters who collects furry friends. While I feel a bit guilty that we didn't manage to last the distance with her, at least we didn't cast her out to fend for herself (as suggested by some), we know she's gone to a good home. I did have to send a frantic follow up text to remind them if her favourite food, let's hope she gets her nightly raisins and is a fat and happy rodent for some while to come.

The rest of half term has been a bit more run of the mill, other than the equally spontaneous car purchase which I wasn't anticipating! Glenn has been suggesting for a while that I should change my Merc estate for an ML, because clearly we need another big car. I've been saying it's fine but in a moment of weakness I let him take me to the garage and before you know it they've called back with a deal that we negotiated on and got to a place everyone was happy with. So we have a shiny new
puppy and a shiny new car. Definitely time to go back to work before anything else turns up!

The girls have had a lovely week off, we all have. The weather has been good enough to be able to get outside every day, we've done lots together a s a family, we got down to Somerset last weekend, we had a brilliant day on Wednesday in the sunshine clearing wood and building bonfires, all in all very nice. I've managed to keep away from emails (mostly), and the week back at work isn't looking too hectic. Famous last words!

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