Mark's Blog

Daisy Hill here, F1 Cockapoo and roving P3 pet reporter for this week’s blog!

I was born on 17 October 2020, so I’m a very grown up. I’m ten months old now and still learning lots of new tricks 😊

This is me at six weeks, before I met Matt and this is me with Hannah on her first visit when she cuddled me for the first time.

Daisy has been with us since November 2020. Before that, I was adamant I wasn’t a dog person. I never grew up with a dog, I have a ridiculous amount of allergies, and I definitely didn’t want to spend my days trudging round the local park in the rain and picking up poo with a thin black bag. What a burden I thought, no thank you, hard pass!

But how times have changed … After the best part of two years of badgering, Hannah, my long-suffering partner, finally wore me down. Lockdown, and the move towards hybrid working took away my last bastion of an excuse. No more could I reject the idea because our working patterns wouldn’t be fair to the dog.

Hannah is a paediatric nurse, so she works twelve hour shifts a few times a week at the local hospital. Combined with my new working-from-home routine, it didn’t take her long to realise this was the perfect opportunity for her to strike. And strike she did, relentlessly spamming me with pictures of cute puppies for sale while I was holed-up in my box room home office during the first lockdown. Puppies of all shapes and sizes; Collies, Chihuahuas, Pomeranians, Labradors. I had to pop an antihistamine each time I looked at my phone!

Eventually, I reluctantly agreed to visit a litter of puppies she’d found locally. Something called a Cockapoo. Hypoallergenic they said. Fair enough, I thought – it can’t hurt to just go have a look. We masked-up, and visited a house down some street in Worksop. And that is where the cookie crumbled. We picked her up, looked at each-other, and nodded in agreement we had to have her. Bugger. I’d caved.

When we took her home, we had a few tough months of puppy training compounded by the terrible November/December weather. In the first weeks, we took turns getting up every few hours to stand with her outside, in the freezing cold, at ungodly hours in the morning, training her to go to the toilet outside. This was one of the many ‘new puppy’ things to deal with, including howling through the night, and ensuring our possessions didn’t get unceremoniously dismantled by her curious mouth whenever our backs were turned!

But we made it, and it was totally worth it. Coming up to nearly a year since we took her home, I absolutely wouldn’t be without her now. She’s become part of our family – she comes everywhere with us; she keeps us company throughout the day and night and she truly is a joy to be with. I don’t feel its an understatement to say she has changed our lives. We go on far more walks now and visit plenty of places with her, she cuddles up on the sofa with us at night and is always super elated when either of us walks in through the door after going out, however briefly we’ve been gone! Somehow, Daisy has even won over my grandparents too, who have previously never allowed dogs into their home!

I got the vibe she got a little bored in a GDPR meeting I was chairing though – I tried not to take it personally …

Of course it is and I’ve added all my cutest ones at the bottom of this blog – woof!

We’ve even found a reliable dog sitter too, which makes it much easier if we have to go away somewhere where Daisy can’t come. It’s a place called “McKinney Kennels” up in Chesterfield run by a really tall Scottish bloke who drives a Tesla. Anyway, I really recommend it if you’re ever after a dog sitter – I’m pretty sure he takes all sizes of dog, especially the really hyperactive ones.

I’d only give it 4 out of 5 stars though – Daisy never used to bark and was very obedient. One weekend there and she came back barking like never before and totally ignored us when we sent her to bed! Took us a few weeks of re-training to sort that out. I think he might have spoiled her a little during her stay …

I hope you’ve enjoyed this very brief insight into the life of a dog convert – if you’re thinking of getting one, and you can give a dog the time and love they deserve, take it from me that you won’t regret it 😊

Introducing Buster …

I got married in 2018 and that’s when Buster came into my life. After the wedding ceremony my husband said he had a gift for me and presented me with Buster my giant rabbit. I’m not ashamed to say I cried with happiness when I saw her despite not shedding a tear for the wedding itself!

Buster came at just the right time for me as I’d just lost my grandad, I was feeling very down and a bit lost as to how to spend my time.

Buster changed that! It’s amazing how much a pet can help the healing process and provide so much needed additional comfort. It’s true to say having an animal to care for really brought me back to life.

I work for P3 on the Derbyshire Mental Health Helpline and we hear from so many callers that their pets are their lifeline, giving them the reason to keep going and to get up every morning. I think for so many people who already felt socially excluded and alone the lockdowns brought an even greater sense of isolation and anxiety. I think we’ve all endured some of these moments, and for me the importance of pets (like Buster) as part of our families and their unconditional love has only grown.