I never wanted a dog...

If you know me well, you probably know I never wanted a dog... In fact I was adamantly opposed to having a dog. I don't much like the way they smell, the way they bark, the way they jump up at people, the way they drool, the way you have to clean up their poop, the stink when someone steps in their poop... I could be polite with other people's dogs, and I quite liked some of them, but that was probably as far as it went. (sorry all my dog-owning friends...)

But for years my family has been badly wanting a dog. Our home on the campus in Mukono wasn't really suitable for a dog as the gardens were all open and we would have had to keep it inside or tie it up a lot.  But in a weak moment one day soon after we had made the decision to move back from Uganda to England, I was heard to say, "OK, when we move to England we can have a dog."

Well, the very day we arrived in England, literally, Abby asked "Right, when are we getting the dog?!" But as we were facing a marathon of weekends away visiting churches, from September to January, I protested, validly, that there was no way we could have a dog while we were travelling around the country. But then January came... and again the pressure was on. But at that point, the thought of coping with a dog was enough to send me into a flat panic, and I more or less begged the family for a few more months' grace.

I also challenged Dan about the financial side, as some friends with dogs seem to spend a lot of money on them, and you hear about pet insurance, vet insurance, vet bills, clipping, etc etc. and we are not exactly flush this year, certainly until Dan starts his full time job. But Dan was insistent that we wouldn't need to spend all that much money on it. I started to ask around anyone I knew who had dogs, and it did seem true that there are differing styles of dog ownership and that it didn't need to cost very much.

Meanwhile Dan had noticed the very sweet friendly little dog that belonged to friends of ours, and had made enquiries about it, and had been in touch with the breeder! She had a two year old that she was wanting to find a good home for, as it had grown a bit too big to show, and she wanted him to go to a family who would give him a loving home. So a couple of weeks ago I finally agreed to go and visit the dog, at least, and have a look at him.

Well, it was just like when I went to scope out the hamster for Abigail in the pet shop in Kampala. Those two little bright eyes looked up into mine, and I was hooked. Resistance was futile.

This dog was so sweet and gentle, and the fringe over his eyes so appealing. He lay on the floor between us all while we chatted so quietly. I thought, If we have to have a dog, we couldn't do much better than this. He was pretty much perfect.

Well, having been won over by Sammy the dog, I still tried but couldn't persuade the family to wait until the summer holidays to get him, so the Easter holidays it was. The children didn't want to keep his name as they thought Sammy was a bit boring, so we decided to change it to Frodo.

So on Sunday we collected him from his rather teary owner, and he became part of our family.

In the space of a few days, he has completely won me over. He does smell a bit and we have already washed him once, and flea-powdered him once. He doesn't bark at all, he doesn't jump up, and he loves just sitting on the floor between us listening when we talk. He howls when Abigail plays the piano. He sneaks into Alex's room and steals his soft toys to play with. He walks really well on the lead and loves outings. He eats dried dog food once a day. He is ALMOST house trained, not quite... And above all, he is adorable.

The funniest thing is that he has latched onto me as his favourite "master" - the only one who was remotely reluctant to have him. He loves me! He yelps when I leave the house, and follows me round all the time. And I love it. I just love the attention! At last, somebody who doesn't answer me back or disagree with me about anything. But on the other hand, he doesn't do the washing up...