Apart from my regulars I also hosted a couple of new faces: another Dillon who was a young male Golden Retriever and very different from his namesake Dillon the Cockerpoo; a lovely Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier girl called Lily (I had never come across this breed before, as they are not very common. Some people mistake them for some form of poodle cross as they have a coat that doesn’t shed and they can look a bit like certain Labradoodles); a young Hungarian Vizsler called Riley, who was very similar in type to Genghis, the main difference being their respective colouring and my final newcomer a young black Lab called Willow. Willow had been quite unsettled at home when her mum had to go out to work so her mum decided to send her to me for daycare in the hope of Willow wearing herself out in the company of some playful friends during the day. She was a friendly girl full of bounce and vitality and she really enjoyed herself on her visits. Over time she started to quieten down and the behavior problems vanished.
Two pretty guinea pigs called Rus and Jaydeon also made up our household during that winter. They stayed over Christmas and into the New Year and had a nice large wooden two story hutch which was kept in my conservatory so they could be out of the cold, wet December weather. They chatted to each other incessantly and were always running up and down their ramp from the bedroom area to the play area where they busied themselves with their many toys. One of these was a cute little cardboard house which their mum had made for them and which Rus and Jaydeon soon dismantled by nibbling it to bits!