Having been to ASH and seen KiKi we knew we wanted to bring her home. Circumstances though did not allow us to take her then and there. A family wedding in England meant that we were scheduled to leave the country for a week just a few days later, and we knew that to bring KiKi home only to subject her to a long journey by car and ferry so soon after would be stressful and impractical. Leica had always come with us on these trips and while difficult, the environment would not be entirely strange to her.

We left ASH and KiKi behind.

Over the next ten days or so, we had time to consider the decision we had just made. In our choosing to adopt KiKi, we had understood that the situation would be very different than our past experience. Flash and Leica had come to us together at eight weeks of age. Their development and, I hesitate to say “training”, but their life experiences had been largely under our control. They came to know other people and dogs on an almost daily basis and had grown to be well socialised, outgoing (to different degrees) and gentle dogs. We knew little, almost nothing, of KiKi’s previous life experience, but we tried to prepare as best we could by researching and reading up on the process of rehoming an adult dog.

Those days seem strange now, a peculiar mixture of anxiety, excitement and anticipation.