and this is the reason – her name is Abby.
After her first puppy groom:
I really had forgotten how time consuming puppies can be. She’s very good and learning fast, but boundless energy can be a bit exhausting. I’m not finding it easy to fit in her hectic social life – puppy parties, walks with her favourite dogs and puppies and training classes – it’s worse than having a small child. She is twenty weeks old now and I feel I have aged significantly since she arrived. But it has been fun – walks in the forest, on the beach and she adores small children. Amazingly she hasn’t savaged any visitors or grandchildren yet!
Very high maintenance with her long coat but once her adult coat comes in I may decide to have her close clipped. She’s a devil for muddy puddles and water but she loves being brushed.
We tried to adopt an adult rescue dog but after a year nothing suitable was available, and frankly it would probably have been easier to adopt a child, so we decided on a puppy. She’s cocker spaniel/poodle cross and such a clever good natured puppy. A cockapoo, but no lap dog, this one!
Boadicea's Chariot 
They grow up fast! The problem with long-haired dogs, as you say, is keeping them clean. The Lord and Master of the House is a Long-haired Dachshund/Chihuahua cross and is a right little devil! Still, they’re lovely creatures — especially when they get old and calm down.
Hi Christopher.
Luckily the soil round here is very sandy – typical forest/ heathland so she normally dries out quickly but yes, I anticipate her hairdressing bills will be significantly greater than mine, but they are non-shedding which is a bonus.
When she’s older she will have to be clipped every two months or so.
Lovely little dog. I have heard the same tale from various of the difficulty of adopting dogs from shelters. Whilst they are so very picky, I wonder what happens to all the dogs not being adopted? Doesn’t sound too good for them does it?
She is a little charmer, Tina.
I know exactly what you mean about rescue dogs – we just kept failing and for stupid reasons, and frankly it’s absurd. There are so many of them who need homes and we theoretically would have been ideal.
Our last dog was a rescue dog, but it was so much easier then. We really didn’t want to get a puppy but it was a last resort. Glad we did though, at least it she turns out to be the dog from hell, which I doubt, it will be entirely our own fault.
One of the best ways I know to get approved is to give a donation regularly to a no kill shelter of your choice annually.
They don’t like turning those people down!
That is a very good idea.
Most of the rescue centres locally do not have their dogs put down if they can’t rehome them.
Perhaps a thought for later when Abby is a bit older. I wouldn’t mind another one.
What a super little Woof!!
My last dog in the UK – George – was a rescue dog. A more lovable, friendly, good-natured dog would be hard to find. Unless a tradie came to the house dressed in blue denim overalls, the type with a bib at the front like an apron. George would change into an attack dog until the guy went away or changed his clothes. We reckoned that it was pretty clear who had abused him as a tiny puppy.
And a Happy New Year to you, too. 🙂
Aw, thank you, Bearsy.
She’s really cute and I’m trying not to spoil her. I’m being quite strict at the moment, but it’s not easy. She is a super little pup.
Rescue dogs can be hard work, but they usually come round in the end. Our last one, Penny, was a lovely dog but she was picked up at about a year old and had been living rough for quite a while. She was starving and long coated like an Old English Sheepdog.She was so matted they had to take her coat almost down to her skin. She couldn’t resist chasing birds, squirrels and mice.
Happy New Year to you and Boadicea. 🙂
Mrs J thought it was a Wheaten Terrier..
Nice doggie, Arrers! Happy new year to you, Bilbers and Abbers! Bet she thinks monkfish is second to nun. 😀
Jazz, I can see why, they do look similar, especially the puppies.
🙂
Happy New Year to you too Janus.
Mornin’ Araminta. I agree with the sentiments above that Abby is one very cute puppy. I’ve heard of Labradoodles before, but never a Cockerpoo and I must remember never, ever to show your piccies to the NSW or she will want one too.
Rescue dogs seem to fall on their feet whenever they encounter Charioteers, a case in point being our very rare Labrastreetmutt relaxing recently after a heavy lunch.
Her bed has a Tempur mattress and is much more comfy than ours. She was on a ‘leg relief’ day, hence the exposed pin set in her shin onto which her blade fixes.
OZ
Nice doggie, OZ. Pity dogs are hairy, smelly and more trouble than a …….well, almost anything! 😎
Janus: having lived in San Francisco, China and been around members of the hard-left I can honestly say that there are many people who are hairier, smellier and more trouble than anything else! I’ll take dogs.
😳😄
Good evening, OZ, and good to see you.
I remember your posts about your Labrastreetmutt. She certainly looks pretty relaxed. She’s a lucky dog to have found you and the NSW.
Our poor deprived puppy doesn’t have a proper bed at the moment, but if we bought one she’s just chew it to bits or occasionally pee on it, so she’s on Vetbed and towels, which just get thrown in the washing machine pretty frequently. She’s also normally covered in mud because this winter has been so wet!
