he new addition 2
re you still watching this space?

If you read the previous article you will, perhaps, have agonised with us over the difficulties we experienced getting our new Bernese puppy. As I said then, we wondered if someone was trying to tell us something, and worse was to come. Out of the blue, ten days before we were due to collect him, we lost our beloved Bess, so suddenly and unexpectedly.

The Breeder kindly offered to keep him, and return our deposit, but we knew that if we did not go ahead it would be a long time before we could face getting a puppy again. How right we were - on the 11th July a seven and a half week old tornado entered our lives, a bit like the Mongol Hordes descending on the Roman Empire; so different from our girl, but equally adorable. It seems pretentious to call this 'small' bundle of fluff 'Coliburn Sirius' (the Dog Star, for the ignorant!) - and anyone who says 'surely you can't be sirious' is off our Christmas card list - so he will be Rusty henceforth.

Disaster continued! The next day my husband was rushed into hospital, for seven weeks, though we didn't know it at the time. (Here I would like to thank family and friends who rallied for puppy-sitting while I visited - especially my daughter, without whom I really would have been 'up the creek'!) - great for pup's socialisation, though!

Rusty's first week passed fairly quietly, figuratively speaking, as he is a very vocal little creature with a lemming-like vocabulary. Some might even call him 'gobby'. The first weekend we had a yukky tummy upset; someone cruel called him a 'hummy monster', and I even received a phone call enquiring after the health of 'Typhoid Fido' - ask around if you don't understand that one! However, it finally turned out to be a large piece of coke which he had eaten and then passed - ouch! The first time our daughter-in-law saw him she dubbed him 'Sonic', I am told a reference to his hairstyle. He seemed to aspire to an even more exalted nickname by trying to walk on water in our daughter's pond - unsuccessfully, I might add, as the wire covering collapsed.

Meal times are fun. Having previously had a dog that was very difficult to feed, it is rather gratifying to own a locust, even though his diet does include things not on the Breeder's list - like sticks, leaves, envelopes, carpet fluff and, of course, coke! There is no way you could overlook a meal, since he is out in the kitchen, by the worktop, at the appropriate time. He finds eating a tiring experience for a little fella, however. The first third of the meal is eaten standing, the second third sitting, and the rest lying down - and I have photos to prove it. He grows as you watch, but still has the cute puppy face and all that fluff, which draws people like a magnet.

My husband stayed in hospital, and the time dragged on. It seemed a pity that he was missing all the early weeks of ownership, so I approached the Ward Sister, and Rusty became a hospital visiting dog. At least once a week he went into the ward, and soon became a firm favourite of both staff and patients alike. It also meant that when we went to fetch John home at last, he was greeted by an ecstatic puppy who already knew him well.

The first real outing was a baptism of fire - we took him to Harewood House Steam Rally! For the first ten minutes he was a little worried, not unduly so, I might add. After that it was all 'old hat' to him, he seems fairly bomb-proof. Our latest venture is the puppy socialisation class at the local dog training club. Every Monday we join in with a group of eager-to-learn, enthusiastic pupils - and their puppies, whose main aim is to roll on the floor and play. His heelwork is a little less than perfect, but he will sit and go down and, after being held struggling by the trainer at one end of the Hall, he does an instant recall straight to me - well, we've only been twice.

As you have probably guessed, he is firmly fixed in our hearts, and undoubtedly there will be even more in future issues; who knows, he may even become as literate as his predecessor.

October 1993

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