Love at first bite

The retriever is called Oscar. He's our neighbour's dog, still very much a pup, and hardly trained so a real handful although very friendly and placid. It's quite sad because he is car sick so he doesn't get taken anywhere apart from short walks from the house. I've got him round with me today. I didn't like the idea of him being shut up alone while our neighbours were away (they asked our son George to keep looking in on him). George isn't happy about the arrangement either. Dogs need to be part of the family. Ours have one of us with them nearly all the time.

He's a beautiful dog and Pippa, our Jack Russell, has fallen head over heels for him, literally. Together they have been happily demolishing my garden this morning. All those cosseted plants and flowers, flattened . I've been reading up on car sickness in dogs and there are things you can do, but you need to persevere. Apparently he's afraid to go near a car now as he associates it with feeling ill.

As for Dougie, our old westie, he can't handle any of it.