Hi guys, it’s 5.15 in the morning, but all is quiet in casa Rosbif except for the contented scufflings and snorings of 3 little rescue dogs. I’m awake really just due to keeping an ear open for any restlessness so we can take the “new kid” out super fast if needed.

Yesterday was both exhilarating and exhausting in equal measure.

We spotted the little lady on a rescue site we’ve been following for some years and she seemed like such a good fit for us.

After passing a very thorough home check we had a 3 hour trip for a meet and greet with a view to taking her home on foster.

The paddock at the rescue centre was a billion degrees, and having taken Sheldon with us to meet her, they were both very hot and tired so they were mainly indifferent to each other. She is bouncy, super friendly and quite submissive, needing lots of reassurance.

She slept the whole 3 hours home, was so easy to put her harness on her, in fact I’ve never seen a dog more relaxed in the car.

When we got home she explored the garden and house from top to bottom, jumping straight on our bed a couple of times. I then went to collect Cleo from Mums with a view to walking all 3 of them together on neutral ground before a formal introduction. Everything went really well, with half an hour the girls were curled up like bookends at opposite ends of the sofa.

Shelly and Cleo are a little unsure of her, plenty of sniffing, but she’s been quite needy for affection and reassurance so we’ve been very careful to not show any individual any favouritism. I was stroking Shelly and she positioned herself in between us, so I moved her. She’ll learn that there’s plenty of love to go around with some time.

We’ve had no food jealousy, she is on a mix of wet and dry, so fed her on lead separately, she’s made no attempt to eat food from Cleo’s bowl and they’re all sharing a water bowl nicely.

Given that she’s come from a high kill shelter in Spain, into foster care and then to us, her trust has been exceptional, behaviour can be trained with time and patience but her temperament so far has been impeccable. Being around our 2 I hope will just increase her confidence.

At bedtime, it took about 6 attempts to settle her into her bed, once she saw that we were just going to be sleeping across the room, she settled right down. Then Craig got up to go to the loo and 2 bounds later I had a dog-parrot, on the bed and on my shoulder. We put her back to bed and she hasn’t moved since. She’s very alert, traffic noise and people passing have caused her to lift her head and cock an ear but she’s soon realised that she’s ok.

I’m going to try to sleep again now, training proper, will begin tomorrow!

TTFN xx