A Hound’s First Christmas

As it is now the festive period, a few people have asked me if I will write a fun piece on Niko’s first Christmas with us. This took place last year, following our official adoption of him in October 2019. It is pretty silly… but, in the spirit of Christmas, why not?!

On Christmas morning, sweet not-so-little Niko woke to find that Santa Paws had indeed visited him, probably for the first time! After having a Christmas morning treat breakfast, consisting of yummy smoked salmon and fluffy scrambled egg (would you believe?), he proceeded to stick his massive snoot in every single piece of wrapping paper – the fascination was endless. You could tell he had no idea what all the excitement was about, but was loving it anyway! After snootily helping us to unwrap his squeaky toy elf and reindeer, we popped on his brand-new Christmas Day elf coat. Rather than loving this, he was very clearly unimpressed… But, selfishly as owners, it was far too hilarious to take off him!

Thrilled for the day ahead, we went for a crisp, wintery walk at the local park, where he met lots of other excited doggies with new coats (albeit not all as silly as his). We met with his favourite girl grey, Stella, who coincidentally used to be his kennel-mate, and was adopted by our brother-in-law’s family! At the park, Niko did experience the slightly traumatic event of being suddenly mounted by a rather excited male Labrador – Niko is not much of an alpha you see… But, after hiding between my legs for a short time, he forgave the dog in question for the sake of Christmas and managed to finish his walkies without another ambush.

Anyway, following this rather amusing episode, he spent the day with our family, indulging in the constant fussing, kisses and cuddles: I had never seen his tail wag so much, and you would have been mindful to keep out of its way that day! He enjoyed his special Christmas dinner and spent the day frolicking happily with his newest friend, Bertie the Beagle, both being dressed beautifully for the occasion.

For Niko, the day ended with a gorgeous snooze, near a warm fire, with never-ending scritches and scratches. A day to remember. Seeing his excitement and his tail wagging (really for the first time since we had adopted him) showed us how much he had come to relax with us and trust us. It was breath-taking.

This year, he seemed to approve of his new jolly Christmas coat and actually refused to take it off during his little modelling session on my bed!

Unfortunately, Christmas wasn’t the same for us this year, due to living in a London borough and abiding by Tier 4 covid restrictions. However, Niko was there to remind us that Christmas cannot be “cancelled” and we still made many beautiful memories celebrating this year – just myself, my husband and Niko.

I truly hope you too were all able to make the best of this year. Merry Christmas to you all!

Love and snoot kisses,

Berry and Niko x