Circé est arrivée!

She’s certainly made her mark on our lives since she arrived almost two weeks ago. Our golden Labrador puppy was eleven weeks old last Monday and she celebrated with her favourite activities – helping with the housework (she especially loves sweeping the kitchen floor, loading the dishwasher and re-arranging the slippers) and the gardening - mostly picking flowers!

Circé is the name she was given by her breeder, Evelyne Bourgoin. As her mother is Athena, her sister and brothers are also named after gods and goddesses, all beginning with ‘c’, as that’s evidently the letter for dog names this year. In spite of the goddess Circé sounding like a rather tricky character we decided that it’s a pretty name which suits her well. Besides that, it’s much better than any of the names we could come up with – she just doesn’t look like a Clarrie or a Carmela!

Even the most assiduous buffing up on the essentials of bringing up a happy, well-balanced dog isn’t preparation enough for the life-changing experience of getting your first puppy. We bought every dog manual we could find in the Oxfam book shop in Farnham, and a few others, but none of them told us how scary it is to think that her life and well-being are entirely in our hands. If we don’t get the toilet-training right she might grow up to be a delinquent and judging by the size of her paws if she is going to be a delinquent then she’ll be a big one!

But even in the few days we’ve had her she’s gained in confidence and has already learnt to ‘sit’ before her meals and to come when she’s called – in two languages. We’re trying to teach her to be bilingual so she understands our French friends as well as us. Mme Bourgoin told us that she has come across other Labradors who understand both English and French, and that the Labrador is one of the few breeds intelligent enough to cope with this. Maybe Circé has a head start, though, as her father is English.

Regardless of the language, there’s still a way to go as far as her training is concerned. Her toilet habits are a bit erratic, but that’s probably more about us not reading the signs properly. Why is it she can spend an hour chasing about with us outside and then five minutes later do a wee on the doormat? The good news is that she can be completely clean during the night -provided the day starts at 5:30.

But in spite of all of this, there are many unexpected pleasures in being a puppy-owner; the sweet doggy smell made fragrant with lavender when she’s been sauntering around the bushes in the garden; her joy every morning when she realises we didn’t really abandon her overnight and the delight on her face as she bounds towards us when we call her, ears flapping – who says dogs can’t smile?

Take a look at our Flickr pictures of Circé and her family.

Labradors de la Tour Farmina

What the Wikipedia says about the goddess Circe