Once upon a time … Mummy told Wheatie Gráinne that they would be bringing the Princess a pea to disturb her sleep
(see "The Princess and the Pea"). So my nickname is The Pea. My kennel name though is Lorena Róisín vom Don.

But my call name is

Róisín ("Ro-sheen") na Dun na nGall.

My new Mummy and Daddy watched daily for photos from the moment I was 3 days old and they met my ex-Mummy on the phone.

You can see them at www.vomDon.de, L-Wurf.
I am the one with the red collar.

They watched me grow and grow and grow. Finally, when I was 5 weeks old, they drove 4 hours each way to visit my siblings and me as well as my doggie mother, father, grandma and great-grandma plus our older Black Russian Terrier auntie. Everybody made a good impression on them: first the adults and then we pups, my doggie father Jey-Jey vom Don stealing the show.

When they got home, it was clear that Princess Gráinne wasn’t going to meet the Pea any more. She had to go over the Rainbow Bridge to Doggie Heaven the same night (see "Last Chapter" on www.grainnedoggie.de). It was my job to lighten the Wheaten lovers’ hearts after losing Gráinne & Diarmuid within 6 weeks.

Finally the day of my departure from my kennel arrived. I was 8 ½ weeks old. Mummy and Daddy came to bring me home, spending 2 hours with the breeders (who meanwhile moved up here and will live near us!) to sign contracts and get instructions.

Drum roll! - They got in the car, Mummy on the back seat next to a travel crate for me, and ex-Mummy and ex-Daddy handed me to her. What is this supposed to mean? Car? Strangers? Crate? Hello? Did I see a tear?

I whimpered for 15 minutes on Mummy’s lap and then moved into the crate, where ex-Mummy had given us a smelly-blanket from the litter pen. She thought of everything ;-) I slept there next to Mummy’s arm for 3 ½ hours until we arrived.

Then they woke me up and carried me into a new house: hmmmmmmm. OK.
They put me out in the fenced-in backyard and I said, “I’m staying here! This playpen is cool!”

I ate, we played, Auntie Uschi came to play with me. Time for bed. By then I was asleep under my new Mummy’s desk. So she made her own bed of blankets next to me. For two nights Mummy lay there while I had to sleep in a crate but on the third night she could move back to her real bed. Most nights ever since I let Mummy sleep for 8 hours before I waken her with a gentle whine which, like an alarm clock, gets louder if ignored.

Two days after I arrived, we already went to puppy school. Trainer Annika said I was doing fine for less than two days with Mummy. I learned to follow. - Well, sort of ;-) We got homework: use targets, go to markets, practice leash training, go around buckets left and right, be off-leash in the fields and come when Mummy calls. COOKIES! I recognize the sound of the crinkly package!

I have figured out the rules here: 1) I am not allowed to do stairs because of my young joints and bones. I take the Mummyvator or Daddyvator up and down. 2) Piddling and pooping is to be done outside. Doesn’t matter; I love the backyard. Why not give them a reason to put me out there? They say I’m almost housebroken after two weeks only! It took my predecessors months.

We’ve "done" a restaurant, the local veggie market: bike, electrocart, people, stroller; Christmas Market (on Mummy’s arm) and various visits with family and friends. I love dogs and people, especially kids!

We selected our Christmas tree at the local forester’s copse. Interesting sounds, sights and smells. A family was so impressed with me that they want a Wheaten pretty soon. When Daddy put the tree up in the living-room I didn’t bother it, nor the ornaments. I’m a good girl; those devil’s horns were only camouflage.