The day that Kilo and Brin would meet loomed and Sue and I were slightly anxious that they would not like each other despite all the ‘lurve’ shared on their pages. Afghan dogs are not known for their accepting attitude towards other dogs and Brin had always disliked the bigger ones. Kilo didn’t like smaller dogs and so this was certainly going to be an interesting moment.

Sixty people were due to attend along with Pen Farthing the founder of Nowzad who was going to give a talk about the charity.

The journey for me would take just over 3 1/2 hours and I had never travelled such a distance with Brin so was a little nervous about how he would cope.

I bought a car restraint for him but this was duly chomped through before I got to the end of my road so I resigned myself to driving slowly or brake suddenly and wear him as a scarf.

The journey was not too bad and we only stopped just a couple of times to stretch our legs and soon we arrived at the hotel where all the staff were very excited to meet him, having found many articles on the internet and printing them out for everyone to read. They had even saved him his favourite food…bacon.

Signing the admission form I noticed that it stated that dogs were not on allowed on the bed and I assured them that this would not happen and that I brought his bed to sleep on.

Brin, it seemed. had other ideas..

The next day preparations took place for the gathering, which was to take place at a nearby hall surrounded by a lovely field where we agreed to allow the dogs to meet.

Brin dressed up for the occasion and looked very smart indeed and for once the chomp action was firmly out of reach of it’s target!

Brin and I waited outside while Sue and Kilo walked out of the hall towards us and we both prayed!

Keeping a safe distance the two dogs sniffed the air but made no move towards each other which was a relief on all sides.

The whole evening was a fabulous success with people coming from all over England and flying in from Europe to meet the dogs and hear more about Nowzad. With the raffle (including the Pant’s quest picture) we raised over £2,000 for the charity.

Both Brin and Kilo were totally spoilt but, above all, friendly and gentle towards everyone who came close.

Sue and I were so proud of these dogs and, knowing just how hard we had both worked to build their confidence, this really showed that it was all paying off.

Sue and I meet for the first time

Exhausted, both Brin and I fell into bed around 11.30 that night, but not before I had taken a wrong turn on the way back to the hotel and driven 10 miles down the motorway before being able to turn round.

Brin had been a star, along with Kilo, and this would prove to be one of many trips he would make to meet many people who so longed to stroke a canine hero from Afghanistan.