Lions and Tigers and Alfie, oh my

Our friends recently got a new dog and Alfie is no ordinary dog. First off he is enormous. Second he is just the sweetest most gentle giant around and third, I like him. With all my history this is shocking. The girls have wanted to meet him from day one but life just hasn't allowed it to happen. Today we made it happen, spontaneously and they were thrilled.

Alfie is huge but he is a scaredy cat. The slightest noise and he cowers and runs to his mama. If someone he doesn't know comes to his house he will shy away until his big sister lets him know all is well. Once you go for the second time he can't wait for you to get in the door. Alfie has a bag of tricks the size of Santa and can't wait to show them off, once he knows you that is. I have seen them all and when I go in he grabs my arm in his teeth and everso gently pulls me to where he wants me to go. Then he smiles at me with this toothy grin that just makes me laugh cos it is so darned cheesy.

Meet Alfie and his big sister Snickers.

Gorgeous dogs and fabulous friends.

When the girls walked in Alfie didn't know what to make of them. He was so happy to see me but so unsure of the girls. Rosie was also a bit unsure as he stands nearly as tall as her. In the end everything was fine and once he finally calmed down he sprawled out on the floor with Rosie on top of him. They were amazed by him.

Snicky isn't really very fond of little people and she doesn't hide it so Rosie knows to stay clear. Snick will generally check out who is coming in, see that it is small people and just walk away. Today though she stayed and the girls gave her a wide birth and she loved it. Slowly she allowed them to give her attention. They never got to close, they stayed arms length and Snick decided to bathe in the affection. After about 20 minutes she got up and walked away. It was really nice to see her finally calming down. She is such a sweet and protective dog she deserves some loving too.

I forgot I had a camera in my bag and once I remembered I didn't want to move anyone around so I took pictures from where I was sitting. They aren't great but you can see how snuggled everyone became.

Lily put Rosies hair clip in his hair

I'll just use you as a pillow

Just relaxing.

Time to say, Good Bye, Alfie style. Lily thought it was hilarious.

All I have heard sine we left Richard and Shara's house is, oh I wan t a dog, please can we have a dog?

Puppy Love.

Mummy, can we have a dog? Mummy when are we going to get a dog? PLEEEAASE, can we get a dog. Mummy I want a dog!

I must here this question 20 times a week and eventually I think we will have to do something about it but not yet!

In the meantime the girlies will have to make do with visiting all of our friends that have them.

Last night our friends, N and L raced to the airport to meet their newest family members, Mia and Zoe and we were given strict instructions to take the girls over this afternoon to meet them.

2 little Cocker Spaniels puppy's. Zoe is black and Mia is beige.

Look at those cute little puppy tummies.
Rosie immediately fell for Zoe, she is the quiet one who just wants to be held.
Bliss
Lily, on the other hand, fell hard and fast for Mia, the rambunctious, adventurous, mischievous pup. (a match made in heaven)

You can only imagine the pleading that's been going on in this house tonight! After spending the afternoon in the company of these cuties it's getting hard to say no. (darn this I am not supposed to like doggies!) Help me I'm caving.

2 kids plus 1 dog = Nutty Mother

What was I thinking?

Lily has been begging for a dog for a very long time. I grew up with dogs my whole childhood and loved having them. One in particular and I were very close. Then after the whole dog bite episode I never wanted anything to do with any dogs at all. Over the past few years I have really started to get a grip on my phobia and worked through alot of it and have been contemplating getting a dog for us. So long as I get to choose it I know I will be fine. Strangely enough it can't be a small dog it has to be a biggish one. Yeah I know that is a bit odd.

A few weeks ago a friend of mine was in a quandary as they were going away and her usual dog sitters were all busy so I just opened my mouth and out flopped the words, "I'll take him". Well the days bebopped by and Friday arrived and that was D-day, AKA doggy day. Jeremy is a lovely dog and Lily was thrilled at the thought of having him and I wasn't too concerned.

I must have been mad, inebriated, stoned or something cos it is a nightmare! Rosie is terrified of him and shrieks every time she sees him, he is homesick and Lily is disappointed that he won't "play" with her. Because Jeremy is used to me he is sticking to me like glue and wants no part of anyone else even though Rosie is quite convinced he is about to attack her, chew her up and spit out her eyeballs!

Lily loves taking him for walks so we have done lots of that and even took him to a dog park yesterday which would have been great fun but Jeremy is a tad lazy and couldn't quite muster the enthusiasm that most dogs would have at a park. He will be leaving bright and early tomorrow as we have our final social worker visit and I really don't want Rosie cowering in the corner all freaked out when she is being evaluated. Actually she doesn't cower in the corner she prefers to hang out on the island in the kitchen.

Oh, and let me not forget to mention this little aspect of dogs. They are messy! I have washed my floor twice a day since Friday cos it gets fuchy from him. When we sit down to eat he begs for food and I it makes me gag, don't ask me why but I think that is revolting. Jacob laughed and said, apparently he wasn't David trained, David is my father. Our dogs never even dreamt of coming in the room when we ate. EWWW, yuck, me and animals in the house is NEVER going to work. As my father told me recently when I said Lily wanted a dog, "It is always good to have something to look forward to and in her case it will be her own house one day and then a dog!" Sorry Lily but that is how it looks.

Anyway, as I count down the hours until the little doglet goes home I will post some photos and then wash the floor.


Lily, in heaven, walking a dog.

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Hmmm, this is where he chose to nap this morning. He looks rather comfy

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Last night we finally got him to expend a little energy and even Rosie laughed...but the laughter was short lived as she instantly went back to being scared to death of him.


He is a sweet little dog but the bottom line is...I just don't want one.

The Swing

Some incredibly sweet friends of ours who just happen to have 3 awfully large dogs, but more on that in a second, have just put a swing in their beautiful back garden. Now mind you this isn't an ordinary swing. They had to have special equipment to install it as it hangs in such a high tree. When you are swinging your tummy does flip flops just from the arc on it. It is wonderful and when you get going really high you can see over the fence and see the horses next door. They told me to bring Lily over to play on it and I did.

Oh yes the doggies. As I mentioned in an earlier post I have a very BIG fear of dogs due to the fact that I was bitten very badly when I was 5 by a neighbours dog that I had known my entire life. That did it for me and I have shaken in my shoes literally ever since when a dog is near, even our family pets. If you look at one of the photos you will see the biggest Doberman on the planet. Her name is Shadow and I have to give Shadow credit for turning my phobia of dogs into a sort of controlled fear. The first time I went to this house I think I nearly passed out but my friends new the deal with me and explained that their dogs are therapy dogs at Miami Childrens Hospital and would never hurt anyone. In my head I said, yeah right, the dog that bit me would never hurt anyone blah blah blah lady! But as the months went by and it has now been years I started to gingerly touch Shadow and she never even moved. Fast forward to now when I have to spend at least 5 minutes alone with Shadow when I go there with no other dogs around so her and I can have special time. Don't get me wrong, I am never left alone with her cos that is too freaky for me but this dog is beyond special and I can actually say that I care about her and that is something that I never thought I would ever say about a dog again. As for the Retriever, that is Miss Sophie and she is a hoot and couldnt hurt a fly if she tried. It is really hard for me not to show this fear to Lily and instead teach her respect but she wasnt fazed by the size of Shadow and Sophie at all and just loved the swing and the lounge chair, well until Sophie tried to climb on board as well.

Oh I did say 3 dogs, Snickers was feeling anti social that afternoon and chose to stay inside.

This is so much fun.

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Behind my cousin are the BIG doggies

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This is a bit blurry...or maybe it is your eyeballs

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Can I play too?

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