Hi Penny
over 30 years ago when I got my Lab aged 6 months he was under weight and the first day was spent shopping for food etc. My parents had both come to see the new addition to the family and Dad declared that what the dog needed was plenty of tripe. Now where I then lived we had a couple of tripe shops (long gone!) so the following week I decide to buy tripe. Dad often had a bit cold with vinegar and I knew I hated that but boiled tripe was unknown to me. The dog thought it was wonderful but the house smelt for weeks! Never again! A few years later a canned dog meat with tripe came on the market and I used to buy one tin a week for the Lab as his Sunday treat. Even  the smell of that was disgusting but boy did he love it!

Hi Jack
I like a dog with spirit myself and my Holly certainly has that in spades!

Retro is very "now" in the UK too. We have endless TV shows about finding antiques and restoring them and increasingly they restore "mid century" items too. Many of the true antique chairs are found to have been recovered in dralon during that mid century.
I spend a lot of my leisure time wandering around antique centres but I do tend to omit the retro stalls. It is a bit depressing seeing your childhood sold as "old"!!
I am Yorkshire born but I don't think I have ever heard of firtling. I know the word fossick but I doubt that I have ever used that either. Off the cuff I would have assumed that to have been a word I know from a Shakespeare play but I haven't looked that up to check.
All of this goes to show that the phrase "what goes around comes around" is one of the truest phrases we have.

My grandparents still did antimacassars but not my parents. Perhaps because my Dad was "modern" and used Brilliantine instead on his comb over!!

As you have probably gathered Jack I have had the pleasure of a few dogs in my life. Only with one of them did I try attending training classes. Puppy socialisation classes were not known then and I am sure they are a great idea (indeed  I wish my current cocker had been socialised with other dogs more by her first owner) My two visits to classes were about 25 years ago with my 6 month old Labrador (who was as is usual with me 2nd hand!) The man who ran the classes was more concerned at the first session with me calling Oscar a golden lab when strictly speaking he was a yellow lab! At the second class the man actually smacked (literally!) my hands for holding the lead in a manner he said was unacceptable!! When I got a bit upset about that Oscar picked up on that and headed for the nearest table and hid under it pulling me with him. When I sat there for a bit comforting the poor pup I was told that spoiling the dog in that way was going to cause major problems.I often wish that I had gone back a few years later and demonstrated the superb temperament and intuition that Oscar had for when his people were upset or ill.I have loved all 8 of my dogs but Oscar was probably THE one out of them all. Typical Lab. Mad as a hatter when young but Mr Sensible/Sensitive when mature. He was especially good with my Dad. He had helped with the early months of training post hand smacking and when a number of years later he sadly succumbed to Alzheimers Oscar was so good with him. I am sure that training classes have moved on immensely since then and you will enjoy them and Bonnie will benefit greatly once she realises that there is work time and there is play time! All good fun!!

Our family version was "you know what thought did? Thought wrong!"

We live in an "upside down" house on four levels and whilst it is not perfect at least we sleep in the coolest part of the house as of course we all remember the science teacher 's mantra that "heat rises".
I still tend to say that I am going "up" to bed even after over 7 years of sleeping on the bottom floor!

Penny it will be 8 years this time but about 12 together and I am looking forward to it very much.