Welcome to the Puppy Blog: after 5 years waiting a puppy is finally born. Find out what happened in the adventures of a new Australian Shepherd puppy…

Finally the call that I had waited 5 years for came at 9am on a Monday morning – a puppy is born. There were 8 whelps, 2 bitches and 6 dogs – plenty from which to choose! I cried, the breeder cried. Mind you, she’d been up all night helping mum to produce them.

Meanwhile, preparations began to puppy-proof my home, not least reluctantly getting rid of what seemed like half a ton of books and then some. Then I needed to check for exposed cables, anything trailing, anything that could be – and shouldn’t be – chewed. Sigh. No more casually kicking shoes off as soon as I came in the door. An extra sweep of the garden to combat leaves and another check to make sure that my plants were puppy-safe.

Then the fun stuff: a trip to the bank to place the deposit and shopping to add to the growing pile of enrichment toys (puppy Kong, gyro, goodie bone and big bear and a snuffle mat). Boring but just as essential shopping, plenty of puppy-safe cleaner and cleaning cloths plus a big, waterproof mat to go under the pen which is now filling my living room. Training is already planned and the breeder’s socialisation plan underway. Time to dust off the wicker carrying basket too. Last chance to do anything on my own for a while. Time to stock the fridge and invoke help from friends while the puppy is in quarantine. Vast amounts of cardboard started piling up in the recycling as the final parcel of puppy food arrived.

Now all I needed was to beat the rail strikes to get to see him…