Lucky doggie!

Turned out to be an interesting day. Without actively seeking a new dog to add to the family, the right one just appeared, as is always the way, at just the right time. We tend to favour rescue animals, and all except Monty have come off the street and quickly become accustomed to a lifestyle that some poor animals can only dream of. There is little more rewarding than contented cats and dogs lying on the bed on a cold winter's night or in the shade of a tree in sweltering summer. Monty and Susie are getting on now at 16 and one is blind and the other deaf, which makes for poor watchdogging.
So today little Cleo arrived on the scene and before I saw her, I instinctively knew this was going to be a good day for her. She was picked up from the side of the road in Hout Bay yesterday, where she was being dragged along with a string around her neck by an individual who was not fit to be on the other end. The young girl parted with cash just to get the puppy away from him, although he tried his luck with four times the amount. Presumably she didn't want to be a dognapper, but this is the modus operandi of these types who use animals to prey on people and it is very tempting to snatch and drive off. Word soon spread that the puppy would have to go to the local rescue centre to wait for adoption, and having found Susie at such a place, knew that it could be months before the right person came along. So I informed HWCFA that a puppy would be presented for his approval, just to make sure that he started to think about it, and when it arrived, he could hardly say no.

A visit to the vet confirmed she is in good shape apart from some slight scabbing from perhaps being carried by other dogs (?) and the inevitable fleas, etc. Weighing in at 950 grams, his estimate is that Cleo will grow to something between 8-12kg, somewhat more than anticipated, but she has strong border collie! mixed with perhaps Pomeranian - what a combination. However, very cute and prognosis is that the mixed parentage will give her a good resistance to the long list of ailments suffered by the more pedigreed breeds.
So far she is really enjoying her food and spends most of the time napping! Watch this space. (The rest of the animal family are a bit stand-offish, but they'll come round. They've been there, too.)