Ian with Wilbur with Basil claiming his place in front of the fire and Pirata heading under the table to say hello. Sam looking on guardedly. Bob and Henry are more interested in the likelihood of dropped crumbs.
Rosie and Wilbur – I think she has his tail in her mouth.
On Sunday Ian and I were talking and agreed that we’d wait a couple of years before introducing any more animals into the home.
So I wasn’t really surprised to find us, less than 48 hours later, with a new addition. Last time we made one of our similar pronouncements, within about 30 minutes we’d found Sam.
Wilbur, originally Olar, is a 9 month old mastin cross. He is also blind. He was a stray taken in by a lady in Hornachos who couldn’t care for him so she was looking for help. Actually we’re only fostering him at the moment, however I am sure that unless he suddenly shows a change of temperament we’ll be keeping him.
We didn’t know this lady, however she knows the people that we got Pirata from who us three kings greetings with a ‘mountain of kisses’ for Pirata, and as an offside to mention Olar.
Having specifically agreed that we’d be waiting a couple of years before getting any more pets, it took us about 10 seconds to agree that we’d like to meet Olar, who we’re calling Wilbur. It seemed like a great opportunity to get a friend for Rosie, that wasn’t a young puppy but wouldn’t be a ‘top dog’ threat to any of the others (I do feel we are exceptionally fortunate with our little family of cats and dogs, so not altering the dynamics is always our first consideration). While we’ve both been highly delighted we didn’t have to foster the other two pups at Christmas, I think we both occasionally (and I am sure the other dogs more frequently) do think it would have been nice if Rosie had someone of her own size to play with. She tries to play with Basil, but where he is so weak we have to watch them together as she can pull him over. She also tries to play with the other dogs and cats – but they have very firm feelings about being chewed by needle-sharp puppy teeth. She can also be too rough with them. Being like a little barrel with legs, she really can get some momentum behind her.
So, Wilbur came yesterday to meet us and to see if he’d be happy. We didn’t have any worries, however I think that the lady who had him wanted to be completely sure that he’d be safe.
He’s spending a lot of time outside – which I guess is what he is used to – and spent last night outside. However he’s had a few good playing sessions with Rosie, who is currently collapsed with exhaustion – how wonderful! Admittedly their play seems a bit odd, as the popular puppy game of ‘chew’ is played by Wilbur running round with his mouth open trying to catch Rosie, however it seemed to work and while it certainly bemused Henry, who is the king of the game chew, Rosie didn’t seem to mind the unusual rules.
I don’t think that Wilbur will get a lot bigger. He is a bit bigger than a labrador – with the longest tail I’ve ever seen. He seems comfortable with his blindness. He seems really nice natured – however I’m not really surprised. Because the animal rescue network here is mostly a volunteer run network with people fostering animals in their homes, they can only really take in and put their limited efforts behind nice natured animals.
I think this has worked out quite well. I’m glad that we didn’t wait until Basil was no longer with us and I am delighted that Rosie has a friend. And I am doubly delighted that her friend is an older puppy and not one of her siblings. We had both agreed that we wanted a young pup so it could grow up with the cats and dogs, so Rosie is perfect in that respect, but the thought of two of them…. And there’s no way we would have taken on Wilbur without Rosie as he really needs a companion. So all in all this seems to be working well all round.
….oh yes, and the name Wilbur came from the simple fact that he just IS a Wilbur!
PS The photo above is likely to be the last with the wall in it, as Manuel is about to start work taking it down.