When we got Linus, we hadn't actually made the decision to get a dog at that point. It was still an idea in the development stage, but then I had a conversation with a lady at work. We talked about pets a lot, as we were both animal lovers. She recently had to say goodbye to her dog of twelve years, due to illness, so I think puppies were on her mind. She was telling me about a friend of hers who had puppies ready to go to good homes. I saw a couple of photos of them, and they were just adorable. A few texts and phone calls with Robert later, and I persuaded him to go and have a look at these puppies to see about getting one. When he spoke to the lady on the phone, she told him that there were two puppies left, but that people were already coming that evening to look at them. She said that if they didn't take them, then she would call him. At this point we knew we were no longer in the running as no one could say no to those gorgeous little ones, so we started searching on line for other puppies.
We found some absolutely adorable ones on a web site called preloved.co.uk, and couldn't believe our luck when they were in Burnley, as this website covered the whole country. We contacted the owners straight away, and this is where the story gets a little odd. The man Robert spoke to sounded a bit vague, and said his wife was handling everything to do with the puppies and she would ring us back. This didn't fill me with confidence, but we waited for a phone call. I was surprised when the phone rang not too long after.
Robert asked if we could come and see the puppies that evening, as Katy was out, and we wanted to keep it quiet until we had definitely decided. She said this was ok, but when we asked her for her address she couldn't give it to us. Again, not filling me with confidence. Robert then spoke to her husband who said that where he lived was a bit tricky to get to, so we made an arrangement to meet him in the car park of a Spar shop near his home, and then we were to follow him in his silver range rover, to where he lived. Now, you hear stories about people meeting strangers from off the internet, but here we were, sitting in a car park, waiting for this completely unknown man to turn up, and we were just going to follow him.
We'd been there for about ten minutes when the range rover appeared and he indicated for us to follow. We turned off the main road, onto a quiet street with a cul de sac at the end. At this point, the man stopped and got out of his car. We parked and got out too, and he said that his house was down a steep dirt track, and it would be better if we got in his car to drive down to the house. This was sounding dodgier and dodgier to me, but we dutifully got into his car. He drove part way down the track and stopped to open a large swing gate. As he got out, and Robert and I were alone in the car, I showed Robert something I'd found on the back seat next to me. It was an empty bullet cartridge. So now my mind is racing with all the possible ways that this could play out. But still, here we were, sitting in this total stranger's car, trusting him to take us to see his puppies.
Obviously nothing sinister did happen, as I'm here to tell the tale, and I have Linus. It turned out that they were a couple who were building their own home on a plot of land down by a river, which is why they couldn't give us an address. They had horses, and geese and dogs and chickens as well I think. Very much into the country life as much as they could be so close to town, which is where the bullets came from, as the man and his teenage son would go hunting. They were lovely, and we could easily have spent all night there just chatting away about everything under the sun.
Two days later we went back to pick up Linus, and he is an absolute fluffy bundle of joy. So friendly with everyone and all other dogs he meets. When we're out walking, sometimes we have to stop quite frequently as people just want to say hello and stroke him. He's learning to sit and stay (not very good at staying yet), and he can shake hands, twirl and lie down. He likes snuggling blankets, playing with footballs and chewing everything he's allowed to get his teeth into, and some things he's not allowed to. I look forward to every weekend even more because I can't wait to take him out and let him explore new places.
