MISHA (@RB), APRIL (@RB), CARI, RICO, ROSIEVI & DAISY2LEGS' FRIENDS, M

On 5 December 2005, Jackie writes:
Santa Paws is coming to a town near me on Saturday with a very special gift and if all goes well we three will be four and "CT'" will come home with us and be Annie's new friend. We hope she likes him and he likes her. I'm sure he will because she is a puppy at heart and will want him to play chase all day long.
So who is CT? He belongs to the breeders that we bought all our Airedales from; he was two years in July and they have been showing him but he's not so keen on the show ring so they planned to retire him. He has been brought up in the house as a family pet and apparently is quite a mummy's boy. They had not planned to sell him; he would have stayed a pet but because they know we cannot have a puppy at present and know that he will have a very good home with us they have offered him as a gift.
We are a whole box of mixed emotions: happy sad excited scared. Will he like us, will we like him, hope he won't boss Annie about too much. The breeder has placed a lot of trust in us to take care of this boy; it's a huge responsibility.
We've never seen the dog as he lives in Northern Ireland and we live in southeast England so we can't just drop in and get to know him. The breeders are also judges; there is a big dog show in Birmingham this Saturday and they are bringing him over. We will drive there about two hours . . . have a look around at the show and meet up with Roy, Marion & CT and bring him home with us.

Everything is very strange and I miss my mum but this new one's ok; she gave me cheese and toast and cuddles and lets me sleep in her room . . . nobody else gets to do this. I think we'll get on just fine.

On 14 December, Jackie writes:
Well, it's day five with the new boy and little by little his character is starting to show.
He will follow me around, whine at the bathroom door 'til I come out and greet me with joy in his face. He sleeps in the hallway outside my door on a fleece next to Annie's bed, but sneaks in during the night and sleeps on the floor at the foot of my bed and doesn't come near me till I get out of bed. Then he bounces about; his latest game is to wait until I lift one leg to put on my track suit, then push me so I fall over. You can see he thinks this is fun.

You can see what a big boy I am from the breakfast bar and the height of the worktops in the background. My nose is level with them; it's so easy to breathe in and oops the food just disappears! If I stand up to say hello I can put my paws on Jackie's shoulders and kiss her on the nose and I can look her in the eye.

After our walk this morning, I was busy getting washed & dressed for work; he had been by the bathroom door, then on his fleece, so I had stopped watching him. Then I went into the bedroom and there he was - head on my pillow, legs stretched out - he lifted his head as I walked in the room and waited for my reaction.
"Get down," I shouted, but not really loud as I didn't want Tom to hear. CT jumped off the bed and into the hall in what seemed like one move and stood in a playbow, wagging his tail.
Well, that got your attention, didn't it? he smiled at me. It's difficult to chastise him when he does that.
Yesterday he stole my sock as I was trying to get dressed and then after I left for work, [he] stole one of my gloves and put it in his bed.

You're not my mum and I'm not going to speak to you.

Tom likes him although he gets a bit irritated with CT when CT ignores him; Tom can't stand to be ignored. When CT ignores us, we try to ignore him 'til he comes to us; then we make a fuss of him so he will get the message that it's good to come to us.
When I take him for his walk I always tell him when we are going home and as I walk in the gate I tell him he's home. Once he's inside and I take his lead off I say, "Let's find Tom," and take him through to Tom repeating it. Then when we find Tom I make a fuss like, "Yay, we've found him! Good boy!" I hope to teach him to find Tom by himself eventually.
We're off to our first training class with him tonight; Tom is going to take CT so he gets used to the wheelchair. CT walks with me next to Tom but it freaks him out a bit if Tom has the lead and moves the chair. It's much harder to train an adult dog as he won't be shoved or pulled like a puppy and I certainly can't pick him up and put him where I want him to be.

Annie: That new boy's been hogging the camera so I thought I'd better put on my Howliday bandana and show him how it's done.

