Mar 30, 2015

My New Family Member

 This week we welcomed a new Bailey family member. Her name is Ava and she's a rescued greyhound. She's settling in well, and the other Bailey dogs are gradually getting used to her, but the humans are totally in love with her already.

She's sweet, patient, and as long as she has a soft place to nap, she's very happy. I haven't had much to do with greyhounds before, but I'm a complete convert!

But one interesting thing happened: have a look at the close-up of her feet - she arrived with painted toenails. Such a sweet gesture from a foster mum who was sad to let her go. 

Coincidentally, my May book, The Finn Factor, has a Border Collie called Harvey who very much resembles my Jazzie May (who passed on a year ago), and there's a scene where the hero's little sister paints Harvey's nails. I've never done it to any of my own dogs, so to have Ava arrive with bright pink nails after writing that scene seemed like a sign that Ava was meant to be part of our family!

Tell me, have you ever painted a dog's nails before, or seen one with painted nails? Or have you ever dressed your dog or cat up in a costume, or put bows in their fur? I'm starting to wonder if I need to pay more attention to my dogs' presentation!


18 comments:

  1. Ava looks very precious, Rach! I bet she already knows how lucky she is to have wound up at your place!

    We used to dress up our dog when we were kids and put him in the dolls stroller and push him around in it. He was very long suffering :-)

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    1. Amy, that's hilarious! Did you get photos? What a patient boy. :)

      Ava is precious - I can't stop cuddling her. :)

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  2. Rachel

    Ava is such a darling I showed my granddaughter a picture of her on facebook and her painted toe nails and she wanted to go outsude and paint our dog Casper's with her purple nail polish but I don't think he would let her ☺. We have not had a pet that would let us dress them up not that we haven't tried ☺ Ava is one lucky dog

    Have fun
    Helen

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    1. Helen, my three boy dogs wouldn't let someone paint their toenails either! I think Casper is probably wise to keep his toenails natural. :)

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  3. Aw, Ava is such an elegant, refined girl! And very, very lucky to have landed at your place, Rachel. I hope the grumpy boy dogs all come to love her as much as you do.

    As for dressing up animals, I tried it with my cat once (I was only little), but I decided the effort wasn't worth the scratches. ;-)

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    1. Michelle, she's definitely elegant! With her really long legs it's surprising she's not awkward and gangly, but she moves like a ballerina!

      Yeah, I think cats are probably best left alone. Those claws are very useful defences!

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  4. I already said it on FB but Ava is a gorgeous doggie. Love that her nails match her collar too.

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    1. Lyn, the matching collar and nails was a total coincidence! The foster mum painted her nails, and the rescue group brought the collar (and matching pink lead) to the meet and greet. I think pink must be her colour!

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  5. Oh, Ava is beautiful, Rachel! She's the very first dog I've seen with painted nails, but don't they suit her?! Our dear old Cosmo has been dressed up a number of times and the kids are always on at me to get her a coat for the winter. With her schnauzer beard I think she'd look better in a tweed hat than painted toenails but maybe she could have both??

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    1. Barb, I can totally see Cosmo wearing a tweed hat! You should get her one and take a photo so we can all see the adorableness. :)

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  6. Lucky, lucky Ava to be part of the Bailey household!

    My terrible big brother (he better now he's an adult) once shaved our beautiful cattle dog to resemble a poodle when we were kids. My mother never forgave him for taking away Blue's dignity. Blue wasn't herself until all her hair grew back.

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    1. Oh, Jennifer! Poor Blue. Dougal, my border collie, has medium length hair, and some summers (including this one) I trim it with the hair clippers to help him cope with the heat, but it was the same length all over. :)

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  7. I hope Ava is settling in well! She's such a gorgeous doggie and I'm sure she'll be a great addition to your family :)

    My mother's dog (the closest I'll get to having my own pet while we're living in an apartment and travelling a lot) is a chihuahua terrier x and she looks adorable in outfits but she really hates wearing them. We put a coat on her in the cooler months because she hadn't got a lot of fur, but she greases you off and runs away whenever the coat (which we call 'the coat of doom') comes out.

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    1. Oh, poor little girl. I'm hoping Ava is more accepting of her winter coat! Perhaps I should start now by calling it the coat of snuggles or something. :)

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  8. Hi Rachel - of, Ava is so beautiful and so very lucky to have a found a new forever home with the Bailey's! I'm sure she'll bring you buckets of happy days. I'm thinking I probably wouldn't paint the toe nails of my two French Mastiff's....but they do wear reindeer ears and tinsel at Christmas and I was thinking of making easter bonnets for them this week :)

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    1. Oh, Easter bonnets! Please do, Helen, and take photos for us. :) Also, have you got photos of the reindeer ears and tinsel costumes? I have a pic like that somewhere of Dougal and Fergus. :)

      You know, I think you're right about the buckets of happy days. We're totally in love with Ava already. :)

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  9. Oh, Rachel, your newest fur-kid is gorgeous and very lucky to have arrived to live with the Baileys! What a nice touch with the matching collar and toe nails - I think Ava has a great sense of style! ;)

    My sister and I used to dress our long suffering cat up when we were children. He was a dear old thing and very patient. But when he'd had enough he used to stalk off leaving a trail of bits of clothing in his wake.

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  10. Ava is adorable. I love her sweet face and a pink collar too. Painted toenails too. You have a girly dog!

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