Jonty

We have a new addition to the family. His name is Jonty and he's 19 months old.

We've been thinking about a new dog for a while now. Kit the labrador is nearly 8 and if we are going to take the plunge we want to get one while she's still fit and full of bustle and ebullience. She wears the trousers in our dog family so she's the one to train up a whippersnapper.

Over the past three months or so we've been looking online at the dogs at the SPA in Carcassonne. The website has wonderful, honest descriptions of the animals and heart-squeezing photos. We decided we wanted a young male and probably a black dog because, apparently, they're always overlooked.

This lovely boy was abandoned when he was 6 months and has been in a concrete kennel cell for a year now, all the while squeezing further and further into the corner and getting more and more frightened. A big favourite with the volunteers because of his sweet nature, he jumps at his own shadow.

When we got him home yesterday he rushed from the car and hid in the paint store so we're taking things very, very slowly. We can't touch him yet but he's coming closer.

Welcome home, little one.