Goodbye Dude - Hello Nelly

Yesterday we said goodbye to Dude, the Guide Dog puppy we've been fostering for almost a year. He has graduated to formal training and once he completes that he will go on to his new companion. While he's been with us he's been involved in inclusive education programs at all sorts of places - schools, day cares, community groups, even the local pub! He's had such a fantastic and positive impact on the whole community and we'll all miss him.
The poor guy hadn't even been gone for 24 hours when his 'replacement' arrived!
Nelly is a 5 month old border collie. Her original foster family couldn't care for her any more and they were having trouble finding a family to take her on this late. Naturally, after only saying goodbye to Dude yesterday, having 3 toddlers, way too many animals and an already busy time table this month - I said yes.
She's full of beans and has a beautiful nature, she loves the girls already (although she hasn't been made to take part in one of their fashion parades yet) and she can jump 2.5 meters off the ground. She also pees when she gets too excited (about every 30 seconds, it seems) and she is currently at the bottom of her obedience class. In fact, she is on her 3rd repeat at puppy preschool and doesn't look like she'll be joining the big kids any time soon. What she lacks in application she makes up for (ten fold) in cuteness.
How could you say no to these eyes?

2 comments:

Lin said...

Aw, she looks gorgeous. It'll be interesting to see if she manages to get a bit more focussed in time. It would't surprise me if you (plural, and including the non-human residents too, haha) will have a very positive influence on her and her willingness to please.

Alison said...

She is gorgeous - and boy does she use it to get out of trouble!
Unfortunately I think the only impact I'm having at the moment is reinforcing her bad behaviour by laughing at her antics... Actually this sounds a lot like 3 other little people in our house!