The tiny Labrador is on a steep learning curve. It's another aspect of the pandemic. Unlike her late sister Daisy, who was raised in a busy household with the hustle and bustle of multiple people coming and going, family and trainers and a steady stream of visitors, Teddy was raised in the quiet of quarantine. These days you're not supposed to bring your puppy out in public until they get their final shots at 16 weeks, another layer of isolation. Add in the fact that the new people she meets have no faces because they're all wearing masks, and we have a timid puppy on our hands.

We've been taking her for multiple walks each day to busy places. She's doing well, willing to meet little kids because of the children she lives with here. Some adults she's OK with, and with others she just panics. It's hard and a little heartbreaking, but we're working on it. She's valiant and brave and trying hard to learn about the wider world.

This is Teddy seeing her first ducks the other day. She was fascinated, sat there for long minutes, sniffing and listening and looking. And yes, she had to be persuaded not to jump into the pond.