Apologies!

Sorry I've been so bad with the updates... I've been working extra days recently, and of course have lots of things to do as Christmas is approaching.We had a Christmas party last weekend and things got pretty mad, which was quite unexpected seeing as it was meant to be just a few people over for a couple of drinks... but that's the way we roll! ;-)

Here's myself and the G-dog. He's dressed in his little Christmas jumper ready for the party, with his little elf-booties. I know, I know, I'm really mean to him, right? C'mon though, it's Christmas, and he'll be getting a stocking full of lovely treats to make up for it!

Here's a photo of what I'm putting in his stocking: a little kitty toy from Ikea, a new lead, some vegetable based toothbrush shaped chews, and my father sent over three packs of "Organic Pet" vegetarian mini biscuits in three different flavours (mint, sundried tomato & spinach, and banana). They aren't exactly vegan as they have honey in them - but they are healthy treats for him so I'm sure he'll be very happy!

Human food-wise, here's a photo of two new packets of soup I found in Aldi, by Soupreme. The vegetable and minestrone ones are vegan - you have to cook them up in a pot with some boiling water, and they are essentially just a big cuppa soup, nothing special and certainly not very healthy... but they are good for a quick snack with some barley, rice and lentil "soup mix" added into them to add some substance. The other packet is a fake chorizo tortilla flavouring from Aldi, which you are meant to add into an egg tortilla - I was thinking it's probably possible to make a tofu-based tortilla, so I'll be giving that a go soon :)

So anyway, I'm sorry for the lack of proper vegan cooking in this update, as always recently, I am way too busy to be experimenting in the kitchen and have just been sticking to making things I've always made: bolognaise, thai curries, pasta and rice dishes, veggie sausages with beans and waffles, etc. I've been trying to get back into eating salad a bit more too.

Hope you are all well and looking forward to the Christmas holidays!

Snow Days

Not much going on in the Velovegan household at the moment. It's been snowing for 2 days, so I thought I'd share some lovely pictures of what we've been up to recently...

Ikea Goodies!

We went to Ikea today, to get a few Christmas presents, some of their adorable wrapping paper and gift bags, as well as some food. Here's a picture of my haul:

















From the left, clockwise:

Elderflower Cordial - I love Elderflower and it's normally so expensive to buy the cordial, so this decent sized bottle at under €3.00 was a steal.

Applecider Vinegar with Lingonberries - I've never actually used applecider vinegar. Does anyone have any ideas what I can do with it? It looked really nice and was only about €1.25 if I remember correctly.

Oat Biscuits & Cappuccino Thins - I've had the spiced orange version of these so I expect they will be just as yummy. The Oat biscuits are gorgeously crumbly and very moreish. They are quite rusk-like and not too sweet, and I tried them with some jam spread on top of them - delish!

Sour Cream and Onion Kettle Crisps - These are vegan despite the "cream" mentioned in the title. They are so good, really crunchy and crispy. I've had the ready salted version of them too, in smaller packets from their canteen.

Filter Coffee - For only €2.00 I couldn't really resist buying some.

Mustard Dressing with Dill - Surprisingly vegan, this is usually served over smoked salmon. I love it so much, it's so tangy and sharp, with a sweet mustardy taste. I'm not sure what I'll do with it, maybe use it as a raw vegetable dip or a salad dressing.

Dark Chocolate - The usual Ikea favourite, I can't not get one at only 45c a bar!

Strawberry Laces - My German friend, if you remember, sent me the toffee version of these and I hadn't seen them in Ikea before, but they were there this time so I decided to try a different flavour.

And below is a Non-Alcoholic Mulled Wine and some Blackcurrant and Raspberry Jam. The wine can be mixed with vodka and served hot with raisins and almonds... can't wait to try this traditional Swedish drink!









































And guess who couldn't stop looking at me as I ate my oatie biscuits with blueberry and raspberry jam??? YES... GERRY. He had a taster and give it the Gerry Seal of Approval (the GSA).

