There's a dog in the house

After many hours and days of deliberating and arguing over a new name for "Vernabell Akiko" we all decided this morning that a Belle would be coming home with us.

As soon as we arrived at her kennel, where she was sleeping with her brother and sister, she clearly knew this was her big day. "Number 31" was the only one keen to return behind bars while her siblings were messing around outside on the grass. She was very clingy with her breeder as we completed the paperwork but then it was time for her to take the car journey to her new home.

Not being so sure of her new travel crate and having never been very far at all in a car (just two trips to the vets), she settled down without too much fuss. Unfortunately the weight of traffic on the M1, the warmth of another sunny day and a big breakfast all came together to result in a little bit of travel sickness. The first of many little accidents I'm sure that we will have to deal with over the coming months.

Following a quick exploration of the garden and a scout of the downstairs of the house, Belle collapsed into her first sleep on her new bed. She seems to be quite content with what she's found so far. She even entertained some lunch, with some spectacular encouragement from her new mistress, and is now going to spend much of the afternoon being fussed over as she starts to meet the extended family.

For a little girl of only ten weeks, she's already a fairly sizeable dog as you'll be able to see from the pictures. For those of you who haven't seen the boy recently, he's huge too!

As she only had her second vaccination yesterday, Belle won't be meeting any new canine friends for a week or so. We'll register her with our local vets before then too.