(updated 22/4/07)

Meg (was Xena) has the dubious BRX accolade of being our most expensive dog to date...  We rescued Meg, aged 9 months, from certain death in an Irish pound last December,  then paid for 30 days boarding in Ireland before she could travel to the UK in the New Year. When she arrived, she had such an upset tummy (and was so not housetrained) that we had to move her from a foster home into boarding kennels here.  Then, no sooner was her tummy settled that she came into season, so she had to stay in kennels here for yet another three weeks.

But do we begrudge her? Not in the least, for Meg is one of the sweetest little girls to have passed through our hands.

But Meg was much smaller than we thought and much more like a collie than a retriever (it’s not always easy to tell from the pix we get sent!). The first person to see her turned her down and were beginning to think we might have problems finding the right home for her. But then along came ecologist Karen, and her six-year-old daughter, Bea, who went to see Meg her in the kennels and were smitten.

“It’s hard to imagine life without her,” says Karen, who coped admirably with housetraining Meg in the first few weeks. “She’s just so good - well, except for being obsessed with food, which I think comes from her life as a stray. She will steal off your plate if you don’t watch her and she still has a sensitive tummy.  But other than that, she’s excellent. She walks to heel off lead and is great with cows and sheep, which makes walking a dream. We go for miles, and she also comes with me on field trips at work.  She’s brilliant with Bea, too.  Thank you so much for letting us have her.”

Actually, Karen - THANK YOU!!