Well, after much indecision, we have arranged for Salty to come for a trial visit tomorrow. She is a 3yr old, black bitch currently in rescue because her elderly owners could no longer look after her due to health problems.
She is in Wales, but her carer is travelling past our house tomorrow, so we thought it would be a good opportunity for her to drop her off here in the morning, and collect her on the way back in the evening. She would also be able to home check us at the same time (if we fail, then I guess she will take her to London for the day!
Still have many reservations but feel generally more positive about it all now. It's the responsibility of it all that worries me, guess you suspected that from my previous cry for help!
The great thing is that they are willing for us to take her on a 2 week trial basis rather than a full comitment at this stage. I would still feel awful about sending the poor girl back, but I am assured that it will be better for her to get all her disappointments out of the way in a short space of time, rather than us plodding on with an unworkable situation, then admitting defeat six months down the line.
So....do think of us tomorrow. Steve and I are both around tomorrow so we won't need to leave them alone together at all while I do the school runs. And I plan to take them both out for a lovely long walk before lunchtime. It will be a bit later than usual for Buddy, but I don't think I'll have time to do him before they arrive. I will obviously have to keep Salty on lead. Do you think it is better to keep Buddy on or off lead in that case? He can get a bit "barky" on lead, but I don't want to upset her by allowing him to run free while she can't. I don't have a long line so can't even use that.
I'm excited and scared all at once. Guess I'll know much better by tomorrow evening. Could be fun with her bed guarding, food guarding and now lead guarding too! Mmmm!