Another New Canine Family Member

Before readers start to think we have lost our minds and added a third dog to our family the dog in question is not ours - or at least - not quite.  We love our expat pets but appreciate that following our adoption of Kismet the kitten our family is at capacity right now, particularly given that we are in the middle of a lengthy relocation and our pets are living in another country to us for the next few months.

We are missing our own girls very badly.

No the dog in question is not quite ours but a member of the extended family.  We met Archie (my sister's dog) a few weeks ago and now we have the opportunity to get to know another family pet.   My father and step mother's dog died a few months ago.  I was sorry not to have a chance to say goodbye as I had known him from the day he joined the family (indeed I saw the advert that prompted my mother to go and rescue him) and he was a good friend to Abbess before she left the UK for Kazakhstan. Still, Lewis had reached 15 or more which ranks as a spectacular age for a lurcher and he lived in the lap of luxury for the last 9 years of his life.

Lewis 

Adamant that they would rescue another lurcher my step mother searched the dog rescue websites and listings.  Rescuing a dog is quite hard in the UK and requires extensive home checks and questionnaires.  It was worth it, however, as the end result was that they brought another dog home.

Rufus

Rufus is a young lurcher.  Nobody knows where he comes from or what his life was like before he went to the rescue centre.  He has not lived in a house before but is slowly adapting - fascinated by every little mundanity of human life (and bemused by the television).

Rufus wants to run but has to learn to walk on a lead

Of course when you have children you always wonder about how a new dog will behave with them.  We met Rufus and my father in a local woodland and took him for his first ever walk.  The children are very used to dogs and the older two remembered the instructions we had given them on meeting Perdita for the first time.  We may be a family of pet lovers but the children have always been taught to recognise a dogs 'signs' and of course the baby is never ever alone with them.  He took to them like a duck to water and sniffed their hands politely with a wagging tail.  By the end of the walk he was interacting with them like a dog who had grown up with children from puppyhood.

Everything is new!

One of the bright sides about being stuck in the UK on this extended visa wait (Mr EE is now in the new posting thank goodness) is that we get this opportunity to spend time with family both two and four legged.