Sunday 30th October 2011 – The collars are being worn and Alan.

You’ve got to laugh. First night back in our own bed and the clocks go back. Now I know I still meant we got the same amount of actual time in bed, but it did mean getting up again to feed the puppies at 5am, which felt vaguely uncivilised. We are waiting for them to doze off so we can clean them out, but they seem particularly lively this morning. The playpen resembles a war zone and to be honest if you heard the barks at the moment you would think they were shouting for reinforcements.

For my own part, I’m not well. Something is hurting but I don’t really know what it is. I’ve yelped a few times and have stopped to rest in some odd places. My Mistress is beside herself with concern and has tried to give me a thorough examination. She’s asked if I need to see the vet today, but to be honest I’m not certain. She said we’ll give it an hour or two to see how I go. It has led to her saying some lovely things to me, which in the light of my jealousy over the puppies have made me feel a little happier. Apparently I am the love of her life, which is good as that is mutual. She also told me that no puppy in the world could ever replace me. “Not even Aristotle?” I asked. “Not even Aristotle.” She said.

Now are you concentrating? You may want to book mark this entry or copy and paste it somewhere so you can remember. We have put little collars on the puppies. It is possible they will use the quick release clips to take them off again, but for the time being they are ‘collar coded’ as follows: Adrienne – purple, Arnie (Arnold) – blue, Annette – yellow, Alan – black (although to be honest against his fur it does get a bit confusing – he’s the big one! – you’ll see why that is relevant in a minute). Dora (Avril) – Green, Duke (Amigo) – red and finally the baby of the family, Little Aristotle has no collar at all (he’s the small one!) The pack had 6 collars in it and there are 7 puppies. WE have ordered another pack but to get different colours we have had to order the next size up, so the colours may change – that will confuse you!

Alan

Today it is Alan’s turn for an update. Considering he was the last one born he has really made up for it since. He was the first to walk and the first to pass 3.5kg. He’s doing really well and wants nothing more than to play a while, have a cuddle and fall asleep. Unless of course there is food on offer in which case he wants nothing more than to eat us out of house and home.

Alfie Dog with a little help from Rosemary J Kind alfie@alfiedog.me.uk

Alfie’s Diary – the Book is available at Amazon UK –https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00583ZGSA