Here he is in his new little Christmas jumper! ^_^
He doesn't look impressed...

Field and Vine Salad Bar

I went to sample the salad bar at Field and Vine that I blogged about here a while back. It was sooooo good! Not that expensive either. I was quite cautious at how much I put in to the tub at first, but it only came to €2.50... so next time I filled a medium sized tub and it came to just over €3.00 which was still decent enough. Their chickpea salad is gorgeous, it comes with roasted red peppers, mint and parsley (from what I can deduce), and the tabbouleh is really nice too.

Gerry's Diet Update

Since swapping Gerry onto Connolly's Red Mills Junior complete dog food he's been doing really well. As I mentioned before, it is made from pretty simple, organic, pure ingredients sourced in Ireland, with hypoallergenic qualities. The chicken in it is the only 'meat' he gets at the moment, and since stopping feeding him treats with any dairy or any cheap animal derivatives in them, his skin has improved greatly. I have read up extensively on vegetarian and vegan diets for dogs with skin disorders, and think that after Christmas has been and gone I will be swapping him onto Yarrah complete dog food which I have heard works wonders with dogs with food allergies. Originally I thought it was quite expensive, but I've come to realise that you have to pay more to get any decent quality dog food, and it works out the same as the Red Mills if I buy in bulk. I am also aware that some dogs can be allergic to soy however, so his transition onto Yarrah will have to be rethought if this is the case.

At the moment, although he is still on a meat based kibble, he is extremely happy with all his vegan treats that I have managed to find in local pet shops and over the internet - these range from dried sweet potatoes, to toughened rice bones, to vegetable based crunchy biscuits to chewy dental stars. He goes crazy for them! I'm still mixing some rice, beans and peas into his Red Mills as well. He's one happy, bright, sparky doggie! :)

Stuffed Courgettes (Zucchini)

I love courgettes so much, as you know from my last entry. Best of all I love them steamed with a bit of butter, you really can't get any better than that... but of course that wouldn't make for a very exciting entry... so tonight I decided to have a baked courgette stuffed with a mixture of puy lentils, tomatoes, onions, garlic and salt & pepper to season. One if the halves is pictured below, and I made so much of the filling that I'll be serving the rest of the mixture with some yummy brown spaghetti tomorrow. Happy Days! :)

Survey Thingumy...

1. What is one food you thought you’d miss when you went vegan, but don’t?

Definitely cheese. I didn't think I'd miss meat much as I love meat substitutes, but I thought cheese would be something I'd be craving all the time. I used to love sitting down with a chunk of brie on some crackers and dipping it into warm vegetable soup... but I really don't miss it at all! I prefer pizzas without cheese (with refried beans instead) and I love tofutti cream cheese on crackers with cranberry sauce at Christmas and melted cheezley on pitta bread. I don't know how I used to like that smelly, salty stuff before!

2. What is a food or dish you wouldn’t touch as a child, but enjoy now?

I pretty much used to like everything as a child... but dark chocolate has really grown on me, as well as things like dates and prunes.

3. What vegan dish or food you feel like you “should” like, but don’t?

Since I was a kid I've hated raisins, sultanas, currants and rhubarb. So anything with those in is a big no-no for me. I never used to like bananas and was convinced I was allergic to them for about 28 years of my life! However I discovered I was ok when I ate one a few years back but I still don't like them in their raw fruit format, only mixed into baking and desserts. Also, I got pretty sick after eating tempeh not so long ago. I used to love the stuff but now I can't even bear the thought of it.

4. What beverage do you consume the most of on any given day?

I am really bad at drinking water. I really just don't like the taste of it. So I'd say coffee is what I usually drink, especially on work days! However whiskey may come a close second ;)

5. What dish are you “famous” for making or bringing to gatherings?

I am not famous for any dish I don't think!

