Fitting in with the pack!

Here we are nearing the end of another eventful month, as you can imagine September has been all about Harry, the puppy that arrived from Romania that we are fostering. I have to say it's been a lot easier than I had imagined, I had thoughts of absolute chaos, after all we already have a house full with three GSD's and a blind Husky!

Taking on a 6 month old mongrel who had never even been inside a house before was a bit of a punt even by our standards. Anyway it worked out fine, Harry was very quiet for a couple of days which really helped in settling into to the pack. I think if he had come in all guns blazing we could have a bit of trouble, especially with Ben who 'thinks' he's in charge of the gang. I reality he's a bag of nerves and just has to oversee everything and makes sure no one is going to upset the applecart.

To be fair Ben has been brilliant with Harry, even letting him lay next to him on the dog bed, something I never thought would happen. The pup has over stepped the mark a couple of times but has escaped any real dressing down from the others, it's like they know he's a novice at this living in a house malarky and giving him the benefit of the doubt.

He's coming on fine and is a real character, he really needs to go soon to a new family or he risks having to stay in Southport forever. We thought we had found a new home for him last week and even Suzy had the go ahead to go and do a house check at the prospective adopters. It was called off at the last minute as they decided Harry wasn't for them. We were disappointed but apparently it's not uncommon in the world of fostering dogs and of course it's better to find out now rather than he either has a crap life with the wrong people or gets sent back and gets even more confused. We have heard a rumour that someone else is interested but better not speak too soon.

In the garden all of the potatoes, tomatoes and raspberries have been picked for the year, we got a decent crop again. We had two lots of spuds, the first earlies and then the main crop and wondered about planting something in the winter, not sure what?

We realised pretty quickly that we went a bit mad with the tommies, we had far too many for what we wanted and now we have a million jars of tomato based sauces and chutneys which to be fair are very nice. We also have a boat load of raspberry jam but i'm not complaining about that.

In the house we have almost finished converting the space under the stairs, we completely cleared it out, took the panels off, plastered the walls and decided to fit in some storage units. We are just waiting for the worktop to arrive and then it will be finished. I cant believe how much extra space its created. I will add some photos when its completed.

In the town we have had the Air Show and also Bark In The Park which was an experience as we took Harry to try and get used to crowds and other dogs, he was a bit on edge and not really ready for such big occasions just yet but he is improving and we will continue to try and educate him as long as we have him. This weekend sees the return of the Musical Fireworks Championship at Victoria Park. It lasts for three nights and not a welcome event for the majority of dogs in Southport and our Frankie hates them in particular which is a bit surprising as he's as laid back as you can get.

Hopefully by the time the next episode is in print we will be talking about Harry's new home and the next leg on the decorating front which looks like being the reception area.