2nd Day of Christmas - Nico

Last year we had to say goodbye to our gorgeous Collie Jess - just a few months short of her 17 birthday.  We had had her since she was a puppy, and she left a huge hole is our lives.  We still had our two lovely greyhounds, but Mr. SDSC said that he would like a smaller dog - a lap dog.  Well, blow me over, who'd a thought?

In November I went to our Humane Society to see an elderly dachshund that was looking for a new home.  When I arrived I was advised that a lot of people were also interested, and would I like to see what other dogs they had?  Well, of course I would.  I have to say that I was really surprised at how few dogs there were - I thought that there would be over a hundred at least, but there were only about 15 - 20, and a lot of those were 'holds - pending adoption'.  I guess that this is a good thing, and I probably would have had a problem narrowing down my choices if there were too many dogs!  So I elected to see a Jack Russell called Nico and was ushered into a small room to spend 'at least' 30 minutes with him.

This is us getting to know each other . . . . .

And oh my goodness.  What a cutie he was.  Very smart, very cuddly, and very Jack Russell.  My parents have had 'Jacks' for years, so I knew that they were energetic and pretty much a big dog in a small body.

Poor Nico had been a family dog for 5 years and then handed in to the Humane Society when the family had a new baby.  He had also been in the shelter for 6 weeks with no-one showing any interest at all.  My heart was broken.  Two days later after he had met my husband and our greyhounds, he came home with us.

And we love him to bits!  He can get very excitable, but calms down quickly.  He walks pretty well on the lead, although he does go crazy if he sees another dog, so we will have to work on that.  As part of the adoption process you have to attend one of the training classes at the shelter, so last Saturday we turned up for the first session with Nico.  Oh dear.  It didn't go too well.  Despite being very quiet and well behaved at home, he was a monster in class, and we were asked not to return!!!!

To be fair, we have been offered a more appropriate class that will help us to deal with his 'reactiveness' when meeting other dogs, but we find it rather funny that this little ball of fluff got us thrown out of class!!

We will return in February for the classes, and in the meantime we will enjoy him around the house!

Welcome Home Nico xx