Dudley

This is primarily a card making as well as The Snippets Challenge blog, but one little guy does deserve his own space. I'll try not to be too sickly sweet but don't bother reading more if you're purely a paper crafter! A lot of this is for our own record as he grows up and becomes a 'Dudley the Dude'!

Introducing Dudley the Havanese. Born on 22nd July 2018 - these are the photos we took when we went to choose him on Saturday 1st September (aged 5 weeks and 6 days) from the litter. Len is holding him:

Well, you seem to smell fine - for a human

Don't worry, this pink nose is what I was born with. It'll be like a little black button very soon, I promise - I'm working on it!

Len opened his hands and he was happy to sit there without wriggling away - a sign for sure!

Many  puppies (typically those with white hair and from the Bichon line, which Havanese are) can be tear stained whilst they are teething - poor little mites. Mama here has cotton pads to keep his eyes clean with pure water as a start - he has a whole area set aside for his 'dressing room'!

It took us ages to choose his name, Len came up with Dudley quite quickly as a contender and we went round and round the houses with various options, bringing his lovely Auntie Sarn into the 'name game'. We already had treats and toys from her waiting from mid-September! 

We settled on Dudley as his name (before that he'd been known as Little Boy to us purely to differentiate from his big brother, who we dubbed Big Boy). Dudley (LB) as a name reminds us of Dudley Moore - small, amusing and even cute!

Cherie, the breeder, kept us well updated with photos and video clips whilst we waited (for what seemed like forever) before we could bring him home on Thursday 27th September: 

Aged about seven weeks, what a difference one week makes - he's obviously doing some serious thinking here! Sitting on a fleece and deciding what to do next - perhaps even a whoopsie?

Aged about 8 weeks - our favourite puppy photo of him at this point! See how much blacker that little nose is?  And his coat is really growing in nicely as well.

Taken the day we brought Dudley home, 27th September 2018 - making himself comfy. Enough to even lie on his back in his bed. He arrived with the little fleece, a toy monkey and a little yellow tennis ball to help him to settle in:

Dudley with his precious monkey - aged four and a half months - lying on a table beside Len's desk

Aged 6 months and needing a hair cut!

Just lying here, keeping one eye open just in case

I'm having a snooze, and sucking on a hide bone as I'm teething right now - not smoking a cheroot!

All of a sudden my hair really grew and this is my first top knot! Kinda looking regal huh? Aged eight and a half months

And then. Dudley learned how much fun digging could be - aged 10 months

This is Dudley's Dad Ollie in his own home - you can see where the digging gene comes from! Although he's pure Havanese from the pedigree, I can see a good few Bichon Frise traits there such the curly coat and the quite fluffy tail as well. A lovely dog who just loved climbing up and lying on the backs of chairs and sofas.

And this is Dudley's Mum, called Dolly. She has the same wry smile, beautiful eyes and flowing coat as Dudley would have if it's allowed to grow long. Havanese come in a wide variety of colours - we're glad we chose a white/champagne and peach chap as at least the dirt shows! That colouring seems to be the most important gene that his Daddy passed onto him - along with the deep 'woof'! The deep 'woof' is always a surprise to non-Havanese owners - I sometimes wonder if they think we have Rottweiler in here before I open the front door and there sits one really cute little white ball of fluff! Dolly was a wonderful Mum to her offspring and we feel so lucky to have one of her puppies.

And the lovely boy's coat grew ever more lushly. So true about their name being 'silk dog'. I just wish you could reach in and feel the soft silkiness of him. He was 10 months old at this point.

MORE will follow - it's quite a long job uploading photos of Dudley Dog to the blog! Need to remember to do them as I go!