6. Do you have any self-imposed food rules (like no food touching on the plate or no nuts in sweets)?

I like to eat desserts with a teaspoon, and sometimes I leave the best thing on my plate until last :)

7. What’s one food or dish you tend to eat too much of when you have it in your home?

Bagels with vegan nutella! I try not to buy them very often nowadays...! I'm also a big sucka for crisps and marzipan :)

8. What ingredient or food do you prefer to make yourself despite it being widely available prepackaged?

Pretty much everything. I love cooking from scratch as it always tastes so much better, but sometimes I'm just too lazy to do that, so I make do with the prepackaged stuff. Homemade soup is just THE BOMB though, but sadly I'm just way too lazy to make it all the time. Hmm, this reminds me - I really need to make some winter stews again soon!

9. What ingredient or food is worth spending the extra money to get “the good stuff”?

I don't really ever spend huge quantities of money on any groceries. I just try to find the best quality foods at the best prices possible! Asian and Indian markets are a real gem when it comes to this. However, that said, I do love to shop in gourmet shops from time to time but mostly won't buy something if it's extortionately priced. Although I do spend a long time sourcing the best alcohol, there's no compromising there!! ;)

10. Are you much of a snacker? What are your favorite snacks?

Yeah I snack all the time! I prefer to eat small portions throughout the day than eat big meals. I find it keeps me ticking over throughout the day. Nakd bars are my favourite snacks, or a toasted bagel, dried wasabi peas and broad beans, or some soya yoghurt. NOM!

11. What are your favorite vegan pizza toppings?

Definitely pineapple, refried beans, gherkins, sweetcorn, onions and BBQ sauce. Sliced seitan sausages are great too!

12. What is your favorite vegetable? Fruit?

It's impossible to choose one of each. I'm more of a veggies person than fruit though. I love butternut squash, sweet potato, broccoli, cauliflower, parsnips, roasted peppers, onions and courgettes. The fruit I like most are raspberries, melons, pineapples and mangoes.

13. What is the best salad dressing?

Balsamic vinegar, or just plain salt and pepper.

14. What is your favorite thing to put on toasted bread?

Pure sunflower oil spread, raspberry jam, blackcurrant jam, peanut butter or vegan nutella.

15. What kind of soup do you most often turn to on a chilly day or when you aren’t feeling your best?

Sweet potato and butternut squash, lentil, carrot and coriander, creamy broccoli or chunky vegetable. I love all soups!

16. What is your favorite bun flavour? Icing flavour?

Coffee, hands down!

17. What is your favorite kind of biscuit?

I love bourbon creams, hobnobs, pink wafers and anything homemade from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

18. What is your most-loved “weeknight meal”?

Lentil or textured vegetable protein bolognaise with spaghetti is a favourite comfort food of mine. Or vegetable thai curry. Then again pizza is good too!

19. What is one dish or food you enjoy, but can’t get anyone else in your household to eat?

Aubergines! Everyone else seems to hate the texture.

20. How long, in total, do you spend in the kitchen on an average day?

Probably a couple of hours, if I'm not super busy.

P.S. IT'S NEARLY CHRISTMAS, GUYS! WAH-HOOOOOO! :-D

THE Nicest Pumpkin Soup

1 small Pumpkin
4 small Onions
2 medium Sweet Potatoes
Olive Oil
Vegetable Broth
Garlic Purée
Pepper

Dice the pumpkin, onions and sweet potatoes. Stir fry them in a pan for 5 minutes with some olive oil and garlic purée. Add vegetable stock and water to cover the veg, bring to the boil and then simmer until the sweet potatoes are soft. Grind in some pepper to taste, then put everything into the blender.

Result - two portions of amazingly sweet, comforting, yellowy, homely, warm, mushy goodness. It's so creamy and light it's hard to believe there's no soya milk or cream in it!

I also made Gerry some Sweet Potato Chews of my own:

I sliced them raw and put them in the oven at 140 degrees for almost 3 hours. They were really good, I ended up stealing some from him, and he went CRAZY over them, begging for more (hence the blurry photo)! I will have to wait for the ones I ordered to arrive in the post, to see what kind of texture they are meant to be. They are meant to be a veggie alternative to rawhide, so they are meant to take a while to chew, but mine were gone in an instant - maybe because they were too small (they shrank a lot as they were dehydrating). I'll have to experiment more...

