Life with Averil

Rusty is having a lovely life with his volunteer puppy socialiser, called Averil.

Here they are, when Rusty was officially 'handed over' to Averil.

Averil's going to look after Rusty during his first year. She'll help him grow up, take him to puppy training classes, and introduce him to the world. This is all in preparation for Rusty starting to learn how to recognise sounds, and then change the life of a deaf person. It all starts here - amazing to think really, isn't it?

Averil's already starting to learn about Rusty's character: "He likes to get involved in the gardening and will lie in the middle of the cuttings. He does like play with leaves and runs off with them."

There are certainly plenty of cuttings to go round...

... round Rusty, that is!

There are also plenty for him to lie down in too and have a little puppy-snooze.

Back to Averil: "He loves a cardboard box and will roll around on his back in a shoe box until he falls asleep. Apparently this has been his trait since he was tiny! His 20kg bag of food came via home delivery and he couldn't wait to get his paws and teeth on the outer box."

We don't think he's very fragile, do you...?

He certainly does seem to fit a shoebox quite neatly though.

And another box...

Hang on, who's Rusty's friend above? "His best friend is our 11 year old Border Terrier Leo who is very paternal towards Rusty. Rusty will follow Leo everywhere. Rusty will push his boundaries when Leo has a toy, barking and pawing at Leo. When Rusty has calmed down from all this, Leo drops the toy as if to say I didn't want it anyway, only to find Rusty wants Leo and not the toy! The game usually ends in Leo giving Rusty a good old face lick."

Here's another shot of them together - best of pals!

And finally, Rusty has already experienced bath-time. No comment necessary really - here he is in the bath...

... and half out of it! What a cute photo!

So, there you have Rusty - still cute, still happy, still having a great life with Averil.

We'll bring you up to date on his life again soon. In the meantime, thank you for sponsoring Rusty!