I've taken care of dogs all my life. Most members of my family have at least one shih-tzu, I love spending time with my friends' dogs, and was an avid user of borrow-my-doggy. I've earned the title of "dog whisperer" from my friends as their dogs get so excited to see me. During lock-down my wife and I decided to take the plunge and become the proud parents to Birdie, a mini golden-doodle. While we can't take all the credit (Birdie is a smartie-pants), we think we did a pretty good job of training her including fully-toilet training her by 10 weeks old, and teaching her to use language buttons. We're both absolutely dog mad :) Thanks to home working I can be at home to keep the pupper company. I have a car to travel to local parks for long walks, and usually do this in the middle of the day. There's a large garden behind my building, and while Birdie loves to make new friends I use pet gates to create areas of separation for the dogs.