6th February 2004 -

We had almost made our decision on which bitch we would keep from this litter when Mr & Mrs Hawker from the East Midlands contacted us. They wanted to have a bitch puppy. Things went well on the phone, so they were invited over to meet us, our adult dogs and, eventually, the puppies.

We all liked Mr & Mrs Hawker....we exchanged stories, anecdotes and photographs and drank gallons of tea. The likeness between their old girl and our Lucy was absolutely incredible. We agreed that they could buy the bitch that we'd nick-named 'Vee', and asked if they had thought about a name for their new puppy.

Mrs Hawker explained that 2004 was their Ruby Wedding Anniversary year and because of that, they'd decided that their new girl was to be called 'Annie'

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After a very sharp intake of breath, we explained that we had also decided to call the bitch puppy that we were keeping 'Annie', but for very different reasons. There were so many coincidences.

The day came for Annie H to leave home, which she did cradled in the arms of Mrs Hawker. A few weeks later I was in the area where Annie H lives and went for a visit. She is such a good and clever little girl, definitely the apple of her Mum & Dad's eye!