12 Months

We've had the Mad Wee Dog (aka Sally, formerly Orla) now for a year.  I know, it doesn't seem like that long.

 

This was her at 6 weeks and still at the breeders.  See how she is trying to climb out of the basket and the other puppy is sleeping?  That should have been a sign.



 

We officially picked her out mid-January and named her Orla which is Irish for "Golden Princess" which we thought would be appropriate for an Irish Wheaten Terrier.

 



 

 

But that name didn't quite roll off my tongue.  All my other dogs had an "ee" at the end of their name and I had read somewhere that dogs respond better to that particular sound.

 

 

So a few days after her home-coming as she was cheerfully pulling the threads out of my front door mat, I called her scallywag, Sally the scallywag and the name stuck.



 

 

She had to be shaved right down after getting matted while on her holidays

 



Turns out, she's a bolter and will escape out the front door given half a chance.  One morning in September the neighbour's witnessed me chasing the bloody dog down the street in my housecoat and slippers.  Fortunately, there was a kid at the end of the street who sort of blocked her from dashing across a busy road and I managed to get her cornered on the neighbour's porch.  It was fairly nerve-wracking because she's too fast to catch really and if she darted out onto the road, which she did on another occasion, oncoming cars wouldn't have a chance to stop. 

 

Early December saw her 1st birthday and this was as close as she would go to the birthday hat.  There was no way she was having that hat on her head.

I wasn't quite sure how Christmas would go. 

She supervised the Putting Up of the Tree,

ate the sheep out of the Creche.  At least it wasn't Baby Jesus.

found her pressies easily enough and then

looked for more. 

It went fairly well but I didn't push my luck.  The tree in the front room didn't get put up because it sits in the window where she conducts her Neighbourhood Watch and I had visions of it being knocked over 15 times a day and the bottom third of the other tree had no tinsel on it.

 

So in twelve months, there hasn't been too much lasting damage.  The front hall mat was chewed to bits and had to be replaced, this time one with a tighter weave that she can't get her teeth into.  She chewed the arm of the chair she sleeps on down to the wood:

 

I don't know if we're going to get it fixed or not.  It might cost less just to get a new chair.

And one the pens she chewed on burst

 

and left this lovely mark on the carpet. I do have some really good cleaning stuff so I work away at removing the stain, a little bit each day.

She's a funny wee thing, very affectionate and quite a source of entertainment.

I guess we'll keep her.

On Neighbourhood Watch Duty