Puppy Days

There is nothing truer in this world than the love of a good dog – Mira Grant

Getting a new puppy is exciting, right? Of course. There’s the cuddles and the carrying everywhere, their tiny paws and their little yaps, and just about everything they do you end up ‘awwing’ at. And let’s not forget the following you everywhere, wanting to play and craving attention (which you give willingly because they’re just so darn cute), and the looks at adoration you get when you’re out on your first walks because everyone loves a tiny pup.

But puppies are hard work. They’re constant and they need you to be both their teacher and companion. They rely on your for just about everything and that’s a responsibility I knew I never would have been able to handle when I was younger.

I could never understand why my mum wouldn’t let my sisters and I have a dog. I thought she was being unfair and cruel. But my mum, who never grew up with animals and didn’t ever take a particular liking to them, would always be the first to shut us down if we even breathed the word dog.

There came a time where she caved slightly and allowed my sister, who at the time was sixteen, to have a hamster. Three hamsters to be precise. And gradually three hamsters became two rabbits. Then, after my neighbours got a puppy and we puppy-sat on occasion, my mum fell in love and within weeks we were choosing our own.

To say we were surprised would be an understatement.

But now I can understand and fully appreciate the reasoning behind not allowing us as children to have a dog. As much as we would have cared and loved it, the sole responsibility would have landed on my mum and at that time, she wasn’t ready.

We always say that we waited for Koda. He was meant to be for us.

And since Koda, we’ve adopted two more rabbits. So, I guess you could say that we’re all very much animal people now.