Cuppa Soups, Bones & Sweet Potato Chews!

Everyone's blogging for Vegan MOFO (Month of food) at the moment. I feel like I should be joining in, but it's not really me. I've always been one to go against the grain and refuse to participate... not in a bad or selfish way, I mean I just prefer to do what I want, when I want. Is that so bad?? It makes sense to me!

After my last entry I revisited the shop in Terenure (Nolan's Food Fare, if anyone is interested) and while stocking up on another couple of cans of soup for work I also noticed these babies: Organic cuppa soups by Just Wholefoods. They are both vegan and apparently there is also a carrot and coriander flavour available. They cost around €1.50 for a packet of 4 sachets and are really delicious. It's so difficult to find vegan cuppa soups as most seem to contain milk protein or powder of some sort even if they are vegetarian. The only other, which I've blogged about before, that I've come across, is the minestrone flavour from Lidl.

I made another couple of vegan purchases for Gerry today as well. When we stopped at the pet shop after his run in the park and splash in the lake, I noticed this Marrow Bone treat by Yuppy Puppy. It's like a Nylabone, so lasts for ages, and is filled with a vegetable based jerky flavour paste. It's great for conditioning doggie gums and keeping teeth healthy. Here's my little monster doing his best advertising for the Yuppy Puppy company. I reckon he should get paid!

The other vegan treats I purchased were from the Treatsfordogs Ebay Shop - a few Antos Cerea rice bones which are hollow and can be filled with peanut butter or veggie paté, and some dried sweet potato chews which are a vegetable version of rawhide and apparently last longer! I'm going to try making some of my own for Gerry, according to instructions over at Sable's Supper.













I've been eating pretty unhealthily and sporadically over the last few weeks, I need a kick in the butt to make me start cooking again. I think it's just a temporary hitch, brought on by the new lifestyle of owning a dog. Now that I have someone else to feed and worry about I've been neglecting myself! I am determined as of tomorrow to get back into the swing of things, I can't be setting a bad example for the furry dogchild, so I must start being more healthy from now on!

Workday Autumny Warmers

Here are some new lovely Winter (Autumn!) Warmer discoveries for you. I went to a local Gourmet shop today in Terenure and picked up some Carrot & Coriander soup by Suma, and some Moroccan Chickpea and Shrilankan Lentil & Coconut soup by The Really Interesting Food Co. All soups state that they are suitable for vegans on the labels, and are ideal organic lunches for me to have quickly at work. Really tasty and quite a bargain at just over €1.50 each. The Suma soup was oddly watery, I'm more of a fan of a stodgy carrot and coriander soup, but it was still tasty and is fine soaked up with some brown bread.

I'm really slacking in my updates recently due to trying to save money and eating quite cheaply and unadventurously. I haven't really made anything new and interesting to blog about, just sticking to my old staple favourites. I didn't even do anything on Hallowe'en to warrant an update - horrific in itself, I know! I did see quite a few bonfires and fireworks, played with sparklers with my boyfriend's nieces, stole their sweets and watched The Evil Dead, but we didn't go to a party this year and I mostly stayed in and made sure Gerry wasn't scared. He actually didn't mind the fireworks one bit... probably because he's used to us being noisy most of the time, and our doorbell miraculously ceased to function for one night only, so I don't know if we got any Trick or Treaters! My cute little pumpkin is still sitting in the kitchen waiting to be hollowed out, carved, and turned into a delicious soup. I won't get around to it til the weekend, but I'm still going to do it! I'll have to think of a different design to carve on my lantern, as it's a bit late for something frightening...

Below are my last two years' Hallowe'en costumes. A Flight of the Conchords Style Robot and Old Gregg from the Mighty Boosh. I love dressing up so much and put all my effort into my costumes. I just adore rifling through charity shops to find everything I need, it's such a challenge and I enjoy anything creative so wherever possible I try to make what I wear.

