Our third puppy only stayed four months.  It's May 2009 and he has just left Leamington.  He has left, just as equally big hole in our lives, as if he had stayed for a year!

Our beautiful 'black lab/retriever cross' came to us at eight months of age, a long legged teenager with ATTITUDE, who left us at 12 months and 2 weeks, still long legged but with less of an attitude.

I was asked by a puppy walker at our  Kidderminster class "did I love him less because he came to us late, older, bigger, not so cute and cuddly, had I missed the carry time.......? etc. etc.
Oh no, he still got under our skin, I still have that kick in the stomach feeling, I still can't see for the tears as I write this. Perhaps, in a way we have loved him more because he is second hand. He has been a challenge in many ways with his excess baggage but, then in many other ways he has been so much easier.

He sits so proudly, head held high. If you stroke his neck and chest his nose goes so high in the air and so far back he     almost topples over backwards.  His party piece is to give you both his paws at the same time and sits on his haunches     looking so 'gooeey eyed' at you.  We    didn't teach him this, he showed us that he could do it. 'Mom look what I can do, I am clever, I just forget sometimes'.

We went to visit Jill in Hampshire, her white tiled kitchen floor coincided with the biggest black hair moult I have ever

seen.  She just smiled and left the broom out for me.  We went to watch her play tennis, he sat wonderfully proud behind the fence watching the ball.  His head moving from one side to another, just like the people you see watching tennis at Wimbledon on television.

Farnborough airport was very close to us, airplanes going over very low.  Chinooks and military jets and private Lear jets. (oh yes, I am into my planes, Fairford air show here I come.  The Vulcan is flying this year!)  He looked up at them and then returned to his tennis game.      
Afterwards the ladies took us to Redhills Garden Centre for a coffee.  I was just introducing Yuri to the staff at reception and what did I see..............
The sign on the door - Guide Dogs allowed and Guide dog Puppies in training!!!!  I have never seen that sign before, how wonderful, but then again we were quite close to the Reading Head Office.
We went to another garden centre in the afternoon, Long Acres in Bagshot, next door to the 'Wessex'es'.  We were joined by Jill's twin sister Sally and her nine year old son, Harry.  I have often called Yuri 'our little monkey' and guess what (no you pessimists out there he was so good that day) I finally found a tree that I have always wanted in my garden and at a price I could afford, a monkey puzzle tree.  So now as he leaves my tree will  always remind me of another little     monkey who used to be in our garden and escaped from it on a couple of  occasions.
Our garden was proclaimed safe for   puppies by our then supervisor Sue Cole