Snippet

My partner and I are going to be buying or building a house soon. Once we are settled in, I've promised him that he can have a puppy. He will be a first-time dog owner, whilst I have extensive dog experience.

We want to get into conformation showing, so will be getting a pedigree with champion bloodlines from a good breeder, no matter what breed we choose.

Our lifestyle is fairly sedentary but we will be able to give a dog plenty of company and affection, and a daily walk. We are happy to devote time to daily grooming but don't want a dog requiring clipping. Puppy will go to obedience school and potentially progress through to obedience trials. We will have good fencing and the dog will mostly be indoors, with free access to the backyard. We will ultimately have two dogs, either my elderly Beagle and one of the below, or two dogs (potentially our two top choices in breeds). We don't have children but want to have children within the next 5 years, so want a dog that should be easily kid-friendly.

Breeds we have been considering include:

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel

Pomeranian

Keeshound

Cocker Spaniel

Papillon

I'd like to hear from owners of these breeds, or people who are around them a lot (e.g., groomers, vets, etc).

My partner and I are planning on starting a rattery together to breed some lovely pet and show rats. Any ideas for cute names would be greatly appreciated! My favourite rattery names for ratteries that already exist are 'the mad ratter' and 'Rodents of Unusual Sweetness' (ROUS, for those of you who get the reference!).

I see (and answer!) many, many questions from people who are going through difficult times and don't know what to do. I am a firm believer in people's ability to grow and learn from negative experiences. I am wondering if anyone would be willing to talk about bad things they have grown from.

I will start with a story of my own. (Don't keep reading if you just want to answer!)

Several years ago, I was completing my honors year at university, studying Psychology. During that year, some very traumatic things came to light within my family that were very difficult for everyone to cope with. I was in a relationship that wasn't going well. Whilst I was trying to collect my research data, my grandmother died and I had to rush away from uni to the country to look after the animals at my parent's home so they could go to the funeral.

Basically, it was an absolutely hellish year with multiple life events, any one of which was just about impossible to cope with, let alone all of them.

Despite everything, I finished my thesis and did well academically for the year. In fact, I got through the year quite well. After that year, I had learned just how strong I am. I learned that my emotional responses are my responsibility, and that it doesn't matter what happens to me, because my reactions are within my control and responsibility. I learned to worry less about the small stuff because there are so many more important things. This lesson has served me very well and I would not change anything that happened during my hellish honors year, despite how difficult it was!

If someone ran down 13 flights of stairs, how many calories would they expect to burn?

I'll have another question to follow soon. I'm very curious as to your answers to these questions. Please answer all of them if you decide to answer :)