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The three weeks soon passed, I had everything ready for the Great Dane. A huge bed and food. We were going to use Angels collar and lead. I hoped she would get on with Candy, I knew Candy would accept her. The other thing was her name we didnt like Alice but we would have to live with it for a while at least until she settled in.

Sheila was off work until 6.00pm that evening so off we went to pick up Alice. The lady had her ready Sheila paid the balance and off we went. Alice seemed very happy to go with us and jumped in my car as good as gold.

We got home and now came the worrying part, would the two dogs accept each other. Steve was in waiting for us ,he was eager to see Alice. I opened the door and Candy came to greet us and her and Alice ran into the lounge leaping and sniffing each other. This lasted 2 minutes then they both sat on Alice`s bed, it was amazing. I gave Sheila a big hug and thanked her over and over again . We decided we would take both dogs out for a walk so Steve, Sheila and I took them across the road to the woods , we let Candy off the lead but poor Alice had to stay on hers .

I cant remember who it was but someone called her Allie and she went to them so we all decided Allie it would be. We had dinner and then Steve and I took Sheila to the station, we had no idea how Allie would be but we would soon find out. It would be at least 2 weeks before Sheila would be able to get home again, so by then Allie would be really part of our family.

I did wonder how she would be on monday when Steve and I went to work , I had already decided I would come home at lunchtime to take her for a short walk, which I did and everything was fine no mess or damage at all, she was very excited to see me. She was a really nice dog, very loving and as is peculiar with Great Danes she would sit on your lap with her feet on the ground, very odd to see.

Steve would be home before me so he would be the one to take her out next. It would be awkward on a wednesday as Steve goes straight to Lesley and Ians for dinner so they would have to wait until I got home a couple of hours later. Dogs are such creatures of habit , they have this in -built time clock.

Sheila rang regularly for an update. Allie had settled in so well you would have thought she had been with us for years. I took her to the vet to have a thorough check up and register her. The next thing was to get her insured ,which because of her size and breed would be expensive but necessary.