Something new to us

A slight diversion from things I am working on...

For just over a week we have been getting used to a new member of the household.

Meet Holly.

A friend of ours is facing chemo having been given the hope that it might give her more than a year. She is a very matter of a fact person and at this point is looking at things logically. Or maybe regaining a sense of control by getting everything organised.

So, she wanted to find someone to have her dog... now...while she has say in the matter...while the dog has a chance to get adjusted. And since Pepper has been gone nearly 2 years the Thoughtful Man thought perhaps we could. It seemed every other option our friend explored had come to nothing.

Holly isn't particularly the sort of dog I would choose, but in this circumstance you couldn't say no!

So we have been getting used to her and she has been getting used to us. Quite different from Pepper in a lot of ways. Many of them very good. For a start, I have never met a dog that isn't hanging round your feet when you are doing something with food! Not even a twitch from the comfort of the settee!

And some days she eats all her dinner and some days she doesn't and some days she takes one bit at a time several feet away from the dish, eats it and goes back for one more...etc, etc, etc!

So that has made it quite easy to stick with the resolution we'd made that any new dog was not getting fed as much people food. This was in the hope that whatever thing it was that suddenly made Pepper get sick and die wouldn't happen to another - if it was even due to people food in the first place.

Holly has really taken to my husband, which at this point is a good thing for him. Besides working full time, he leads our church and is also heavily involved on the Committee at the Community Centre. It has been fun to hear noises of a dog running around in the hall upstairs. It means my husband has stopped for a break.

She is violently opposed to the idea of sleeping in the kitchen or in the storeroom, also known as 'Pepper's Bedroom', so currently it is the front hall! But maybe as she gets settled we can get her to move into the kitchen at some point. (It is tiled, so a better choice on our part.)

At present she is also not happy about both of us being gone at the same time. Cue the violently opposed part again. But we think we have found a system. Our friend was out and about a lot more than me, and often took her along. (My husband is meeting all sorts of people round the neighbourhood, when they are on a walk, who know Holly!)So, it is taking her a while to realise if we go somewhere without her, we will come back.

Stop pointing that thing at me.

Oh yeah, I don't think she looks like a 'Holly' either, but apparently she was a rescue dog, found around Christmas time a few years ago. Our friend decided Holly was a lot better name than 'Crackers' (!) which the rescue place had named her.

We are finding it hard not to call her Pepper, so her name is morphing a little into Polly! She actually came when I called her "Polly-wolly-doodle all the day" so that was good.(Meaning it was good she came when I called her!) Most of the dogs I have lived with had several names anyway.

She is not as clever as Pepper was, so she hasn't necessarily been able to work out just what she is meant to do in certain situations. But she will learn in time. I think some of it is that we use different commands than our friend did. We didn't know Holly very well, only my husband saw her now and then when doing stuff at the Community Centre. So, we weren't familiar with her habits.

Anyway, so far, it looks like she isn't really a friend for me to talk to about decisions when I am working here in my studio. But now and then she brings 'Ted' to have a grrr and a tug. And the house isn't empty, which is also good.