First Day

Ken and I went to collect Shula this morning. The kennel girl let her out into the paddock with her brother and sister so we could make a fuss of her and get her settled down before we put her collar and lead on. I sat in the back of the car on the way home with her on my knee. She was very frightened and before we had gone too far she wet all over my jeans. Poor little dog I could feel her heart pounding, probably that was only about the second time she had been in a vehicle. The drive back seemed longer than on the way there and Shula was sick just before we got home, fortunately I had covered the back seat with an old blanket.

As soon as we got home I took her straight out into the garden, she was very nervous and curled up on the terrace. She slept for the next four hours, half the time under a table and the other half in her basket.

When she eventually woke up I encouraged her to walk round the garden and she gradually gained courage. She loves to be stroked and rolls on her back as soon as she is approached. I think training her to walk with a collar and lead will take a bit of time and patience.

After a while she discovered one of the cats and kept going up to it and barked a couple of times. She seems to understand the word no and she will not be allowed to upset the cats, but so far so good, the cat is sat on the terrace and the dog is in her basket at the moment. I think the next couple of weeks will be quite hard work training her but lots of fun, she is a delightful dog.