So, the last 6 weeks truly have flown by! I know, I know! I sound like a broken record but it’s usually flying by because we’ve been out and about, adventuring to different places and a lot has been crammed in but this time it’s flown by and we’ve mostly been at home!

And here is the reason why…

I’d like to introduce you to the newest member of Sunshine Towers and the smartest, cheekiest, bite-y bugger you’ll ever meet. This is Rei, our very own little ray of sunshine and tornado of terror! It took AGES to think of a name for her and The Beard wouldn’t let me get away with calling her Cheddar (*sob*) but we eventually agreed on Rei (霊, meaning "spirit” in Japanese).

Despite being seen as a Crazy Cat Lady (guilty as charged), I have ALWAYS wanted a dog and it was my intention to get one as soon as I could work from home full time. However when I left Boots I wasn’t in a position to get a puppy and soon after I moved to Cambridge so my plan was put on hold.

The Beard wasn’t keen on the idea of a dog for a long time, despite my constant dog perving and ‘pleeeease can we get one’ nagging on all of our hikes and holidays…

Until one fateful day in 2018, he uttered the words ‘well, I don’t see why we couldn’t look at getting a dog'.’ I remember the moment so vividly, we had just wandered down Teign Gorge near Castle Drogo… and this is the face I was pulling for the rest of the trip…

So from that moment onwards I spent a lot of time researching dogs, thinking about how to make the house pupy-proof and still allow the cats to have safe spaces and talking to lots of dog owners, shelters and breeders to try and figure out what would be best for our lifestyle and us, as a little family at Sunshine Towers.

Being rather outdoorsy types who both love hiking. camping and adventuring as often as we can, we knew we’d best suit a high energy, robust and active doggo but one that wasn’t so big as to take over our tiny little house. Most importantly we needed to know we could train him/her to live alongside the cats.

After a lot of research, in April last year we went to visit a lovely family of Australian Cattle Dogs. We had both come to the decision that an ACD or Blue Heeler could be a perfect fit for us, as long as we were 100% sure what we were in for and ready to put in the work - queue all the visits and questions!

I was so excited and also a little nervous about the visit, but as soon as we arrived it quickly turned into the best morning of my life. We met some very excitable 4 month old pups and I think it was 14 adult heelers in total - we met them a few at a time though. I got p*ssed on twice, licked to death and fully knocked off my feet by one of them as he charged full pelt in to the room with excitement - I was in my element!

After our initial visit, a long discussion with the owners and more research into the breed, we planned to visit again much later in the year when we could meet more puppies. That was when we met our teeny-tiny tornado and her brother and sisters!

Australian Cattle Dogs are born with almost all white fur and their ‘blue’ (black) or ‘red’ (tan) colourings and markings develop as they grow up. At this point they were so tiny and new (2 weeks) so they were like little clumsy snowballs and it was hard not to want to run away with them all right there and then!

It was so lovely to sit and play with them as long as we wanted to and great to spend time with their gorgeous Mum, Aurora, too.

Around mid-January we went to visit the puppers again, this time they were obviously older, their personalities had started to come through and it was clear from the moment we walked in that this little nipper was the one for us. I wanted to take both the tinkers we met that day but Rei was so keen to play, I was convinced she’d chosen us.

Her given name was Capella and her litter-mates were also named after constellations, we very nearly kept the name but Rei seemed more fitting for our little sunbeam!

We arranged to pick her up and bring Rei home on Feb 1st and we have been living in a bit of whirlwind ever since. She’s been a big ol’ mix of energy, excitement, teeth, cuddles, headaches, fun times and then some! I was fully prepared for the hard work that comes with owning a puppy and she is everything I expected and more - in the best way.

She has since smashed her first visit to the vets and has made all the staff fall in love with her on every other visit. We’ve had lots of successful walkies outside now she’s had all her jabs too but controlling her excitement around other people and dogs is going to take some work.

Rei absolutely LOVES meeting new faces (human and furry) but I think it’s going to take her a while to understand that not everyone has the same enthusiasm as her and she needs to cool her beans when greeting new friends.

Our mischievous little wolf cub is bright, energetic, demanding, excitable and a real challenge at times but like I said earlier, she is everything I expected and I want to make sure I’m doing the very best by her. We’re still learning and she started puppy classes this week which has been really interesting and good fun.

ACDs are notoriously smart so very trainable but also very head strong and known for pushing their luck so she keeps us on our toes! I think her training is going really well but my goodness, she’s a clever little bogger and the pressure to not let her down feels overwhelming at times.

She’s been enjoying some parts of her walks off lead lately, she’s learning to behave better on her lead, she’s excellent at fetch and has had several trips in the car, campervan and even been on a train! It’s been fun introducing Rei to lots of new experiences but the one thing she hasn’t mastered yet is befriending the cats.

For now the cats remain wary and keep their distance as Rei is just too full on for them - there have been several nose bops and hissy fits so far! Toby and Pegs have all of upstairs to roam free without puppy invasions though and they are still as full of purrs and cuddles as ever. Hopefully in time they’ll all learn to chill out in the same room… baby steps!

Rei is 4 months old now and although I am incredibly proud of how far she’s come since we’ve had her, I think we (us humans as much as her) still need a lot of training to make sure we all live happily ever after!

Anywho, I hope you’ve enjoyed ‘meeting’ Rei? If you’re into puppy spam and our whirlwind journey, feel free to follow along on Instagram (@sunshine_jo) for morning walks, play time and other silly updates - there have been and will be PLENTY more!

☀️