Allow me to introduce you to Mal

Yesterday an absolute gem came into my life, Mal. An absolutely beautiful animal in his nature and looks. Not only has he already made himself at home, he has made himself a little home in my heart. Mal is Red Irish Setter and is now six months old.

He had quite an adventure getting here from Natal Mal did. He was originally supposed to travel Tuesday but it was postponed till Friday. On Friday morning he left his siblings and made his way to the Durban airport where he would fly to East London via Johannesburg. A stressful journey that would take him most of the day. And then he missed his flight in Joburg to East London on Friday afternoon. Crumbs, I felt terrible for the blighter who would have had to stay in Joburg till the next flight on Saturday to get to East London only 5.30pm…to long. But to cut a long story short, the pet travel folks managed to get him on a flight to PE, then drive him to East London. Thank goodness! He arrived safe and sound (and very tired) on Saturday morning 6.30am. Picked him up, brought him home and the smiles have not stopped since then 🙂

I had to go out on Saturday evening so I figured I’d get him right into the swing of things and stretch his legs out a bit so that he would sleep and settle down that evening. So we did the park run together for the first time on Saturday morning.

He seemed to enjoy it but was very unsure of himself. I think the only other dogs he’d ever met where is siblings… so meeting all the village’s dogs all in one go, hours after arriving in Kidd’s must have been a bit overwhelming for him! Anyway he was a star on the walk and my guess is by next Saturday he’ll be ready for a good run 🙂

Later that afternoon I took him down to the beach so that he could get a bit more comfortable with the sea. He was not keen on the water at all on the park run. Sea is a bit intimidating for dogs the first time the see it I think! Anyway we made good progress. He got his paws wet in the surf 😉 After I took him to the tidal pool and walked him in a few times. We got to his belly so I think that ‘s pretty good for the first time! I really want him to enjoy the water so will go slow with him.

This is Mal right now as I write this morning… how can that not steal your heart? I hope as friends you’ll get to meet Mal soon and that he’ll find a place in your heart as Bono did. It’s quite a big thing for me this. The timing, the type of dog itself and more. But it feels right and Mal is all I’d hoped for and more.