Fly (very aptly named as it turns out!) was born on 1st June 2011 and is out of Rosie and Shady. We are now heading for his second birthday - how time 'flys' and what a fabulous dog he's turned out to be!
When he first came home he had to be in isolation for 10 weeks because, as I'm a registered dog sitter, he had to be kept in isolation until his inoculations were up to date but, as a puppy, he spent most of his time in a cage in the boot room sleeping, or playing in the front paddock with his best friend Boriswatson, the sheepdog.
When he did come into the house he soon started to develop as a thief! Initially this took the form of smash and grab raids but as he grew older the stealing became far more silent - things would just simply disappear! One of his biggest 'crimes' was last summer when we were just settling down to watch the men's final at Wimbledon. The TV remote was missing! As I frantically tried to operate the TV manually, I heard teeth and there was Fly in the living room pushing the remote under the sofa so I couldn't see what he was up to! Whether he should be called Fly or Sly remains debatable!
He has got himself into trouble with one of our neighbours too who left his car boot open when he returned home from shopping, only to find Fly devouring the third of three pork pies he had bought when he returned to the car!
It's difficult to stop him. He's been jumping the 'dog proof' garden fence since he was 4 months old and the higher we raise it, the higher he jumps!
Apart from the stealing, he's a really super pal. He goes everywhere with us and we wouldn't be without him. If I go shopping I often find people waiting by the car when I return to find out what type of dog he is. I just have to make sure he can't get his head out of the window and take someone's hand off!
Over the winter he's been learning to stalk so when the weather improves we'll take him to a friends farm to see what he makes of rabbits and hares. I'll let you know how we get on!
Liz Taylor & Tony Hawley and, of course, Fly x
