Rosie

I didn't grow up around dogs and wasn't really sure I wanted to live with one, but my children were keen, so I eventually gave in and she came to live with us as a three week old puppy in early 2013.

My eldest son named her Rosie. She's half whippet and half poodle.

If you're thinking of getting a dog or any other pet for the first time, it's worth taking a look at the advice the Blue Cross website.

After a few months of getting used to Rosie doing all the things I always worried dog might do (destroying valuable personal items, vandalising furniture, urinating and defecating indoors with reckless abandon etc.) we became good friends and would go for long walks during which I would record rambles about my life into my phone. 

We very seldom come across anyone else while out on out walks, other than the occasional tractor, plough or combine driver, and we stay away from any grazing livestock, so I usually let Rosie off the lead to run about. When she was younger she would sometimes run after rabbits and deer and vanish for worryingly long periods, but she's more mature now and sticks fairly close, most of the time.

Here's a short video compilation I made in 2015 of Rosie reacting to me saying "shall we go for a walk?", which along with "some chicken?" Is her favourite phrase.

When I started my own podcast in 2015 it made sense that I would record the intros and outros while on my walks with Rosie, and as I write (2020) that's how we do them still. Sometimes Rosie will chat with me in her surprisingly gruff voice, but other times she just runs ahead, exploring the tracks and hedgerows.

Here's a video from 2016 that I took of Rosie bouncing about in a field next to one of our favourite tracks. I had the camera on a tripod because I was recording a video of myself dancing to the podcast theme (see below) and Rosie started getting very excited about the long grass (though it's not grass, is it), leaping about in it as if she were on springs, so I swung the camera round and filmed her for a few minutes.