I've recently retired and its the time to get another dog. My last one lived for 18 years.....but because of working and travel, its been 10 years since I owned (or rather a dog owned me) a dog! I wanted a puppy because I'd like it to live my life with me. So going in the car, visiting friends, some of whom have children, and generally doing things together are easier to achieve, in my experience if you have a puppy and train it from the earliest time! My last dog Clancey was a collie cross, as is Sadie, my border collie poodle puppy - full of beasn, very bright - but as you will see from mypost, I'm having house training problems! Anyway, I hope that this will be the first of many intereactions I have with the Pet Forum community!