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Not quite the last legs

We've had a slightly fraught weekend all told - with most of the focus being of the canine variety. Abi and I walked the dogs together on Saturday morning and just when it couldn't feel more relaxed - up early, dry despite the forecast, chatting away - Scooby had a funny turn. I'm not sure exactly what happened but he was running up the hill when suddenly he fell over. It looked from where we were like someone had shot him - he flipped up in the air and came down hard and then with only a single wag of his tail lay motionless. If this sounds dramatic then that's about right - it was - made more so by the fact that Abi was watching it all. I ran up to him and he was breathing hard and looking very distressed. I talked to him to calm him down and then got Abi to do the same - albeit she was in floods of tears. After a couple of minutes he got up and somewhat unsteadily walked off. Not nice to see and even worse when Abi said she just couldn't get the image of him dropping to the ground out of her head. He seemed fine for the rest of the day but it has cast a shadow over the weekend, leading to some interesting discussions and events.

We got home in one piece and told Glenn and Izzy what had happened. Glenn as ever is very matter of fact - we are all going to go sometime - not very helpful in the face of things - and of course Abi got upset again. After everyone calmed down I headed out for a swim only to come back to some parallel universe. Everybody was suddenly talking about Nigel. Who is Nigel? you might ask (as did I). Well Nigel is a dog at the Dogs Trust and somehow in my absence he had potentially become part of our happy home! It transpires that Abi's tears had led Glenn to think 'we'll need another dog to replace Scooby when he goes, but I'm not having a puppy', and so had gone looking for a rescue dog! Before I knew what was happening we'd eaten lunch and were getting in the car to visit Nigel!


We arrived at the dogs home and registered, explained our situation and were allowed into the kennels where a dozen expectant faces stared back at us from their kennels. Top tip - don't ever go to one of these places with your kids if you are 'only thinking about it' - it doesn't work that way. Despite the signs that read 'this dog is super excitable and needs significant attention' or 'this dog cannot be homed with other dogs, animals, kids etc.', all the dogs were on their very best behaviour and looked as though butter wouldn't melt in their mouths.


When we arrived Nigel was being viewed by another family which upped the ante even more - competition! Izzy immediately fell for Nigel who was supposed to be a Bulldog but looked more like a long legged Staffie. He sat docilely being stroked by her, every inch the perfect dog. Abi fell for a dog called Pippa who was being 'reassessed' - for this read she's trouble even if she looks cute... Luckily for us neither Nigel or Pippa turned out to be suitable and so we managed to get away dogless, with Izzy in tears and Abi making the point loudly that Scooby is still with us so we don't even need another dog! She's right - last Christmas I made her a canvas print full of photos of Scooby because he was on his last legs. The year before that we ended up with Bertie for the same reason. Scooby could be with us for years yet!


At least this moment of madness has allowed us all to agree we won't do anything until we need to. It also got me thinking about what is the best choice next time round. Glenn is adamant he doesn't want a puppy and I get that. I'd like something that has some innate desire to be trained and is calm when out and about as well as in the house. Boxers are basically puppies until about 5 minutes before they die. A thought occurred to me that maybe a part trained working dog might be the answer - something that has been trained, is a bit older when we get it so has been through the chewing stage and has already learnt some manners. Bertie came to us at 5 months but its clear that this wasn't because he could've made the show ring but they decided on the other one. There's no way he has the temperament for standing still like that! I also want a dog who will walk all day, or not if need be. I posed this as an option to Glenn and the girls and it was a definite hit... but not yet - we still have the dog who just keeps going, and long may that be the case.

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