I've been trying to get a good photo of Sam but he moves too much!  I will endeavour to get one up so I can see the changes as he grows!   People in NZ have a weird association with their pets.  They treat them like humans, feeding them human dinners and letting them roam the place like adults.  As a result, dogs here are fat and seemingly poorly trained.  Owners are always fighting them on their leads, they bark a lot - the obesity is one I can't get past though.  When we used to take our working dog out, people would stare at us because she looked so thin.  Actually, she was the perfect weight for her breed, we were saving her a life of arthrities and we were spending lots on proper dog food - a healthy diet as opposed to a human one! She was so well trained people would always comment.  She actually was trained no more than the average dog should be, we controlled her with commands, basic like, sit, stay, kennel, etc.  Having an indoor dog is a different cup of tea for me.  Little Sam has been sleeping on our bed, something that used to gross me out when dog owners said that.  He did that until I got up in the night and stepped in poo!  So we've now taken to shutting him the bathroom at night.  Its warm, easy to clean and he is surrounded by newspaper and towels.  The first night he cried like a baby all night.  But apparantly being forced to sleep near his mess was enough to train him the importance of doing his business on the paper and towels.  Toilet traning has taken a big leap forward.  Thank goodness!  The first morning we walked into the bathroom only to find it looking like the set of a horror movie - only replace blood with poo!  Steve bearly uttered a word, just set to work cleaning.  It made me more concerned because I knew the whole time he was mentally shouting at me about how he shouldn't be forced to be doing something like this over the weekend and how he could have spent the same amount on a plasma screen tv and actually been enjoying it.  Oh dear!  Sammy is fitting in well though despite these hiccups, Moons loves him and they play all day, Pip is still unsure but she's got the cat.  The cat and the dog are finally becoming friends.  Puppies are such hard work, I think worse than kids.  Maybe I was just a lucky parent!  This Monday saw Steve taking us out to my new uni campus in Palmy North.  The campus is HUGE!  Like a little city of its own.  Its quite intimidating.  I can't believe I can finally live out my dream - I'm really excited but nervous at the same time.  Steve is being so supportive and encouraging.  My parents haven't said anything which is really upsetting.  Either they expect me to fail or think I'm too old and have too many commitments to do it.  Its got to be something negative like that.  But I tell myself, I'm not doing it for them, and Steve is giving me so much support, he lets me believe I really can do this.  I don't know if I could without him actually.  My confidence has become shaky from being a Mummy of two and a half.  Not long until I start, eeek!