Monty doesn't live here anymore.

Monty was one of my first friends when I came to live here in the place I call home.

I was A Very Rough Girl then, and not many humans liked me playing with their dogs. It was sad and sometimes lonely. Then one day, I met Monty and Monty met me! Monty loved me a lot!

Monty's humans didn't mind at all that I was A Very Rough Girl, and so I made A Very Good Friend.

Earlier this year, Monty's humans had a baby. Monty wasn't too sure about the new addition to his family. He became nervous around mini-humans. And it didn't get better as the months went by. I didn't see Monty much anymore.

Monty's humans loved him but they knew they wouldn't be able to keep him. They hoped they would be able to find a home for him close by. They asked if Monty could come live with us. I would have liked that because I loved Monty. But my humans didn't think they would be able to fit 3 Big Dogs in our Very Small House. And it would have been difficult to look after Monty and me and Mr Thumper as well, especially since Mr Thumper is sickly. And anyway, Monty was also nervous of Mr Thumper. So sadly, they had to say, "No."

Today, we heard that Monty has moved away to somewhere called Nowra, and now has a new family. There are no scary mini-humans in his new family, and instead, he has a doggy housemate.

I don't know where Nowra is, but it's too far for me to walk to, so I don't think I'm going to be seeing Monty again.

I'm growing up now and don't play like I used to anymore. Sometimes, I'll sniff some new bums just to say,"Hello, what's your name? Pleased to meet you." Sometimes, I don't even want to do that anymore, and I just like to walk and explore [that is to say, scrounge for leftover food] and play a little with my humans.

But I wish I'd had a chance to play a last game with Monty, and to tell him, "Goodbye Monty. Thank you for being my friend. I'm going to miss you."

I'm glad someone is giving Monty a chance, just like he gave me one so long ago.

I hope Monty remembers me. I hope he'll be happy in Nowra.

*****

Is there any way to prepare a dog for a new baby? I have no personal insight. But googling produced many links. Here are 2:

http://www.rossmccarthy.com/newbaby.htm

http://dogs.about.com/od/childrenanddogs/a/Preparing-Dog-for-New-Baby.htm