So, I have news! Meet the new addition to our family, Dora. Mr BBB wouldn’t let me call her ADORAble so we have settled in the middle 😊

I know that several readers have encouraged the ‘adopt, don’t shop’ way of me getting a new dog so by way of explanation, we really, really tried. For almost a year. We are restricted in what type of dog we can have because of family allergies, so it’s curly coats only for us. We also need a small dog that can travel with us easily because as both our sets of parents get older, we are between Scotland, Yorkshire and Kent quite regularly now.

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I applied several times for a rescue dog but a very large proportion of rescues need another dog in the home, which I don’t have. The small, curly coats come up very rarely. I was successful in one application that required four interviews of one sort or another, amendments to our garden (which we made) and came with stringent warnings about her background. It was emphasized so many times how hard rescues can be to settle that I lost confidence that I could do right by her but we proceeded. I spoke to her foster carer on the phone who cried because she didn’t want her to leave – I said at the time, look, I realise that you have totally bonded with this dog, please keep her. She told me that she wasn’t allowed to keep her. So, we went across London just after Christmas to collect her – I had everything, blankets, travel stuff, a new bed. I’d wanted to send a blanket so she had something that smelled like me at least to get used to but wasn’t allowed. When we arrived, there were more tears, the beautiful, shy dog wasn’t nearly as small as I’d been told  – I know we had big asks but it’s where we are in life. The foster carers clearly were devastated that she was going and I just ended up feeling taking her was the wrong thing to do.

It was one of the most upsetting experiences of my life. I paid in full for her so at least the charity had a good donation. So, because dogs are such an integral part of my life, we made the choice to buy from a reputable breeder who is very local to where we live. I’ve followed the breeder on Facebook for almost two years and when I saw Dora, I knew she was the one. So she has joined our family. My confidence was so badly dented from the rescue experience that I questioned myself over and over about whether I should even have another dog. We have a trainer booked every week to hold my hand (I raised Honey and Coco instinctively without thinking twice) and help with my confidence so that we can train Dora to be a happy to travel, sociable and relaxed little dog.

So, please know that I did my best to adopt and it just didn’t work out. But Dora is a joy and I think in this convoluted, roundabout way, it was meant to be. So, that’s why posts may be sporadic for the next couple of weeks – although saying that, she is asleep in her bed next to me as I type so maybe I will get more work done than I thought!

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