A GIRL NAMED DAISY

Dylan had settled in and was loving his new family and had developed only child syndrome with mum spoiling him rotten. Although I'm sure Dylan loved the spotlight on him 24/7, it was about to change as my sister had been visiting a work colleague on her lunch breaks to see a litter of chihuahua puppies. After a month Hannah approached my mum and dad and asked if she would be able to bring one of the puppies home for the weekend to see how Dylan would react with a puppy and so she could care for it for 2 days (i think she was going through a rough patch). If my parents truly intended to only have the one hairless dog in the household this agreement would appear to a big mistake or maybe they were just naive.

Nevertheless that Friday evening whilst we sit around watching Tv my sister clambered in the front door with a bed, blankets, food and bowls in one hand and the other she held a tiny white ball of fur. Being a young puppy in a new environment Daisy (as she would be later named) was a little shy at first, barely leaving Hannahs side to come and see us. Even the socially inexperienced Dylan came over to give her a sniff swiftly followed by a growl as Daisy approached the half-eaten bowl of food left earlier. We should have known then that Daisy would have an eating problem and by eating problem I mean she would eat anything edible left in front of her. All of us got to have a cuddle and enjoyed watching Daisy slowly grow in confidence and begin to explore inside and out. I have a strange condition when I see a puppy of any kind I get a bit broody like a middle-aged woman would when holding a newborn baby (i just love dogs). So I fell in love with her within the first few moments.

The weekend soon flew-by my sister each day asked mum and dad if she could keep daisy permanently, which was addressed with the common "let's sleep on it, we don't want to rush into anything". Although if truth be told when you go into a pound to re-home a dog chances are you will leave with a dog, and the same thing had happened here. We had all bonded with Daisy in such a short space of time and she had a big personality for such a small pup. We didn't want to see her leave, knowing if we did not adopt her someone else would. As Sunday began to draw to a close my mum and dad finally caved and said "Yes you can keep her" but she is your responsibility to look after, walk and feed.

And within the space of 2 days, our family had grown by one more. Daisy would help boost my sister's mental health and also was beneficial for Dylan to socialise with other dogs. She attended dog training classes from which she gained a bronze, silver and gold award, encourage my sister to write a blog about Dylan and Daisy. On a walk, she greeted another dog called Benny the beagle and his owner Darren who Hannah would later date, marry and have children with. For a wedding present, I got them a caricature created to always remember that a dog walk resulted in two people becoming intertwined.

Daisy is now 7 years old and living with my sister and her family about 10 minutes walk up the road, so we all can meet and create many more memories.