Gerrywise, I do not have much news on his diet. I still have not managed to swap him onto fully vegan food. I think it is going to take more time than I anticipated, because at the moment I am still trying to determine what is causing the rash on his belly and mouth. The DSPCA vet thought it may be mange, and gave him an injection, but it doesn't seem to have cleared it up, so I am convinced that it's an allergy of some sort. I am giving him some Piriton allergy tablets and keeping him away from long grass. I don't know whether it's an environmental allergy or a food allergy, so I've swapped him to the best food I can find locally at the moment, with the purest and simplest Irish ingredients available. This food is Connolly's Red Mills Leader Junior, which is much better than the Bakers' Puppy food that he was raised on, as it has no sugar, salt, artificial colourings, flavourings or preservatives. The fewer ingredients in his kibble the better, so as to reduce the risk of allergies. He seems very happy and healthy on it so far. I am going to see how he copes on this food for a while, and continue to research the best vegan / vegetarian kibble to buy him. It's extremely hard to get hold of here in Ireland, and what you can get hold of (Yarrah or Wafcol) is quite expensive. So at the moment the best I can do is to feed him organic meat kibble of the simplest and healthiest ingredients, supplemented with fresh rice and veg, with some special vegan treats from the Veggie Pets website now and again.

Fry's Polony Sausage

I was in town the other day and came across this in a freezer section of a health food shop: Fry's Polony. It was quite expensive at just under €5.00, but I decided to give it a go because it was pretty large and would probably do me 2-3 meals. I was actually looking for seitan, and this was the closest I came to it that day. It does, in fact, taste EXACTLY like paté, so for people who used to like that sort of thing then this is a winner! It's garlic flavoured and you can eat it raw, heat it up in a microwave, fry it, grill it - do anything with it really. It's not very spreadable though, but I think this would be pretty amazing filling for a sausage roll. I don't think meat eaters would be able to tell the difference! It sort of tastes like the fake meat in Linda McCartney's vegan sausage rolls. Here's a picture of the sausage cut in half, you can get about 6 thick slices out of half a sausage. I had to hold it up to take a photo as Gerry kept sniffling it and trying to eat it!
















I fried it lightly in a frying pan and served it with some steamed green beans and broccoli as I was starving and didn't feel in the mood for cooking when I came home. Granted, it doesn't look very appetising or adventurous, but I did enjoy it! I'll try something a little more exciting with the other half over the weekend. I'd say it would be nice as breadcrumbed burgers, or in a warm bagel with fake cheese and rocket.

Red Quinoa & Chocolate Buttons

I really need to get back on track with my cooking-from-scratch and my experimentation. My time is being sapped by giving Gerry lots of love, affection and walkies. I decided to try cooking red quinoa today with some mixed veg, a little bit of vegan cheese and Aromat seasoning (yes, full of yeasty MSG yumminess but I don't care!) and it was very tasty - the red quinoa has a bit more of a crunchiness than regular white quinoa, and I think I prefer it. Quinoa is a complete protein and great for use in dishes instead of rice as it is more nutritional and tastes even better. Please excuse the steamy photo, as always I just can't wait to get tucked in!

Another thing I've been looking out for in Dublin is white vegan chocolate buttons. I found some and wasn't disappointed, they tasted exactly like Cadbury's Milky Bar buttons and I'd love to make some cookies and cupcakes with them in the future.

Veggie Doggie Cookies

I'm thoroughly exhausted!

Being a full-time mommy to a hyperactive Lurcher is one hell of a challenge! I am the one that walks him, but the boy took him out the other day while I was at work and I called him and it was pretty funny to hear him say he thought Gerry was hard work! He's really been keeping me fit :) A couple of friends came over last night and Gerry really got on well with them.

I decided to bake him some veggie doggie biscuits today. As he has kennel cough we've had to buy him some honey to soothe his throat, so I thought I'd also incorporate it into some homemade biscuits along with some peanut butter as a special treat for him. Normally I would obviously not have honey in the house, so feel free to substitute it with molasses, a sweet syrup or agave nectar - whatever your doggie likes the most.

