Here it is then, the long-awaited news about our new family addition, puppy named Tuppence. She is six-months old now. Sire, pictured below, the fabled blue mini JRT, Louie, of Much Wenlock; dam the even-more-fabled patterjack, Faith, of Herefordshire.

Late August last year I got a Whatsapp from my sister announcing the birth of six puppies in Faith’s litter! We were going to England early October so by then the puppies would be at their most adorable. Frank mentioned it was possibly a dangerous time to visit and not because of Covid!

Marie Kondo where are you?

One of the reasons we moved to this new area in Nijmegen was so we would be able to fulfil our long-held dream to have a dog. There are an endless variety of walks here for humans and dogs. But you know how it is, moving is stressful and suddenly you are dealing with thirty-six years worth of stuff, much of which has been jammed in a box and long-forgotten. It all needs to be sorted and decisions need to be made about whether to keep, chuck, upcycle, or donate. Unlike on the telly, there wasn’t some nice lady called Mari Kondo helping us out, so it often felt (and still feels) like an insurmountable task.

The Cherry on the Cake

Anyway, stuff is always waiting for you when you come back so the October trip to England offered a welcome break. During one of our favourite house-sits near my sister and brother-in-law’s home, we had ample time to get to know the puppies and decide which one was destined to become ours. At that time Tuppence seemed the calmest of the litter, not always indulging in the rough and tumble of the others. As there was a lot of interest in the pups I thought I should get in quick! And so the gavel fell. Once Tuppence had had all her vaccinations, rabies jab and health certificate she would be fit to travel to the Netherlands.

Whence her Name?

Her name was inspired by the actress Tuppence Middleton, and also from the Agatha Christie detectives, Tommy and Tuppence. As Frank loves to tell people, I had the name before the dog. I believe these things are pre-destined. She had to be small, didn’t she, with a name like Tuppence. Later I recalled it was also an important line in the song, Feed the Birds, Tuppence a Bag, of Mary Poppins fame. The theme of the story rests on the message in this song. Share your wealth rather than hoard it for yourself. A message for our troubled world at this time…

Dog Psychology

Tuppence is a delightful addition to our gang. We had a professional dog-trainer pay us three visits and she kept saying how lucky we were to have such a good-natured dog. Tuppence loves people and other dogs but tends to bark at the sight of her potential four-legged chums. For some reason many canine lovers around here own labradors, labradoodles, mid-sized dogs in general. Fortunately, we have encountered mainly friendly dogs so far but even so they can be a bit boisterous and big for Miss T. I’m no dog psychologist but I imagine that when Miss T. sees another dog(s) her thought processes go something like this:

YOOHOO! I’M TUPPENCE! PLAYTIME! OH! OH! OH! I’m a DOG! Not a RABBIT! I don’t like your big paw on my back. I made mistake. Human legs, please. Safe place. Wrong human legs. Where’s Mum! Pick me up! BYE BYE SEE YOU NEXT TIME! WHEN I’M BIG AS YOU!

For everything, an app

In an effort to find more suitable playmates, I downloaded the app for DoggyDating. When I saw that a lady and her dachshund were organising a lakeside date nearby, I accepted the invite. Tuppence happily plays with smaller dogs, dachshunds, mini poodles, boomers, yorkies, havanese, chihuahuas, etc.

It turned out to be a lovely sunny day and as well as Tuppence enjoying herself, I made two new human friends as well. Ellie and sausage dog, Bikkel came to accompany us on another sunny walk along the River Waal and enjoyed appeltaart at the Zijdewind last Friday. Below a few photos.

Photo by Ellie