Two years ago today, 12th July 2017, my darling fox red Labrador was born into the world. I met him 3 weeks later and my goodness he was a squishy ball of fluff!
On the 6th September, I left work more excited than I’d ever been in my life and picked up my little boy. Bruce’s Mum had 8 puppies. We knew we wanted a boy as we already have a female German Shepherd. She isn’t good with other dogs at all and so we knew getting Bruce was a big gamble, however we did enough research to know what we were getting ourselves into and we had also been told by a vet that as Teela had previously had puppies, it was rare for an adult dog to attack a puppy, especially of the opposite sex.
When we went to choose a puppy, I, to this day, am adamant that he picked me. I cuddled them all but Bruce instantly took to me. He was licking my face and as soon as I put him down, was pawing at my legs to pick him up again. I had fallen madly in love with my little babe and knew it was him who was coming home with us.
Bringing Bruce home was scary. Teela didn’t take to him and I remember sitting in the garden with Bruce, on the phone to my Mum, in tears because I didn’t know what to do. For the first five months they were totally separate. Teela was 8 at the time and she had nowhere near as much energy as my new little pal and she HATED him. All Bruce wanted to do was play with her and with an open plan house it was hard work keeping them apart. One night, I came home from work and thought, screw it, they need to learn to love each other. I let them into the room together, Marco and I on absolute tenterhooks and within 20 minutes of ‘no’, ‘be nice’, ‘don’t do that’ and ‘TEELA NO!’, they were the best of friends. Life was suddenly easy again.
Bruce is my best friend. I know everyone says it about their dog but my entire world really does revolve around him. I love Teela just as much, however I came into her life when she was 3. Bruce is my first puppy and I am his Mummy, he follows me everywhere and we spend our nights cuddling on the sofa, him on my lap with his head on my shoulder like a child. I only have to say the word ‘cuddle’ and he comes crawling onto me. This, my friends, is love.
Bruce has so many little quirks. There was an advert on the TV not long ago with a ram in it. The song in the background was Lenny Kravitz – Are you Gonna Go My Way? and Bruce would always run to the television and headbutt it, trying to chase the ram. Now, if that song plays, Bruce will stop in his tracks, prick his ears and look for the ram. It kills me every time.
If there is a dog on the TV, we say “there’s a doggo on the tele”. Bruce stops whatever he’s doing, looks up and runs over, again trying to chase it. One day I am certain that TV is going to get broken and I’m going to have a really angry husband, but a very happy dog for finally catching the doggo on the tele.
We got so lucky with our boy. He was the easiest puppy to train and he is SO well behaved. I love him with all my heart and I genuinely don’t know what I’d do without him. I call him my therapy dog because that is exactly what he is. He knows me better than any human and knows exactly when I need a cuddle. He brings me so much joy and I hate that he has to get older.
I love the bones of you Brucey. Happy Birthday xxxxxxxx
Love Mummy xxxxxxx
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