Combine:

- 3 Cups Flour
- 0.5 Cup Rolled Oats
- 1.5 Cups Soya Milk / Rice Milk / Water
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1.5 Cups Peanut Butter
- 1 tbsp Honey / Molasses / Syrup

Knead the dough, roll out and cut with a cookie cutter. Bake for 20 mins on 350F (180C) until golden brown. Leave in the oven to cool and harden.

I froze the rest of the dough so I can just take it out a little in advance next time I want to make a batch of cookies for him. This mixture makes LOADS! Gerry really liked them and I think they will really come in useful for training as he always wants more. Humans can eat them too of course, and it's nice to be able to feed him something that I've baked myself which doesn't contain any artificial flavouring, colouring or preservatives.

Gerry Update

Gerry has been settling in very well. Lots of long walks, cuddles, playtime and love. I was not expecting a 6 month old puppy to be so good, but his last owner did some very good basic training with him. He's a bit panicky when left alone, but he needs to learn that we can't be with him 24/7 and that we will always come home to be with him. We leave him lots of toys and the radio on a relaxing classical station, and I take him for an hour's walk in the morning before work on the days I have to go in. I'm not allowed to let him off the lead for another 3 months, until he knows who I am and that I feed him and he should return to me. He really loves running though, and a lot of our walks have turned into runs, so I've ordered an extendable lead so at least he can get more of a free rein. I can't wait til I can let him off the lead properly, he will get so much exercise and will probably tire himself out in 10 minutes as he's super fast and active! He loves his toys (a de-haired my little pony, a squeaky soft cat, a peanut butter filled kong and a squeaky plastic bone that is so loud it scares him!) and seems really happy to snooze on the couch on his blanket while we watch TV and sleep on his bed next to ours at night. He's not had any accidents so far (apart from a little tiny one on the first day out of fear of being in a new house) and he's even had a bath, which he didn't make a fuss about... such a good pup! Only thing is he *may* be coming down with kennel cough. We're keeping a close eye on him, he coughs a little in the morning and at night, but no discharge from the nose or coughing up phlegm has occurred yet. I'll be keeping him away from other dogs until we figure out if it's coming or going... I've started giving him some Benylin which may soothe it and stop it from developing even further. I'm such a worried mommy! His stitches are due out next week so I have to book an appointment at the DSPCA, and they said they'd check his cough while he's there.

OK, so now on to my long term plans for him. I actually intend to bring him up as a vegetarian/vegan dog. Of course, we'll have to do it gradually and see how it goes. I'm a bit hesitant to make this public knowledge to any old person and will only tell them if they ask about his diet specifically. It's well known that dogs thrive on a vegan diet. There's been a lot of scientific research done, and I've read a lot of blogs and sites to do with it. In fact every vegetarian dog I've come across seems to be in tip-top condition and apparently the world's oldest dog at the moment is a vegetarian! Also, many canines have dairy and meat allergies, so have to be put on vegan diets and there are thousands more pets brought up as vegans in the UK than you'd ever imagine. I also have an issue with a lot of pet foods. They are made from the cheapest, most disgusting left over animal parts which aren't fit for human consumption - yes, even parts that a wild animal wouldn't even bother eating off it's prey! I don't want my dog eating these overly processed, unhealthy foods. Especially with so many additives and E numbers in them. Organic and fresh homemade food is definitely the way to go, and I also heard that it keeps their digestive systems healthy and regular. Veggie dogs also fart less, believe it or not!!

Of course, you really have to know about nutrition to make sure your dog gets all the vitamins, minerals and protein that it requires. It definitely isn't a walk in the park, so to speak!  Also, animals have sensitive stomachs so any change in diet has to be done gradually (even if it's just switching brands of dry dog food), so if I was to change to a vegetarian kibble, such as Yarrah / Wafcol, then I'd have to begin by mixing small amounts of it into his current Baker's puppy food, changing the ratio gradually over time until his diet is 100% Yarrah / Wafcol. I'm currently emailing around companies and shops to try and find the best deals possible.

