Here is Wilma. Easter, 2003

We got a dog.

We got her from foafs (friends of friends) who had two (Wilma & Betty), and found they couldn't cope with them. They were looking for a nice family to rehome one of them. We went & met them all & Wilma seemed more receptive to us.

We took her up to Sunny O at Easter & she had a grand time. Being new to each other, we had her on a leash whenever she was out in the paddock with the sheep, or in the forest - she found them fascinating, and we'd often find her at the fence looking through at them. The sheep themselves were a bit pissed off at first - Snowflake TOFKAP (The Ovine Formerly Known As Plain), even stamped her hoof, first at Wilma, then at me (presumably for inflicting a dog on them). But by the end of the weekend, whenever Wilma was gazing through the fence, the sheep would come & gather near by. Weird.

This weekend, since learning that she actually does come every time you call her, we'll leave her off the leash & let her romp around the property. Except on the night of the full moon of course....

Anyway, all advice I have received tells me that dogs like to know who is boss - the alpha male. Er... that's me :-) Although T tried to present a case to the effect that it is her. Pffttt.

Wilma went back to her old home after Easter for a few days, then we picked her up on Anzac day morning for good. And she was really pleased to see us!

So she's settled in at home - she's allowed inside when we're there, but sleeps in a bed outside our back door. She goes bananas in the morning when someone (T mostly so far) gets up to take her for her morning walk. I take her in the evenings. It's a bit exposed to the elements on the deck, but we have a grand looking doghouse on order. Hopefully that'll be ready today!

The cats weren't impressed at first, although Tigger decided early on that no dog was gonna curb his movements. Oscar took a bit longer, but unfortunately, now he's over his initial fear, he seems to be in bully mode - lying in the middle of doorways so Wilma & Tigger have to try & slink round him, at which point he swats them. Nice. I think Wilma's resigned to being the bottom dog in this pack. Although...

Good retriever that she is though, she located a scrunched up piece of paper the other day & tried to present it to Tigger. She does this all the time actually, she presented me with a number of pimentoes she carefully picked off my mum's pimento plant last weekend :-)

And this week on our walks, I've discovered parts of the Botanical Gardens I didn't know existed. Magpie Lawn, for instance - I did know that existed, but it is actually somewhere other than I thought. BTW - the duckpond is a favourite of Wilma's (she can't resist water, nor probably, ducks), and it wasn't till I saw it this week that I realised it must be duck season - you wouldn't believe how many ducks have packed themselves into that little pond! how do they know? There are thousands of them.