I’ll have to take a photograph of her when she is bedraggled and muddy and then the NSW would probably go off the idea of a blondish, furry bundle.
Janus, she says sternly, this puppy is certainly hairy, but she doesn’t smell! She can be a the Puppy from Hell occasionally but she’s terribly easy to forgive. She exudes charm and cuteness.
I agree, Christopher. 🙂
Dogs are far nicer and less complicated than humans as a rule.
OK OK! Nice doggies! 😄
Much better, Janus. 😉
Walking dog at this time of year is a bit of a trial, they get so wet and muddy. Collies have fairly thick coats so they can absorb a lot of mud and water which can get distributed around the house unless you wash and dry them after each walk. A neighbour has two Pyranean Mountain dogs and her mud problem is potentially twice as bad so she bought one of these these . She’s had it for a couple of years and swerves by it, apparently it bows out all the water, mud and loose hair.
Ours arrived today, so tomorrow the dogs are getting a long muddy walk, so that I can road test the machine.
Araminta – The NSW has glimpsed a photo of Abby and wants her in return for an Ethel. I presume this is a no brainer, done deal in which case I will swiftly arrange and finance the respective transfers for both and quarantine for your dear niece.
Jazz – Are you bonkers, man? The Labrastreetmutt (aka Silvie) pictured above hates Hoovers and Dysons (other marques are also available) with a passion and would be in the next county within ten seconds of your new toy being switched on. What if you have spent more than £130 and les animaux won’t go near it?
OZ
Exactly – muddy and more trouble than they are worth. Grmph! 😠
Oz, Les animaux will if necessary be tethered…….this is not a democracy.
Janus, you’re not a dog person ?
Hitler was very fond of dogs, his first dog was a Jack Russell acquired in the WW1 trenches. The dog had become separated from its owner, a British Officer, or perhaps it was a messenger dog. Anyhow Hitler rescued it. >:)
Don’t believe a word of it. It’s canine club propaganda.
http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.co.uk/2007/06/hilters-stolen-jack-russell.html
Jazz, beware of conspiracy theorists!
” muddy and more trouble than they are worth”
Sounds more like a description of the husbands rather than the dogs!
The dogs were always the great acid test of putative husbands. If they wouldn’t try to sit on his lap or get to like him, he had to go! Equally if he objected to dogs on furniture and beds he was rated in the same category as football fans, left wing luvvies, alcoholics, PC creeps and other total undesirables and had to go PDQ.
When spousal unit hove to on the scene the current incumbent top dog, a JR named Cindy, was outraged by his misappropriation of HER seat in the car, namely the front passenger seat to which she had had an unassailable right for the last couple of years She used to stand on the box thing between the seats giving him the ultimate death stare which she had to perfection, to no avail.
“He doesn’t move, how dare he take my seat?”
Finally in utter rage she stomped on top of him, trampled up and down and finally sat down on him glaring.
She was utterly discombobulated when he cuddled her and made her comfortable. Not the desired result at all.
But it did! They became the best of friends.
.
Dear OZ. A complete no brainer. No deal, I couldn’t possibly deprive you or Ethel’s company in exchange for the Puppy from Hell.
Nice try!
Jazz. Do let me know how you get on with the device. I think they use them at the groomers so Abby would probably be used to one.
I doubt if I’ll get one though. We walk mainly on sandy heathland or beaches so it’s not really thick mud and it’s mainly legs and belly get muddy. She has a washing up bowl by the back door which she splodges in when we come back and then we just towel her off.
On the heath:
Arrers, you and Abbers seem to have scared everybody away. Naughty doggie!
I see what you mean, Janus. It’s quite a big area of heath and forest but we do meet other dog walkers, horses and joggers occasionally.
Muddy puppy today after her walk.
We haven’t been able to test the dog blaster fully, it just hasn’t really been wet and muddy enough. We had a small trial yesterday on Ollie (the collie), he wasn’t keen and behaved like a small bucking bronco.
Ah, yes it’s suddenly been frosty and cold. All the muddy puddles are drying up where we normally walk.
I think it will take a while for them to become used to it, Jazz.
Slowly and gradually increase the exposure, perhaps.
That’s also my rule on the beach, Arrers! Otherwise the shock of seeing the beach-body is too great to survive!
Akshully, Arrers, I was accusing you both of scaring off all the cherished charioteers! 😱
Oh, I see, Janus.
Not intentionally, dear chap!
We used the blaster on the dogs today as they were moderately muddy. It worked very well and the dogs weren’t too upset, I think they’ll get used to it before too long. Using the machine is far better than having to clean them off with water and a towel.
Jazz – I like the sound of Ollie the Collie. We once had Sam(uel) the Spanuel and a great dog he was too, despite his love of muddy, stagnant pools in the forest.
OZ
Thanks for the feedback, Jazz.
I’ll wait until her adult coat comes through and see how it goes.