Why 'Wellington's mum'?

Wellington is one of our two black labradors, a gangling adolescent, reminiscent of Harry Enfield's 'Kevin'. One word from me and,

Yawn 'Oh you're so booooring.'

Our love affair with black labs began several years ago when we adopted Sasha, the dog formerly known as Samantha. (I was teaching a very badly behaved Samantha at the time and couldn't bear to be reminded of her all evening as well). Just as we were talking about getting another dog we heard of a sixteen month-old lab who needed to be rehomed in a hurry as her former owners' relationship had broken down. Enchanted by her amber eyes and chenille ears we took her home. Their loss, our gain.

It was not all plain sailing. For 24 hours, she cried and I cried as I took her for several two-hour walks in the pouring rain, and wondered what we had done. With our sons still living at home there were three adult males plus me in the house and she was definitely not sure about men - she had been living with two ladies - but we coped, eventually, as she learned to take her place in the wolf pack, and became the gentle companion that we know and love.

She has a very obstinate streak in her, and we still have the occasional battle of wills over where she sits in my car: fastened in the back with the windows wide open and not on the front seat, as she had obviously been used to doing in the past.

Her toys have to have a rope attached to them to give us some sort of leverage in getting them out of her mouth - otherwise we have no chance. I've learnt to take a spare tennis ball with me when we go to the Rec. in case she takes a fancy to another dog's ball.

Like all labs she loves swimming and does so with an elegance that most otters would envy. What always amazes us though, is the way she can steer herself in a straight line towards a tennis ball thrown into a current. Can dogs do trigonometry?

Ten in November, she is prone to weight gain (but hey! who isn't) and is a bit grizzled around her muzzle, but she can still give young Wellington a run for his money. Just think, humans would be expecting their bus pass by now, but someone forgot to tell her about getting old.

Long may it last.