Mum here.

I thought I would just give a bit of an update on how the boys are doing now - from our point of view.

Ok, since we moved house they seem to have grown up almost over night. They have stopped chewing the back of the settee, they have stopped chewing the dining room chairs and Neil has now been able to repair these and they look good again.

They seem very content little dogs, I can't call them puppies anymore because they really aren't. They are fully grown now, are still full of mischief and are totally adorable.

This morning Neil was playing golf but I wasn't because we have friends coming round for dinner tonight so I needed to do some cleaning (it's a woman thing). I'd had a distrubed night as Brandy needed to go out at 3am, not something that they do very often and at least he told me he needed to go out, so I thought I'd have a lie in and Neil left me to sleep - but the boys had other ideas. Brandy came and sat on my stomach and licked my nose to wake me whilst Brinkley pulled at my arm to give him a cuddle, you just have to love 'em.

On the whole though, they are really good dogs. Brinkley is now having the odd problem with his rear leg, the same as Brandy, so we're keeping an eye on both of them but it certainly doesn't stop them chasing around after each other, and running along with Sophie when we are out on walks.

Brandy still bullies Brinkley over food and we have to keep a close eye on Brinkley to make sure he gets enough to eat. He doesn't seem too bothered by it but there are times when we have to deliberately feed him up as he gets too thin and I worry about him. Brandy also bullies him over their toys, whatever Brinkley has, Brandy wants and normally gets. It's difficult not to interfere sometimes, but we have to allow them to sort out the pecking order. Sometimes though, Brinkley looks really upset by it and then I can't help but give him extra cuddles. Brinkley has a face that always looks sad, he reminds me of the cat out of Shrek, and Brandy has a face that always looks cross.

But no matter how they have been with each other, if either of them gets hurt the other always goes over to see that they are ok, and at night, they still curl up next to each other to sleep, it's often difficult to know where one dog starts and the other ends.

They love being outside and I can't wait until the weather is a little warmer and we can leave the door open for them again (as it is at the moment), as we are constantly getting up to let them out and then to let them back in and of course, they don't always go out at the same time. Since we moved here it has been obvious how much more independent they are, they are no longer under my feet every time I move and some times I have to go looking for them to make sure they are ok, and usually they are just settled in the sun outside or sat at the top of the drive watching the world go by.

But they do still have the odd puppy moment. This morning Brandy was downstairs with me and Brinkley went missing upstairs. After 10 minutes I decided to go and see what he was up to and he was happily sat in the bathroom having an Andrex moment - he was surrounded by toilet roll - bless!

Oh, and the other puppy moment they often have? The back door is wide open and they come to the front door to be let in - they are learning what we mean when we tell them to go around the back though, which is quite good, but Brinkley is taking longer to learn this than Brandy.

Well, that's them barking outside so I better go and quieten them down, don't want the neighbours falling out with us.