For The Love Of Dogs

Hello there 2021, and hello again to all of you, our lovely customers.  We hope that you had a good Christmas and managed a merry New Year.  Not too many resolutions I hope…

I have made one resolution… to bring a dog back into my life.  It has now been just over a year since I lost my beloved Labrador, Goose, at the age of 17.  He was born in to my hands, literally.  His mother, Vodka, my adored Black Labrador and the inspiration behind Creature Clothes, decided to give birth to her litter of 12 puppies in the middle of a four poster bed.  We still cant work out how she managed to jump up there while heavily pregnant with 12 pups.  She was so round she looked like an airship on legs.  And this bed was HIGH.  But that was where she had decided she was going to have her pups.  Not in the beautiful dens I had made her, not in the lovingly made whelping box in the kitchen.  No.  My mum’s spare room, on a massively high up four poster bed.  She was a character that dog.  But aren’t they all.

So this is the year to get over our heartbreak and loss and introduce a new pup into our home.  I have been in contact with rescue centres and dog shelters, but with children and cats already in my life I have been told my chances of rescuing a dog are slim to none.  Especially with a 1 year old toddler on the loose.  My almost teenage daughters certainly need a dog again – every day is met with “when can we get a puppy? Pleeeeease”.  But it has been seriously hard to find a responsibly bred puppy in a lockdown.  I am a firm believer in the importance of mixing children and dogs.  Dogs have such an important role in our lives, one that a human can’t fulfil.  Be it that of a best friend and play mate for a toddler, or a pal who ALWAYS wants to go and run around in the park when your parents maybe don’t. An all hearing, non judgemental ear for a teenager, a companion when the world feels like it is turning in on you. For me my dogs were all of those things.

My first Labrador, Boswell, got me through the throes of being a teenager, and when she very sadly died prematurely from cancer my heart was broken into pieces.  I didn’t speak for 3 months, until my sister gave me a little vial on a chain in which to store some of her ashes.  Only then did I feel like I could face the world again.  After Boswell I refused to even entertain the idea of another dog.  How dare my parents even think about getting another dog when I was still so deeply in mourning for Boswell… but home they came with a little black labrador puppy.  They put her on my lap and in approximately 5 seconds, her little puppy eyes, razor sharp nibbly teeth and outrageously waggly tail had set to work on sewing up my shattered heart. Officially that naughty, bombastic and very funny little Labrador belonged to my parents, but in reality that wasn’t the case.  Well not from my perspective at any rate.

I was very scared of loosing her like I had lost Boswell.  Puppies.  That was the answer.  Vodka needs to have puppies I told my parents.  No, they replied.  Then they went on holiday leaving me to dog sit.  The moment they left the country I took her off to be hip scored, found her a mate and she was in whelp (dog pregnant) by the time they returned.  The 12 subsequent puppies trashed the house and melted all of our hearts.  I kept one, Stolli, who can be seen on the TV show Mud Men alongside my husband Nick.  My mum kept Goose, who then went on to live with me.  You can see all 3 of them – Vodka, Stolli and Goose all over our website or on our instagram.  Along with their humans Ruby Tuesday, Juniper and Ottoline.  And their cat siblings Slinky Malinky & Pussidon.  No mice, guinea pigs, rabbits or horses.  Yet.  Give me time.  A dog must come first.

2020 was hard.  So much loss and pain was spread around the globe with the spread of Coronavirus.  Families kept apart, the vulnerable and isolated made even more so.  So many dearly loved, lost.  One thing that we have perhaps learnt, is to never again take for granted the importance of friendship.  And during these troubled times a lot of people have found that friendship in the shape and love of a dog.  The terrible downside is that puppy farms are booming (the reason why I have held off on searching for a pup until now) & dog theft is going through the roof… there are a lot of terrible things happening in the dog world that I won’t go into here and now.  More people being introduced to the healing, faithful, love and fresh air filled world of dogs is certainly something to celebrate.   And for that I think we should all be grateful.