The beginning

We have decided to get a dog. We have persuaded the landlord that it would be a good idea and checked through endless websites on selecting dogs. I was beginning to think that a spoodle would be a good family choice since is is Australia's most popular breed these days and the puppies are incredibly cute but I was never completely convinced. They just look so scruffy.

Then one day I was chatting to a friend who said that she had recently got a whippet. 'Interesting', I thought. They are not scruffy, in fact, they are sleek and elegant. One of Calum's criteria to determine how appealing any animal is, is to assess how pattable their heads are and whippets have very pattable heads. They are also hounds which is the kind of dog that Calum is drawn to.

On Easter Sunday there was a whippet show at Castle Hill Showground. When we got there we discovered that a number of breeds were having their own distinct dog shows at the Showground. We looked at them all, the very noisy dachshunds, the grumpy pugs, the amazingly vacant red setters and the gentle, curious, sweet whippets. Calum recognised one of the whippet show officials, she had just joined his office. She breeds whippets but wasn't expecting any at the moment, but she did know Lisa who had a pregnant bitch. We went to meet Lisa and Zest, the expectant mum. Zest had been sent all the way to Hobart to meet Oscar and to get busy. We had a chat with Lisa and put our names down for one of her male pups, due 1 June 07. Today Flora asked me how many days it is until we can get our dog, it's 56, we worked it out.