Brinkley & Brandy have arrived.

We brought them home at 7.00pm on the Friday before Christmas. 2 little puppies with a whole new world to explore. We carried them into the house and put them down in the lounge. For a moment they looked completely shell-shocked, then slowly they began to explore. They went everywhere together, there was safety in numbers. After 10 minutes they seemed to realise there were no bad surprises waiting for them and they started to run around checking every corner.
The Christmas Tree was a fascination for them, the baubles at the bottom were in reach and they were curious to see what they did, but chewing the branches was more interesting. I can see they will learn the word ‘No’ very quickly as within two or three tellings they left the tree alone.
Within half an hour they were totally relaxed. They had explored all around downstairs, they had found their beds, their water bowls and now we gave them their toys – Christmas was coming early for them, and had come early for us.
An hour later and both of then were flat out asleep, today had been tiring and they needed to recharge their batteries. We had an opportunity to take stock of what the next few days were going to be like – chaos interspersed with calm spells while they sleep. At least for now, they both sleep at the same time. They were happily cuddled up together breathing peacefully.
Time to get there supper ready, lightly scrambled egg.
Half an hour later Brinkley started to move and a well placed foot in Brandy’s face had him moving too. They wake remarkably quickly and within minutes were out of their basket and running all over the room. Another hour of madness. If I try to walk more than 3 steps I have one of them at each ankle, after all they might miss something.
Time for supper. They both followed us through to the kitchen where they will learn they have a place to eat and drink. They both have good appetites and made quick work of their supper.
Eventually they started to slow down and we could see what sort of night was in store. They have a bed upstairs and once they had fallen asleep downstairs I took them up and put them to bed. Both together, happy to each have the other. Not knowing whether I would have an hour’s sleep or more, it would be an interesting night.

Well, remarkably, the pups have slept right through the night and were still asleep when we woke this morning, and it’s obvious they have not been out of bed. However, the minute we started to move their little heads popped up, first Brinkley quickly followed by Brandy and they were quickly out of bed. Their first need was to relieve themselves, same as anyone and this they duly did in the en-suite , where else? This is the down side to having such small dogs, you have to very careful where you put your feet and need lots of disinfected cloths around the house. At least they are both very small so what ever they do is generally in small patches.
Ok, so now they are up they realise they are in rooms they haven’t explored yet. They were brought upstairs asleep so now they have a bedroom and en-suite to discover. We have sectioned off the changing room with a barrier constructed of wicker storage baskets. High enough to keep them out but low enough that we can step over them quite easily.
Neil was playing golf this morning so he got ready while I kept an eye on Brinkley & Brandy. They are quite comical, they will wander around, play with their toys quite happily then all of a sudden they eye each other up and start play-fighting. They will sit facing each other several feet apart and then hurl themselves at each other and as they roll around the floor together they try to growl & bark but as yet, they only yap like a toy. Brinkley is definitely the more vocal but although Brandy is the smaller of the 2, I think he is responsible for starting more of the fights.
Time to go downstairs and start breakfast. As yet, they are too small to get downstairs but it doesn’t stop them trying. I catch them as they both attempt to get down the top step, this is a lesson for later – but we’ll start on going up the stairs first. Once downstairs they quickly check out all the rooms again, everything seems the same so they both decide it’s play time and start attacking their toys. This gives us time to have our breakfast and for Neil to get ready for golf. After he’s gone I can sort their breakfast. It won’t take them long to recognise certain things happening mean food and when I call them for their breakfast they come running through together.