Have you met Rafe?

This is my dog Rafe. The first photo I took during his first week with us last summer, he was 4 months old. The second photo I took about two weeks ago, tomorrow will be his 1st birthday.
Looking at these photos he has lost so much of his colouring, which is normal in this breed. But he definitely has not lost his fun-loving and energetic nature. He still goes hurtling around the house for no apparent reason, or round and round in circles chasing his tail.
Annabel is still slightly wary of him (but she is a bit of a drama queen over everything) but for Bailey he is part of the furniture, literally! He lays on him, tries to sit on him and fights over toys with him.

Whenever I take Rafe out for walks (which I admit I don't do very often, Martin usually has this responsibility) there are always people who point and talk about him and I often get stopped so they can find out what breed he is. Rafe is a Coton De Tulear, originally from Madagascar the breed made its way to France before crossing the water to Britain.

Although Coton's have long hair they are hypoallergenic. Martin has always been allergic to most animals and when entering someones house can instantly tell if they have a cat or dog by the tingling in his nose followed by the violent sneezing. Martin's brother and best friend also suffer from the same complaint but not one of them has a reaction to Rafe.

A friend of ours is having puppies in the next few weeks. We've been told we can go and visit when they are 4 weeks old, so if I can I will get photos - everybody loves puppies, don't they?