Meet Lily, a Yorkshire Terrier x Apricot Poodle. We rescued her when she was almost 2 and our lives haven't been the same since
We definitely don't want a dog! Jacky is very persuasive. Her friend has a dog, and has to get rid of it, it needs a home. Another friend advises against it, he knows the dog and says she's a crazy bounce off the wall type of dog with a big case of small dog syndrome! To be honest though, I don't really take much persuading, (I have wanted a dog ever since reading 'A dog so Small' by Pippa someoneorother), it's Paul who is going to be the sticky one! I threaten that we are adopting either a dog or a ferret!
Right, devise a plan. Yes dinner, good idea, Lily will come round with Jacky and her current owner and we will have sausages and mash and try Lily out for size. So far so good on the Paul front. They all arrive and we have a great evening ... apart from the small issue that is Lily, she ignores everyone except Nicky and sits smuggly on her lap all evening. I desperately lie on the floor in the kitchen in my least threatening manner begging her to be stroked to no avail.
Nicky is very sure she will be fine, I am not so convinced, she seems like a one person dog to me. I thought she was coming for a small visit, just an evening meal. But I see her bed has come too, food, two leads, toys, coats, the lot. Well it's a bit of a surprise but now she is staying on a ten day trial to see how we get on. Turns out all she needed to switch allegiance is the absence of the previous owner and friend. By 11pm the washing up is done and yorkiedoodle Lily is on my lap. I am totally and completely head over heels in love, and I do hope that Lily is a tiny weeny bit too.
The next day, visiting Jacky so that Lily has some continuity from the past, I tell Jacky that the trial is over. Oh my God, Nicky has just knocked on her door and I am a crazy person hiding in the loo clutching Lily to my heart and whispering to her that she will never be given away again. I hope she understands.
Lily doesn't take long to dive into our hearts and seep into our bones. She comes to work with me every day so we have many hours together. She learns tricks in exchange for toys until she has an impressive range; paw, sit, lie down, rollover. In the end a request to sit is followed by all the rest in quick succession just for a teensy morsel of treat or the throw of a toy. Paul does her morning walk and, as it is still dark at 5pm (she arrived on 10th February), each evening we just have a brisk walk up the track. I learn to trust that she wont run off and she learns to trust that I will be walking 30 yards behind her as she runs forwards and backwards in increasing distances. The rest of her exercise is chasing toys and her mad half hour of belting round the house at about 9pm.