Hello! We are a family of three plus dog living in Hobart, Tasmania. I’m Ruth, a freelance writer born in Scotland, now enjoying the last year of my thirties. My husband is Young, a US born consultant and poet. Our son Tom is 13, and our dog is Luna the Spoodle who has just turned one.
How did you come into each other’s lives? Luna arrived in our family in June 2021. We had been talking on and off about getting a dog for a couple of years, and had made countless trips to the local dogs home to see if there was a rescue who would fit our family. In late 2020 we were on the waiting list to get a spaniel puppy from someone locally, but unfortunately that fell through when the mother rejected her litter. We eventually spotted Luna on the site of a reputable breeder in Victoria (she was called Heidi at that point), and decided that she was the one for us.
How did you decide on Luna’s name? Luna means woman in palawa kani, the Tasmanian Aboriginal language. The only condition I put on getting a dog was that I wanted a female, because I needed some more female energy in the family!
What is Luna like? I hope that every dog owner says this, but Luna is the sweetest natured dog I have ever met. We have now had her for almost a year and in that time I have never once seen her act aggressively, or have even the tiniest snap at another dog or hooman. Her tail wags pretty much constantly from the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes to bed. She had to spend a day at the vets for xrays recently, and when we picked her up we were told that she had absolutely won patient of the day for her gentle, sweet good girl behaviour.
That’s not to say she’s always the best behaved… we still have a lot of work to do with training. We can’t let her off-lead yet because her recall needs some work, and if she sees a bird to chase she forgets everything she’s ever been taught. She also is much too fond of chewing carpets. And firewood. And she loves to eat possum poo. So there’s definitely a way to go. But at her heart we know that she always tries to be good.
What makes her the goodest girl? Definitely her sweet disposition. And her enormous enthusiasm for life. She is so excited when my son lets her out of the crate each morning, and she embraces every new experience as a grand old adventure.
What is her favourite walk? We are very lucky to have a lovely forested reserve near our house, and there’s a 30 minute circuit loop through there that we do a couple of times each day. It’s full of good snoofs, and she usually meets some other doggy friends. That’s probably her favourite at the moment. Normally she loves a beach walk, and we are lucky to have a great dog beach near our house too. I think the smells there must be amazing! But unfortunately she is waiting to have surgery on her hip at the moment which means that running around on a long lead through sand isn’t allowed. When she’s recovered after her surgery, beach walks are the thing I’m most looking forward to doing with her again.
Does she have a favourite toy? ALL the toys!! It’s pretty hard to pick a favourite. She absolutely loves soft toys, especially if they have a squeaker in them, but unfortunately she tends to destroy them and pull the stuffing out within a few days of getting them (sometimes even within an hour or two!), so her real favourites never last too long.
Luna is a very, very chewy dog, so at any one time when you walk in our house, you’re likely to find at least three or four tough nylon chew bones and an antler on the floor to try and keep her teeth off the furniture. She also loves nothing better than chasing an empty plastic bottle around the floor, or when we give her an empty cardboard box to rip apart.
What is her favouritest thing to do? She likes to cuddle up on the sofa beside my son and lick his toes.
Where does Luna sleep? We have her crate trained, she loves it as a safe and quiet space, so she sleeps in a crate in the kitchen. And we are very lucky that she sleeps through with no problems from about 9pm to 7am.
What are her most loved noms? Poor old Luna has had a lot of digestive issues and so many of the things that are common doggo treats, like chicken, upset her tummy. So we’ve had to work quite hard to find what works for her - the balance between healthy and tasty. For her regular meals, she has Delicate Care Skin and Stomach dry food, which is made with kangaroo and duck. We top that with Prime 100 Pea and Hemp, some cubes of pumpkin that I steam at home, and a spoonful of plain greek yoghurt. For training rewards we use ZiwiPeak lamb and mackerel dry food. Unfortunately she doesn’t get many treats outside of that because so many things don’t work for her, but the two things she does love are a lick of strawberry yoghurt off my son’s spoon each evening, and a tiny scattering of tuna in her food bowl if someone is eating a tuna sandwich.
Has Ms Luna had any transgressions? Hmmmm. I’m really having to think hard about this. Usually if she’s being a bit of an idiot - jumping up or biting at trouser legs - it means that she’s overtired and needs a nap, so we’ll pop her in her crate. I think the things she does that frustrate us the most are tugging at the edges of rugs, digging big holes in the garden, and fighting with her bed. She attacks her bed and drags it round the room. I think she is on her third or fourth one after destroying the previous ones. In winter she also likes to steal firewood from the stack and drag it around the room. But I don’t know if they are really transgressions. The dog trainer we have worked with makes the point that dogs really only have two instincts - to move towards things that appeal, and to move away from things that don’t appeal. It’s not any more complicated than that, so I guess it’s on us hoomans to provide activities and stimulation that are more exciting and engaging than firewood and carpet edges!
What are her biggest lols? Oh, it’s hard to pick out a specific, but she makes us laugh every day. Getting a puppy has been way, way more hard work than I expected - but it has also brought more laughter and joy than I expected too.
Anything I might have missed. I am here for allll dog related chat. They say it takes a village to raise a child - I reckon it takes a village to raise a good doggo too. Would totally recommend getting sorted with a good vet and a good supportive trainer very early on to make your life easier. And if it’s within your means, consider taking out pet insurance. You might get lucky and never need to use it… or you might end up like us and have a puppy who is an absolute delight but is also PLAGUED with health problems. Between her belly and her hips, our vet now refers to us as one of their most frequent fliers, and we haven’t even had her a year yet!
