Lily's Story, a shaggy dog tale - Episode 7 - A new puppy called Flo (an Original short story)

dodders007 (55)in #dogs • 8 years ago

Lily is a Yorkshire Terrier x Apricot Poodle. This is a continuation of the story of how she has changed our lives

We have decided that Lily would like a new pal. Our decision to get a labradoodle is based on the fact that Lily is quite a terrier and labradoodles are very laid back. We know one called Barney and he is laid back to horizontal so it will be a good combination for Lily.

We collect Flo from a farmer friend of a friend on Bodmin Moor. Flo's mum is a golden labrador called Nettle and her dad is a very handsome big poodle called Chaos who keeps Flo in her place by holding her head in his mouth! She is very plucky and tussles with his legs trying to encourage him to play with her. She is the last of her litter and a bit of a runt. Some of the others have long curly and woolly coats but Flo is quite flat coated and will be semi-shedding (new to us) apparently. She is a total darling at 12 weeks and she looks like this.

Flo wants to be Lily's pal so much but Lily is quite aloof to start with. After all, she has ruled our home for quite a while and to be honest, isn't much liking having to give up some of the attention. It doesn't take long for things to change though and although it seems like Flo is doubling in size every two weeks, Lily still thinks she is the biggest and the best, and in personality this is certainly true!

Flo is house trained almost immediately and is a wonderful and submissive dog. This is her with a muddy nose after she has been rooting around in the garden!

Lily starts to train Flo and although Flo can bowl Lily over she becomes a gentle giant and the two of them are inseparable. Flo is not a brilliant traveller to start with but soon gets used to being out and about. She becomes enormous very quickly but Lily is still totally in charge.

They love playing on the beach together and Flo taunts Lily into chasing her, leaping just out of the way at the last minute to avoid being caught. It is very funny and wears both dogs out wonderfully. If there is one thing Flo loves more than Lily it is her ball. We get through second hand tennis balls at a horrifying rate, luckily a friend plays tennis so we have a good supply source.

After a tough game of tag on the green there is nothing better than curling up in a spot of sunlight. Lily loves the sun and she tends to get chilly, especially after paddling. She absolutely refuses to go out in the rain until she absolutely has to. While Flo is still playing with her ball in the garden, Lily takes a little down time.