Hi Pam! Nice to meet you. What breed is your pet dog? Your house sounds almost as mad as mine! Mel. From: pam Sent: Monday, December 30, 2013 2:27 PM To: guidedogchat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: mailto:guidedogchat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [guidedogchat] Re: Introduction hi mel. nice to meet u. i am pam and live in ireland. i am working my first guide dog callie also a lab x golden retriever. she is 2 since july. i have 2 kids as well a boy aged 7 and a girl aged 9. i have a pet dog and pet cat also. pam Sent from my iPhone On 23 Dec 2013, at 01:52, "Melanie Akpotu" <melaniemacneill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Hi all! I am Mel from the UK. Been on the list for a week or so but just not had a chance to go through my emails for a while. I am working my 6th guide dog Nyle, a Labrador x Golden Retriever. I had my first girl (Uma) when I was 18 and at university. She did not work out and had to be withdrawn eventually, and another boy (Hudson) did not work out because of spending problems when my children were very young, not indoors but in harness and I was not able to keep stopping with my buggy and having to let go of my other child’s hand, in order to clean up after him. I only had him for 2 and a half years. All the others have worked out their normal lives with me. Nyle will be 6 on 1st January. He has epilepsy which first displayed itself 2 years ago, but it is completely controlled with medication and he is still working very well and the medication does not affect him at all in a negative way. I have 2 sons of 21 and 16 respectively, both of whom live at home with me still; I am divorced and remarried to a lovely man. I also have a pet Toy Poodle of 11 and 4 cats. I already know some of you on here, and hope to get to know more of you soon. In the meantime, I hope you all have a very merry Xmas and a happy new year. Mel.