How did you come into each other’s lives? Luna arrived in our family in June 2021. We had been talking on and off about getting a dog for a couple of years, and had made countless trips to the local dogs home to see if there was a rescue who would fit our family. In late 2020 we were on the waiting list to get a spaniel puppy from someone locally, but unfortunately that fell through when the mother rejected her litter. We eventually spotted Luna on the site of a reputable breeder in Victoria (she was called Heidi at that point), and decided that she was the one for us.
How did you decide on Luna’s name? Luna means woman in palawa kani, the Tasmanian Aboriginal language. The only condition I put on getting a dog was that I wanted a female, because I needed some more female energy in the family!
What is Luna like? I hope that every dog owner says this, but Luna is the sweetest natured dog I have ever met. We have now had her for almost a year and in that time I have never once seen her act aggressively, or have even the tiniest snap at another dog or hooman. Her tail wags pretty much constantly from the moment she wakes up to the moment she goes to bed. She had to spend a day at the vets for xrays recently, and when we picked her up we were told that she had absolutely won patient of the day for her gentle, sweet good girl behaviour.
That’s not to say she’s always the best behaved… we still have a lot of work to do with training. We can’t let her off-lead yet because her recall needs some work, and if she sees a bird to chase she forgets everything she’s ever been taught. She also is much too fond of chewing carpets. And firewood. And she loves to eat possum poo. So there’s definitely a way to go. But at her heart we know that she always tries to be good.
What makes her the goodest girl? Definitely her sweet disposition. And her enormous enthusiasm for life. She is so excited when my son lets her out of the crate each morning, and she embraces every new experience as a grand old adventure.
What is her favourite walk? We are very lucky to have a lovely forested reserve near our house, and there’s a 30 minute circuit loop through there that we do a couple of times each day. It’s full of good snoofs, and she usually meets some other doggy friends. That’s probably her favourite at the moment. Normally she loves a beach walk, and we are lucky to have a great dog beach near our house too. I think the smells there must be amazing! But unfortunately she is waiting to have surgery on her hip at the moment which means that running around on a long lead through sand isn’t allowed. When she’s recovered after her surgery, beach walks are the thing I’m most looking forward to doing with her again.
Does she have a favourite toy? ALL the toys!! It’s pretty hard to pick a favourite. She absolutely loves soft toys, especially if they have a squeaker in them, but unfortunately she tends to destroy them and pull the stuffing out within a few days of getting them (sometimes even within an hour or two!), so her real favourites never last too long.
Luna is a very, very chewy dog, so at any one time when you walk in our house, you’re likely to find at least three or four tough nylon chew bones and an antler on the floor to try and keep her teeth off the furniture. She also loves nothing better than chasing an empty plastic bottle around the floor, or when we give her an empty cardboard box to rip apart.
What is her favouritest thing to do? She likes to cuddle up on the sofa beside my son and lick his toes.
Where does Luna sleep? We have her crate trained, she loves it as a safe and quiet space, so she sleeps in a crate in the kitchen. And we are very lucky that she sleeps through with no problems from about 9pm to 7am.
What are her most loved noms? Poor old Luna has had a lot of digestive issues and so many of the things that are common doggo treats, like chicken, upset her tummy. So we’ve had to work quite hard to find what works for her - the balance between healthy and tasty. For her regular meals, she has Delicate Care Skin and Stomach dry food, which is made with kangaroo and duck. We top that with Prime 100 Pea and Hemp, some cubes of pumpkin that I steam at home, and a spoonful of plain greek yoghurt. For training rewards we use ZiwiPeak lamb and mackerel dry food. Unfortunately she doesn’t get many treats outside of that because so many things don’t work for her, but the two things she does love are a lick of strawberry yoghurt off my son’s spoon each evening, and a tiny scattering of tuna in her food bowl if someone is eating a tuna sandwich.
Has Ms Luna had any transgressions? Hmmmm. I’m really having to think hard about this. Usually if she’s being a bit of an idiot - jumping up or biting at trouser legs - it means that she’s overtired and needs a nap, so we’ll pop her in her crate. I think the things she does that frustrate us the most are tugging at the edges of rugs, digging big holes in the garden, and fighting with her bed. She attacks her bed and drags it round the room. I think she is on her third or fourth one after destroying the previous ones. In winter she also likes to steal firewood from the stack and drag it around the room. But I don’t know if they are really transgressions. The dog trainer we have worked with makes the point that dogs really only have two instincts - to move towards things that appeal, and to move away from things that don’t appeal. It’s not any more complicated than that, so I guess it’s on us hoomans to provide activities and stimulation that are more exciting and engaging than firewood and carpet edges!
What are her biggest lols? Oh, it’s hard to pick out a specific, but she makes us laugh every day. Getting a puppy has been way, way more hard work than I expected - but it has also brought more laughter and joy than I expected too.
Anything I might have missed. I am here for allll dog related chat. They say it takes a village to raise a child - I reckon it takes a village to raise a good doggo too. Would totally recommend getting sorted with a good vet and a good supportive trainer very early on to make your life easier. And if it’s within your means, consider taking out pet insurance. You might get lucky and never need to use it… or you might end up like us and have a puppy who is an absolute delight but is also PLAGUED with health problems. Between her belly and her hips, our vet now refers to us as one of their most frequent fliers, and we haven’t even had her a year yet!