Don't Give Up...

We love our pets at Number 10..... Big-small, old-young, crazy-sane...come one come all we say.

I've written about this girl before. She loves the outdoors and the feel of wind in her face.

She's been with us for three years now...but boy, has she been "work".

We got her from the Lost Dogs Home and while she's a wonderful dog now, she was really testing our patience in the early days and we weren't sure if we were going to make it. But we have...and while she still has some "issues", we accept that that's just the way she's always going to be and we try to help her feel more confident.

When we first got her, we couldn't pat her on the head as she'd act as though she was going to be hit...and she had a terrible case of submissive urination. I've lost count of how many times I had to clean up after her. We still have to ignore her for a while after arriving home from work, otherwise she wets herself with excitement and to please us...funny how dogs' heads work. All I can say is thank God we don't have carpet in the house!

Our theory is that she must have been abused as a younger dog because every time a stranger comes into the front garden she barks and yelps as though she's been hit...and when a male wearing overalls comes in, it's even worse, verging on uncontrollable. She still carries on a bit, but is learning to be a little more relaxed.

While she's tested our patience, my advice and plea to anyone getting a mature dog from, anywhere really, is to give them time to settle in and please, not give up on them.

She really is the most loving and lovable girl and I couldn't imagine our lives without her....if only we could work on her bloody awful snoring problem!