It's All On!

Today was a day of introducing Jeanie to local friends and the neighbours. She received reactions ranging from acceptance to adoration.

The most important meeting was with Tilda, the lab x rotty who lives over the road and who has been my personal therapy dog since Sana died in March. Her owners have been extraordinarily generous to allow me to borrow her from time to time when I've needed some dog-love. 

We let the two dogs meet in a big paddock - neutral territory for the initial get-together. After the usual bum-sniffing, hongi (nose-to-nose) and being on alert with each other for a few moments, it was suddenly all on. 

The two of them careered backwards and forwards across the paddock, chased each other in enormous circles, jumped on each other and generally acted the goose until one or both needed a drink from the trough. Then after a moment to catch their breath it started again...

I decided to have a cuddle with them both and nearly got bowled over when Round Six kicked off - hence the less than flattering photo.

New besties. And a huge relief for all of us.

Among other strangely spooky things emerging around Jeanie's appearance are the fact that I spoke French to Sana for years, never suspecting that it would be quite so useful with my next dog. And Jeanie's main nickname is Bean. 

Therefore the fact that the name by which I am known on the BBC website (originating from the days when h2g2 was part of the BBC Community pages) is Frenchbean is giving me the weirdest of feelings... 

I'm off for a lie down with a cup of tea...