meet mabel

Anyone who knows me will know that for many months I have been saying that I cannot possibly have another dog with the house on the market, Northfield Primitives being busier than ever and with the prospect of leaving Early Years Foundation Stage (where I have taught for 10 out of the last 11 years) to go teach a less familiar curriculum in Year 1 in the 'big school'. I have had this conversation aloud with myself, and all my friends and relations *several times!  However with the news from my colleague that Bea was expecting her 2nd litter of labrador puppies, it was probably inevitable that I would end up adopting one...so on Wednesday my little pup had her first vaccinations and was able to leave her 9 brothers and sisters and check out her new home...

Mabel 18/08/11

...and here she is, 8 weeks old, sitting under the willow and fascinated by the noise and movement of the shutter on the camera (enjoying one of her quieter moments!)

Mabel is simply adorable, mischievous, cuddly, inquisitive, and most definitely a thinker - weighing up what is in it for her before she decides to do / not so something!   Luckily my mum and dad (via a friend of there's) introduced me to a series of books by Jan Fennell and so Mabel's training has begun in earnest.

So far things are going well.  She has slept through the night from the beginning after following Jan's tips and we have cracked the toileting in only 3 days (no accidents inside since Friday afternoon).  We are visiting family tomorrow so all will no doubt go pear shaped before long!

My Northfield shops will remain closed for another couple of weeks I expect while I catch up on orders and continue to work whilst Mabel is asleep!  There is also the small matter of getting to grips with preparations for the coming term...but we won't think too much about that this week!