Settling in.

Well, Christmas is almost here. The tree is up, the fairy lights are twinkling, the tinsel is glistening and I have eaten my first mince pie of the year. It’s going to be a strange one this year- just the four of us plus a few extra furry friends. All animals stopping with us this year are being treated to a free Christmas goodie bag, filled with sweet treats and boredom breakers. Picnic, our resident rat keeps looking longingly at the treats as I happily create them in my spare room. He always joins me in there when I’m making something. His favourite place is the fabric cupboard where he likes to have a mooch around and then settle in my sewing machine box. His second favourite place is a cat tower that I bought him especially. He’s a bit of a lardy boy and has become very used to sitting on his backside, being fed straight from the bowl so I’m trying to change that. I have designed the layout of his cage so that he has to climb and balance his way to the top rather than just running up ramps. It took a little getting used to, and a few minor falls into the awaiting hammock safety nets, but he has now mastered it. He has also learned to forage for his food. If it wasn’t placed under his nose before, he wouldn’t touch it, but now, he’s learned that good things come from using his nose and running around to try and find his goodies. His favourite is malt paste; he would do anything for it. I might see if he can learn some tricks using that as the reward. He gets on with our dog like a house on fire now. He is so confident with her and the other day, I let them into the same room together and they played chase to my amazement. I had already had Molly on the lead with him running around, but I didn’t know what to expect once that lead was off, but by golly, it was tremendous fun for all concerned. Picnic would shuffle over and gently nip Molly on the leg, then scamper off, but would quickly come back again and repeat. Picnic started to popcorn and Molly’s tail wagged friendlily as she realised she had made a new pal. I will never trust the dog entirely, or even Picnic, so will never leave them in the same room together alone, but it is nice to know that Picnic has made friends with all of us, even the supposed sighthound.