CONTINUE WITH THE McGUINNESS STORY HERE

On 5 December 2005, Jackie writes: Santa Paws is coming to a town near me on Saturday with a very special gift and if all goes well we three will be four and "CT'" will come home with us and be Annie's new friend. We hope she likes him and he likes her. I'm sure he will because she is a puppy at heart and will want him to play chase all day long. So who is CT? He belongs to the breeders that we bought all our Airedales from; he was two years in July and they have been showing him but he's not so keen on the show ring so they planned to retire him. He has been brought up in the house as a family pet and apparently is quite a mummy's boy. They had not planned to sell him; he would have stayed a pet but because they know we cannot have a puppy at present and know that he will have a very good home with us they have offered him as a gift. We are a whole box of mixed emotions: happy sad excited scared. Will he like us, will we like him, hope he won't boss Annie about too much. The breeder has placed a lot of trust in us to take care of this boy; it's a huge responsibility. We've never seen the dog as he lives in Northern Ireland and we live in southeast England so we can't just drop in and get to know him. The breeders are also judges; there is a big dog show in Birmingham this Saturday and they are bringing him over. We will drive there about two hours . . . have a look around at the show and meet up with Roy, Marion & CT and bring him home with us.
	Everything is very strange and I miss my mum but this new one's ok; she gave me cheese and toast and cuddles and lets me sleep in her room . . . nobody else gets to do this. I think we'll get on just fine.
On 14 December, Jackie writes: Well, it's day five with the new boy and little by little his character is starting to show. He will follow me around, whine at the bathroom door 'til I come out and greet me with joy in his face. He sleeps in the hallway outside my door on a fleece next to Annie's bed, but sneaks in during the night and sleeps on the floor at the foot of my bed and doesn't come near me till I get out of bed. Then he bounces about; his latest game is to wait until I lift one leg to put on my track suit, then push me so I fall over. You can see he thinks this is fun.
You can see what a big boy I am from the breakfast bar and the height of the worktops in the background. My nose is level with them; it's so easy to breathe in and oops the food just disappears! If I stand up to say hello I can put my paws on Jackie's shoulders and kiss her on the nose and I can look her in the eye.
After our walk this morning, I was busy getting washed & dressed for work; he had been by the bathroom door, then on his fleece, so I had stopped watching him. Then I went into the bedroom and there he was - head on my pillow, legs stretched out - he lifted his head as I walked in the room and waited for my reaction. "Get down," I shouted, but not really loud as I didn't want Tom to hear. CT jumped off the bed and into the hall in what seemed like one move and stood in a playbow, wagging his tail. Well, that got your attention, didn't it? he smiled at me. It's difficult to chastise him when he does that. Yesterday he stole my sock as I was trying to get dressed and then after I left for work, [he] stole one of my gloves and put it in his bed. *You're not my mum and I'm not going to speak to you.* Tom likes him although he gets a bit irritated with CT when CT ignores him; Tom can't stand to be ignored. When CT ignores us, we try to ignore him 'til he comes to us; then we make a fuss of him so he will get the message that it's good to come to us. When I take him for his walk I always tell him when we are going home and as I walk in the gate I tell him he's home. Once he's inside and I take his lead off I say, "Let's find Tom," and take him through to Tom repeating it. Then when we find Tom I make a fuss like, "Yay, we've found him! Good boy!" I hope to teach him to find Tom by himself eventually. We're off to our first training class with him tonight; Tom is going to take CT so he gets used to the wheelchair. CT walks with me next to Tom but it freaks him out a bit if Tom has the lead and moves the chair. It's much harder to train an adult dog as he won't be shoved or pulled like a puppy and I certainly can't pick him up and put him where I want him to be.
Annie: That new boy's been hogging the camera so I thought I'd better put on my Howliday bandana and show him how it's done.
CONTINUE WITH THE McGUINNESS STORY HERE