Out and About Profile

However when Chloe died my Dad vowed that she would be our last dog - "they're too much of a tie," I'd remember him saying.

And try as I might, I never could persuade him otherwise.

Working full-time
During my 20s and 30s I worked full-time as a teacher in Central London living for most of that time in a one-bedroom flat in Hackney. There was no dog in my life at that point - teaching during the day and playing music in the evenings took all my time and I enjoyed my London life.

Going part-time?
Then I had a notion - a vague notion at first - that I didn’t have to work full-time; that I could earn a living without teaching every day and pursue some of my passions in life. I embarked on a series of music courses while tutoring in the evenings and weekends, met my husband (also a dog lover) and moved out of London.

It wasn’t long before I realised that perhaps this would be a good time to consider an addition to the family. At first my husband was not keen. He’s a jazz musician with a very irregular timetable and was open about the fact that he wouldn’t be able to ‘do his fair share’. If we were to have a dog I would need to know that I could be there or have a support network in place if Mark or I were both unavailable.

Finding Georgie
I made enquiries on the internet, contacting the Kennel Club of Great Britain and collecting a list of Golden Retriever breeders. Mark had grown up with this breed and I loved the look of them as well as admiring their characteristics and qualities.

After a number of phone calls to breeders in the south of England, all of whom had found homes for their puppies, I spoke to someone who had been let down at the last minute. This puppy’s prospective owner had changed their mind and a six week old Golden Retriever bitch was now unexpectedly available.

I booked an appointment and sent the following text to my husband:
‘We may have a Georgie! We’re looking on Monday and she’s been reserved for us! Someone dropped out!’

And so Monday came, we fell in love with the little puppy before us and two weeks later brought her home.

Jessie joined the family
Now I can’t imagine my life without a dog. Two years later we heard about a black Labrador crossbreed that needed a new home. We took Georgie along to look and decided that the time was right for a second dog. Jessie was then called ‘Annie’ but the name didn’t seem right somehow. She was then a rather bewildered four-month old puppy.

She’s now part of our happy family and life is good. I've organised my teaching so that I can spend my mornings working on the website and then giving the dogs a really good off-lead walk. We often get very muddy but always come back feeling better than when we left.

We adore having dogs and this website is a celebration of our love for them and their passion for life.

Read how I set up this website - with the help of SBI.

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