You're welcome Nikki, I think it's lovely that we're not only friends but rellies

Lovely pictures, I can never quite tell them apart!

Glad you are getting on so well with him

Occasionally even we get it wrong, and poor Tai gets a bollocking for something or other, having been mistaken for naughty Ben!!

Thank you darling, things are going pretty well. I even took a bone off him this morning - I won't bore you with the details, but I had to dash off somewhere very quickly and needed to load them into the back of the car. 2 dogs with bones in such a small space would not be a good idea, so bones and dogs had to be parted. He growled at me, but let me take it and got a piece of cheese as a reward! I can now groom him without putting a muzzle on him - he will threaten me when I am doing his tail, but it is only a threat, I know now when he means business from his eyes and the way he holds his head as he glares at my hand. If I think he is going to do more than just threaten, I stop and groom another area until he is calm again, reward his calmness with a bit of cheese and gently try again.

Gorgeous photos!

That was fantastic. Enjoy every moment that you can. ( it sounds like you are!) You all deserve this wonderful time. Please keep sharing these great times, and beautiful Dogs.

Lovely pics!

I've been off work this week with the dreaded Norovirus. Yesterday was 48 hours since I last vomited, so thought it safe to go outside without infecting the whole of Northamptonshire. I kept away from people and shops but went with hubby to take the dogs for a walk along the canal. This is what happened.

Saw in the distance a man approaching with a collie, so Tai and Ben put on harness by OH. As we got closer and closer, OH was worried that there could be a confrontation because of the narrowness of the towpath. I told him not to worry, that I would get between our 2 and the collie and all would be well and not to be such a wimp. As we got closer, the owner went off the towpath into the field through a gap and we stopped to thank him. Both our boys were calm, his dog was calm, and as we started to talk to him OH realised he knew him. He praised the vast improvement he could see in Ben and we carried on chatting. He came back onto the towpath, with me firmly standing between the dogs to avoid any trouble and we carried on talking. All 3 dogs were exemplary, when suddenly Ben woo woo'ed at the collie ... this is Ben being especially nice and saying he wants to play, so they were allowed to say hello with absolutely no attempt at all from Ben to try and pin him ... his usual behaviour with large male dogs. It was absolutely brilliant, I was so proud of him. He was even wagging his tail, and he even allowed me to say hello to the collie and rub his chest. The collie then proceeded to follow me, still on his lead, as I walked back to my 2, and still Ben did not kick up. This invasion of his space would have guaranteed a massive negative response from Ben in the past, but he was extremely equable, calm and relaxed with this dog, and as a consequence so was Tai.

How cool is that ... I really feel at last we have the very last piece of the jigsaw in our hands poised in preparation for its downward pathway to the solving of the mystery and puzzle that is Ben. Even OH was positive about it ... I think we're getting their folks!!

stunning pictures and stunning dogs