Welcome home Chloé!

We picked up little Chloé yesterday and she is an absolute darling. Kate has raised her so beautifully! We couldn't have hoped for her to be better in the car, she sat on our laps and whined a tiny bit at first before settling down. She was quite travel sick after a while though, the poor little thing. It was about a 2 hour drive so we expected it really.

We let her explore her new home then coaxed her into her new crate with a few treats, but she started to throw them all up. We started to worry that she was getting dehydrated and it might be more than an upset tummy because she was sick quite a lot over an hour or two. That was the one thing we weren't expecting to deal with so soon! Kate phoned to see how things were going and suggested we keep an eye on her because it was possible it could develop into Bloat. To help her settle we put a little covered hot water bottle and a piece of bedding that smelt of her litter mates, into her crate. It worked like a charm! She went straight into the crate and settled down to sleep. Later on she managed to keep down some water and an hour or so after that we gave her a tiny little bit of her food.

We've put the crate in our bedroom so she doesn't feel abandoned at night and so we can hear when she is stirring and might need to go out. So far toilet training isn't going particulary well! We've had a few in the right place and although she is good at trying letting us know when she needs to go we aren't very good at reading the signs! In the night she made lots of noise in the crate and whilst we were trying to decide what the problem was, she went in there! We kicked ourselves for that one! Afterwards she was perfectly quiet for a good few hours and thankfully we all got some much needed sleep.

First thing this morning I heard her stir so I waited until she was sitting patiently then opened the crate, she went straight to the paper area in the other room, success! We've had a couple of accidents since though, we waited patiently outside for ages then the second we came in... oops! She's been as good as gold sitting on our porch, watching the cars, people and other dogs go by on the otherside of the fence.

We've already had a couple of lovely games, she really seems to enjoy playing chase and tug-o-war with a plush puppy toy. And I managed to end a game on a high note. I put my hand up and said 'enough' then we put the toy away. I'm so pleased!

We think as far as first nights go it was really really good, especially considering how anxious and excited we all are. The hardest thing has been trying to ignore her when we want her to settle and not give her heaps of affection! She is an adorable little pup with the sweetest temperament. She's fast asleep in her crate right now, but I'm expecting her to wake up any minute...

We'd like to thank Kate for taking so much time to help us and Rich's Mum for driving us all the way to pick up Chloé! Thank you both so much!! xx


Enjoying some alone time in her crate.


Little Chloé seems to be a keen admirer of the plush puppy toy tug-o-war!



Chloé has really taken a shine to the chocolate scented tennis balls. Even managed a round of fetch... beginners luck I think.