At the moment though, I'm keeping him on his Baker's diet until he reaches his first birthday. I want to make sure he's got all his growing and developing out of the way so he can go on to adult food, as I'm not sure if younger dogs can eat the adult vegetarian food. As budget is also an issue at the moment I'm thinking of swapping him from Baker's to Tesco Premium. I've looked at the ingredients of both and they are exactly the same (even LOOK the same) but Tesco's is almost half the price!

For now, on the veggie front, I'm going to be experimenting with various foods to see what he's interested in. So far he loves:

- Peanut Butter
- Buckwheat
- Rice
- Pasta
- Chickpeas
- Beans
- Coconut Milk
- Textured Vegetable Protein
- Asian Mock Duck
- Popcorn

That's all I've tried, as I don't want to give him anything in large quantities yet. His favourite is a kong stuffed with peanut butter. He's a dog after my own heart, we share the same love and will probably argue over the jar ;) He doesn't seem too interested in dog treats to be honest. I have no idea why. Even meaty ones. However he has had a few vegetarian milk drops from the pet shop (doggie friendly chocolate which he likes), Aldi chocolate flavoured vegetarian bone shaped biscuits (although he's not very keen on them), and these vegan biscuits that I found in the pick'n'mix section of Maxi Zoo. I'm going to try baking a few doggie treats myself from recipes that I've found online. Maybe for Christmas other doggies I know might get lucky as well! ;)

I'll update again when I discover what else he likes. He's got a couple of cute coats coming in the post for the colder, wetter weather, and an extendable lead. Eventually I'd like to invest in a doggy trailer for my bike so we can take him on longer trips out, seeing as we don't have a car and don't want to rely on anyone else to take us anywhere (our carbon footprints and pawprints shall be greatly reduced!).

I really hope he continues to be a good, happy chappy.

Meet My New Furever Friend!

This is my new best friend Gerry! We had been thinking about adopting a dog from the DSPCA in Rathfarnham for a while but always knew we'd have to consider it very carefully before we went ahead with it. As we only work part time we both have a lot of time on our hands, so last week, for want of something to do, we went up to the shelter just to visit and have a look around. I was NOT expecting to fall in love while I was there, seeing as I've been several times in the past and have always thought the animals were lovely but had never felt compelled to take any home with me. On the way out of their kennels, as we were about to leave, I noticed a little white and red staffie in an exercise pen out the back. He was whimpering so I went to say hello. That's when I saw Gerry - he was quietly waiting in the pen next door to the staffie, his lovely deep brown wide eyes peering through the fence. I went up to him and he jumped up to see me, so I put my hand and face as close as I could and he started licking and excitedly snuffling at me. I called my boyfriend over who was promptly doggie-sneezed on by Gerry. He liked him too but a serious chat about whether we could afford the time and money to look after a dog ensued (for the millionth time). We walked back to the exit at reception and I said there was no harm in enquiring about him. So we ended up chatting to a staff member and taking him out for a supervised walk. As he was only 6 months old he was quite strong and boisterous on the lead, but I loved that because I've always wanted a dog that is lively, fun and active. He was friendly and my boyfriend really warmed to him.
























Over the next three days I moped around the house and didn't get much sleep, turning over and over in my head the pros and the cons of rehoming this lovely little dog. We had many more discussions and in the end I decided to pay a second visit and fill in an adoption form. I did a lot of research into the lurcher breed, training methods, costs & potential problems during this time. Next step was a DSPCA approved house visit, which we passed, and a trip to pick up necessary supplies like a bed and food, then he was ready for collection!

So here he is, my new brindle Lurcher pup, Gerry! We are hoping that settling in and some basic training won't take too long. He is so adorable and I hope everything works out ok and we will be able to take care of our new baby forever. Of course, you're all wondering how a vegan is going to cope with a mainly carniverous animal... but watch this space because that's a different story!