There we were, Holly, Harry and me going about our daily business. School runs, work, holidays and living, but something appeared to be missing and that something was a dog or to be more precise a small dog.

Our bestest friends Kirstie, Alex and daughter Lottie had Dudley. Dudley, a border terrier is the sweetest, cleverest dog you can imagine. Even today aged 17 he still has a wag in his tale and the odd burst of youth in his wise old dog head. Squirrels enter his garden at their own risk, eyeing up the nearest tree for a means of escape, but Dudley usually just barks now as his old legs and eyesight ain’t what they used to be.

It was in homage to Dudley, that Holly and I set about the task of finding another Dudley, could he really exist, the perfect mutt? Harry had been badgering me for a year to get a dog, “as all my friends have one”. I always said no, as I wanted him to wait until he could deal with the responsibility of having a pet that actually required interaction and WALKS!!

Kirstie alerted us that a close neighbour just happened to have a border who was about to have a litter of pups, Holly and I paid her a visit and met our little dude for the first time, he was only 2 weeks old but we knew straight that he was the one. We had to keep it a secret from Harry for another 6 weeks, all the while receiving updates every week from the breeder in the form of sweet pictures.

So, the big day arrived. Holly and I decided to surprise Harry on the pretext that we were visiting Kirstie and Lottie and, just needed to pop into one of her neighbours to look at her dog. Everyone except Harry was in on the secret. Into the house we went and Harry’s eyes lit up as he sat down and played with the puppies, after a few minutes I placed our new addition onto his lap and said that because he was such a wonderful son and a great boy that the puppy sitting on his lap was his new hairy brother. Harry looked at Holly and me, his eyes telling a thousand thoughts of joy and burst out crying, could it be true, was this little squidgy thing really his new dog? We all hugged each other tightly, careful not to crush Mudley, his new name in honour of Dudley.  His full name is Mr Mudley Great Escape, (and he tries) but to us he just plain old muds.