🧵 When the hound died in Feb last year, many people asked if we’d be getting another dog, and it was the last thing I wanted to do. As well as taking time to get over it emotionally, I also needed to recover from the difficult final year or so, rebuilding my broken sleep patterns and concentration

A few months ago, my wife* said she really wanted to get a dog. I was still unsure but said OK, I'd consider it if we looked into adopting a grown dog in need of a home rather than getting a pup

(*she asks to stay anonymous due to “all the weirdos” online)

Eventually we found a lovely little spaniel with health & behaviour problems, & went through a process of training & preparing… but his behavioural issues proved to be v different from those expected (let’s just say original owners may not have been _entirely_ honest), we weren’t right for him

I’m still upset about this, we’d already got attached and felt we were letting him down, while also knowing it was the right thing to do. He’ll find the right home eventually and be an amazing dog
We gave all the stuff we’d bought to the charity & I didn’t want to even consider dogs for a while

Then we happened to notice a ‘home stay’ (not been put into charity’s kennels) dog needing a home, a little middle-aged spaniel who sounded perfect for us. We met him for 45 minutes & immediately knew we’d say yes, but at any point up until the handover the owners could change their minds

So we were a bit unsettled by this & previous experience, and knew that another family would be struggling with a difficult decision, had a rather tense few days and didn’t buy anything to prepare