Elfie had a hard task when she came into all of our lives. We were all in a state of shock, seriously grieving. But that big puppy was never deterred. Wiglet had sent her on a mission and she was going to fulfil it.

Over the months she has persevered, laying at RD’s feet in Wiglet’s old spot. Making us set up new routines: every night now daddy has to go out to the paddock and play bubblyfux. Every night! We don’t know what we’re going to do when the winter nights draw in as bubblyfux are Ellie’s most favourite thing in the world.

I am not going to lie Elfie was a shock to our system. We were used to Tenacious little Terriers and whilst Elfie is nearly all Kerry Blue Terrier, little they are not! Although Elfie thinks that she really is very tiny. Especially at night when she likes to climb up on the sofa and attempt to either squash herself onto the sofa or squeeze onto RD’s lap.

In addition we had not had a puppy for over sixteen years, with Harley and Wiglet being rescues. So when the chewing ensued it came as a bit of a shock to our system. Both of our slippers were very quickly chewed, along with half my cushions, and as you may have noticed the mats!! She chews mercilessly, the mat at the beginning of the post on point. Oh the irony!

So far we have gone through three door mats, and if there is half left then we keep them now – she will only chew another. In addition we had to move all plugs out of the way, for fear of her chewing them whilst they are still plugged in.

Then we had the joyful phase where she we would wee on our bed if we left the bedroom door open, and we quickly realised that we had to keep that door firmly shut.

Now when we go out we lift up the front and back door mats, and the rug in the hall, make sure our bedroom door is shut and hide any tissues – because chewing tissues is also one of Elfie’s favourite things.

Elfie came from a farm and believe me she is ever the farm dog, bringing all sorts of crap that she finds into the house, only yesterday I walked into my newly vacuumed living room only to find that had she brought in a huge dried up weed the size of triffid. It was an extremely large thistle that we had pulled out of the paddock and put on the compost heap. There it was taking centre place in the middle of my small living room. She was so pleased with herself. Bit like a child when it brings you a squashed dead flower.

Elfie is never happier than when she is chewing a plant pot! In fact we are going to get a large plant pot for her at Christmas and fill it with toys. There will no prizes for guessing what she will play with first.

Little did we know that the ‘puppy’ we brought home would grow into a dog that is actually taller than me when she stands on her hind legs, and she is still only seven months old! She is so powerful, boy is she powerful! Over the months she would leap from one sofa to another landing on either one of us in joyful abandon because she loves us so much, knocking the footstools over in her wake. Only thing is she weighs twenty kilos so when she lands on you she virtually breaks your legs, and she cannot understand why we shouted at her. But then she would look at us with this big brown puppy eyes, and you could not be cross with her for long.

One of her other favourite things is to take the dirty washing out of the laundry basket in our garage and run around the paddock with gay abandon with my knickers, or RD’s pants in her mouth. She is also a sock thief, and I would not be surprised if next year we have sock trees sprouting up around the paddock.

She was fairly easy to house train, although our rug in the living room is on death row, along with several socks, pegs, my new book – torn to shreds in minutes, and most recently one of my flip flops.

She very quickly learned that her bed at night is beside RD on the floor with a pillow (and an ironed pillow case) that we have for her.

Elfie so wants to be friends with Daisy, sooooo wants that. You see she thinks she is a tiny little puppy so when she bounds up to Daisy full of excitement understandably Daisy whacks her. But Daisy also know that she is a gentle giant, because she never chases her, although Daisy thinks she is. In fact she is running with Daisy to see what adventure they can get into now. She misses Diddies, who had so much patience with her.

Elfie learns quickly with most things, her recall is second to none, it is immediate and even when she climbs up on our bed we simply say shush shush to her and she knows to settle back down as it is not time to get up yet. She somehow makes herself fit between us and we don’t even know she is there, unlike Harley the Welshie who wants all the room and the covers. Every morning she jumps up and places her head across my face because she is so pleased to see me, and missed me during the night. She cannot get close enough to give me the love she feels.

As dogs always do, they just give pure love unless an arsehole gets hold of them!

Elfie’s energy is relentless, and she bounds around the paddock towards you as if she has not seen you in years. In fact at some angles she looks like a small black gorilla she is so lithe, add to that she actually holds her toys and picks them up with her front paws, it really seems like there is gorilla in there somewhere.

But here is the thing… as I have said Elfie had a major task on her paws coming into this house. Both RD and I were still in a state of shock at the loss of our beloved Wiglet, no dog could fill those shoes. Wiglet was RD’s baby. Harley was grieving, and he is also very old. He went from having a sibling that was a similar size to him to having a baby elephant, who took up all the room, even as a four month old puppy, and whose tail constantly whacked him in his face. In fact in the first month of coming to live here Harley bit her as she ran for bubbles and drew blood.

I was the one who had wanted her. Wiglet had left a huge hole of silence every day whilst I worked from home and I needed that vacuum of silence to be filled. I felt responsible for this poor big puppy that had come into a home where nobody would hurt her, a place where she would be taken care of, but at the same time where everyone seemed irritated with her, and begrudged the fact that she was, and is, a puppy. In fact it should be a time we cherish.

There have been times when, even for me, she has been hard work jumping from sofa to sofa, with the cushions flying everywhere and appearing to wreck everything in site. All I seemed to do was moan at her, but I am the one who has the job of training her. There have been times when I have felt so sad for her. But Elfie never gave up, and slowly her joy of life, her wonderment began to seep into our souls. Even Harley’s, as he now washes her ears as she towers over him. It’s quite simple: Elfie loves us, and slowly that love has affected us all and started to heal us. She is a reminder that life goes on.

At the weekend as we filled a hole in our fence she had found, as it was lashing down with rain, and as RD fought his way through nettles and brambles to get to it, I asked him if it was because he loved her. Not like Wiglet but in a different way. Clearly it was.

You see poor Elfie is only a seven month old puppy in the body of very big dog. And when I look at her bouncing on all fours around the paddock, literally like Tigger, or running towards me as if someone had left the gate open, because she is so pleased to see me; even though it has only been a matter of minutes, I smile and I say to myself, there is a little pocket of happiness right there.

Or should I say big!!

Rosie