I have always had a dog from being a little girl.
My first dog, Kim, came to me when I was 11 years old. He was bought to keep me company while Mum and Dad went to the pub!
Kim was a black mongrel with a touch of spaniel in him, and since then I have always had spaniels – two American Cockers and two Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. I’m not sure what it is about spaniels – maybe their floppy soft ears or their round doe eyes, but they are the sweetest natured dogs.
My love of dogs started before Kim when we used to look after a neighbour’s dog, Bunty, whilst they went on holiday. Bunty was a black spaniel cross and I so looked forwards to her coming to stay with us.
My current dog, Georgia is almost 5 years old and a Blenheim Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I rescued her when she was 8 months old from a breeder who no longer wanted her. She had never lived in a home, walked on a lead, or had her own food bowl, and it took two months and all my patience to get her out of the garden for a walk. Absolutely everything spooked her. She stopped every time we passed a parked car or heard a loud noise and I realised that all she had known in 8 months was a kennel in a back garden.
Eventually she became the unconditional loving dog she is now. She is my exercise machine, my cuddle bunny, my fur baby and a listening ear when everyone else is throwing a deaf ‘un. I couldn’t imagine not having her in my life.
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