Jaana's first day

Jaana's very first photos have already been posted on the blog here and she now has a page all to herself on my website, which you can see here.

Jane and I drove up the M5 on Tuesday afternoon to collect Jaana from the Animal Reception Centre at Heathrow.  We expected the normal 2-hour wait following the arrival of the flight for her to clear customs, but when we arrived the waiting room was full of people waiting for their pets and we were told it would be another hour.  So we headed out to find a coffee.  Not to mention a toilet.

When we got back there was no waiting, but, intriguingly, we did see the arrival of no fewer than NINE cats that someone took delivery of.  And they appeared to be nothing special - just standard, adult-sized moggies.  Not that I mean to cast aspersions on moggies or anything, you understand.  I am the proud property of one such ginger gentleman. 

With me at the Animal Reception Centre

And with Jane - the beginning of a love affair

It did take us a little longer to get home than it did to get to the airport.  You might think that it was because we had a bewildered 3-and-a-half-month-old puppy with us.  But no.  Jaana was a complete angel.  She settled on Jane's lap and caused not one moment of trouble for the 3 hours it took us to get home.  However, my satnav and I did not get on very well with the various motorway junctions.   There might have been more than one occasion when we found ourselves heading the wrong direction on the motorway.  There might even have been more than two.  Ahem.

But I got us back to Jane's safe and sound in the end.  

Jane and Mark very kindly invited me to stay that night so that I could enjoy Jaana too and be there for the following day.  So in spite of being in the house of a famously excellent dog photographer, somehow I ended up being the official photographer of a few of Jaana's firsts.  Well, it was only fair that Mark got to enjoy her without a camera between them, for once.

She met the big dogs - and they were so great with her

Miika looks pleased with his new playmate

Then it was time to meet the pussycats

Some pussycats were less impressed than others

Next morning there was some lead training on the way to the vet

Taking everything in her stride

It's sooo stressful at the vet's!  Not.

Then there was a lunchtime trip to the pub

Learning correct pub protocol from Emmi

After her busy day, finally back home to reclaim the toy stash

All settled in - photo Mark Treasure