Now I’m starting to worry whether Bertie really is a greyhound or not. Let me explain: firstly, there are no quirks - nope not one. He doesn’t nick the kids’ toys, or my knickers, in fact he seems completely bereft of the ‘greyhound tidying gene’. He doesn’t sing strange strangled songs, he doesn’t walk round in circles seventeen times before he sits down, he hasn’t tried to nick all the sofa (although, give him time), he knows exactly where and when he should ‘go’ and more importantly where he shouldn’t and he doesn’t, honestly, seem to have wind. Ever. Okay so we’ve only known him one weekend but he seriously is THE most well mannered foster dog (in fact, dog full stop) I’ve ever had.

Happily, though, he’s got enough good old fashioned bonkersness in him to assure us that there’s definitely a greyhound in there somewhere. Here’s the clues: he’s incredibly nosey: nobody can visit the loo or get up for any reason without being followed so closely that they look like they have a strange furry growth attached to their thigh. He’s also the greediest pig on the planet and had to be stopped from relieving #2 of his breakfast when it was midway to his mouth this morning. Last but certainly not least, he is endowed with that most greyhound of qualities: plain old adoration. Although he’s quite reserved, he also loves us all already to within an inch of our lives and he’s only known us two days (how forward!). We are perpetually smothered with wet kisses (the children especially - probably because they’re generally in need of a good wash) and gazed at adoringly, and being left alone at night is the worst torture we can possibly inflict on him. In fact, he cried so pitifully when left alone that I eventually succumbed and let him have his bed on the floor by my bed the first night, then sneakily moved it to outside the door the next night. In fact, if I keep up this devious process, by next week he’ll be sleeping down the bottom of the field.

So there you have it. He is adorable, cuddly, affectionate, clean, silly, and stunningly beautiful (as well as his blue ears, we’ve noticed he has blue stripes all down his tail!). I’ll let you know when I find the catch.

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