Whilst the fish numbers were increasing Paul started really hassling me about getting another dog. Our life was a little rocky to say the least and with only one of us working I really didn’t want to put extra pressure on us.

It was at this point that our next door neighbour asked if we would consider adopting a cat that she knew of that needed a home desperately. That I thought I could manage and Kimberly came to live with us. Snuffles took to her with no problems and they became firm friends.

“They are not dogs. A house isn’t a home without a dog.”  Paul continued to insist. I tended to agree with him. I really missed my long walks with the dogs and at the back of my mind I thought that perhaps his happiness depended on having a one: if we did have a dog, our life would return to being pleasant. His elation when I finally gave in made it worth it and we immediately started looking for a german shepherd dog.

With our financial status on the low side we couldn’t contemplate going to an expensive kennel and resorted to looking in the local paper for a cheaper dog. We found a delightful sable GSD puppy whom we named Jodie. Again the cats were happy with the new addition and all ran smoothly until the puppy was nearly six months old.

Paul had just got a job as a trainee train driver and as a result he seemed a bit brighter,certainly it was easier to pay the mortgage so when he told me that he wanted to get another dog I didn’t protest too much. His argument was that Egor and Sasha were great company for each other when they were at home alone and now that he was working this would be happening more often. I could see his point.

Again we went out looking and this time came home with a delightful boof-headed puppy which we named Boris. I thought our menagerie was now complete.