It's all about Betty

Bertie gets the short straw

on the beds again

I'm wondering whether I should start a new blog given the kids are generally off doing their own thing now and normally hate for me to take a photo of them, so it gets harder and harder to write about their antics. The dogs on the other hand love being with me, never complain if I take a photo and with Betty having settled in, there is never a dull moment. 

She has become a fully blown member of the family very quickly - accepted by all, even if she has no clue yet about house training and we seem to spend a lot of the day wiping up puddles. How she can go 8 hours over night without a mishap when it seems 8 minutes is a push during the day I do not know. She does understand that when we take her outside (about every 30 mins at the moment, plus when she wakes up and when she has just eaten), its time to pee, but that doesn't stop her from coming in and doing it again. I guess it takes a bit more time for her to realise that doing this outside gets praise and inside gets sighs and yet another piece of kitchen roll.

Shoes sorted by Betty

when we popped out for an hour

Bertie has taken to his responsibilities very well and both plays with her and puts her in her place in equal 
measures. He loves to run around the lawn (not so great given it is a bit of a quagmire at the moment with all the rain we have had) at a lolloping pace so she can just about keep up with him. I'm sure I read that at this age she should only have a max of 10 mins exercise twice a day but if she were in the wild it wouldn't be rationed so I'm assuming as long as its not too over the top its fine. We spent an hour outside this afternoon in between rain showers where I raked leaves and they 'helped' while also running around and getting into the hedges. At the end she came into the house, peed (of course after all being outside for an hour who doesn't need to then come into the house and have a wee?!) and then collapsed into an exhausted heap for an hour. This is probably a good thing - Bertie needs a break from her every so often!

Other than Bertie we all love her too - it's hard not too with a face that cute. She is at the bouncy stage of jumping on everything that moves and gets distracted very easily unless it's food - she loves her food! We've moved her onto the same sort of mix as Bertie (people food as far as they are concerned) and she hoovers it down. She's gained a third of her body weight in the 2 weeks she's been with us so we are definitely doing something right. If she grows into her paws then she's going to be as big as Bertie I suspect. 

It's now half term and so the kids are free to do what they like, Abi goes to Angie's tomorrow where she has now been promoted to Assistant Yard Supervisor (aka Chief Yard Slave). She is now going every other weekend plus some of the holidays and I think the arrangement is working well. she is getting paid for her time there and gets a whole heap of responsibilities which she thrives on and loves. When I turned up to collect her last Sunday the yard was looking spotless and she was tired but happy and looking forward to going again. Its just a shame the weather is a bit rubbish this week - the rain and wind will mean she's unlikely to get out hunting as per planned. 

Izzy on the other hand will be heading off on Wednesday with Glenn to an Enduro training day on her motorbike. It's a 6 hour course which should take her through basic skills and help her to go faster - perfect - just what I want!! I hope the focus is going safely faster rather than just faster! She's really looking forward to it and Glenn enjoys seeing her riding so its a win-win. I will be mainly working while trying to anticipate the puddles - I feel like a potty training parent again!