Happy Birthday Zoe!

Our dear darling Labrador, Zoe who is a regular feature in my blog at present, turned 10 years old today. She was born on a property about 30km from us. She had 9 brothers and sisters and just days before another of the Labradors had given birth to 10 puppies. So really it was like having 19 brothers and sisters. I think that there were 16 males but only 4 females. The breeder certainly had her hands full. We had waited for Zoe for about 6 months and were lucky to get her as females were so highly sort after at this time. We went out and chose her when she was only a few weeks old, much like a little golden rat. We went back to visit when she was about 6weeks old to make sure we were happy with our choice and when she was 8 weeks old we brought our little puppy home. She howled for her Mummy and brothers and sisters all of the first night but soon fitted into our family of Craig and I and 2 cats. We still have all of our original babies. The cats, Holly and Hannah are 12.5yo and 12yo respectively and despite having slowed down are still with us. The rudest shock for the animals was the introduction of our first born human child, Nicholas almost 6 years ago which saw the end of their inside life as they knew it. The animals would all get on the bed with us in the mornings and one of them could always be seen on our laps when we were sitting. We were a little worried that our overly affectionate Tonkinese cat, Hannah would smother the baby. Over time since the children have grown, the animals have slowly crept back inside, especially Hannah. Hannah is great friends with our 3yo daughter, Penny who often plays babies with her and wraps her in blankets. She also loves it when my parents come to stay as they love cats and spoil her rotten by letting her sleep on their bed.

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZOE and hopefully there will be many more birthdays to come