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Dog Blog.


The last few days have been overtaken by the exciting news that we’re getting a dog (though not just for Christmas).

We've had the idea loosely in our minds for a while - it was something we considered as far back as nine years ago until circumstances led to us taking on our lovely rescue cat Millie - but it’s fair to say things kicked into gear in over the past fortnight, with us keeping an eye on the various local animal shelter websites in case something came up that was appropriate. We were ultimately open to any shape or size of dog that could fit our lifestyle (best defined as “gay abandon”); it didn’t matter if it had three legs, one eye and nineteen tails if we felt we could meet its requirements and give it a good home.

While a couple of dogs came up that seemed to tick all the boxes, the only sticking point with the shelter was the fact that we don't have a secure private garden (something we felt mattered less than they did as a handful of dogs live on our estate and use the communal garden to potter around or go to the loo while kept on the lead, with plenty of places nearby to potentially play off-lead without issue). In the end we decided the best thing to do was to go to the shelter to speak to them in person as it would be easier to get our situation across one-on-one than through the stream of phone calls and emails we’d been tied up in to that point.

We went to the shelter on Sunday to run through our details with their staff and it wasn’t long before a particular dog came up on their system who sounded so perfect for us that we couldn’t keep from smiling. His name was Jonah and while he wasn’t a showgirl, he was a lurcher who according to their literature, “loves to cuddle on the sofa and hates cold and wet weather and will happily snuggle all day if you let him”, which is pretty much my own biography. The best bit was his temperament meant he didn't need a garden, so suddenly we were quids-in.
Our prospective dog's profile picture.

Within minutes, they brought him out to meet us and he was the picture of gentility, while also being about the size of a small horse. We took him for a walk and pretty much fell for him there and then. I went back to the shelter yesterday to spend some more time with him and that was that: tomorrow we bring him home for the first time when things will hopefully work out so watch this space. The only thing we’ll change is his name as it had only been given to him by the shelter as he came in as a stray (apparently covered in cuts and bruises, poor thing): our money’s currently on calling him Elwood as he’s tall and gangly, though if he puts on weight we’ll change it to Ray Stantz: spot the niche reference as opposed to Spot the Dog.
Dog & Ephgrave.


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