A Wife's Tale - June 2026

Part Two: A sequel to my last article

So, I got a puppy.

After dropping our daughter at the airport to fly the nest, we booked into a fancy hotel for the night. I wanted to drown my sorrows in expensive cheese, wine, and some hotel room exercise with Shaun.

While it was fun at the time (very fun, in fact), I woke up still feeling a great big empty void in my heart, knowing that my new life is one where my children live overseas.

As we were driving home, I began scrolling Trade Me for puppies.

“Hun, look! There are puppies for sale close by. Can we pop in on the way home? Can we please?”

“Ange, you know it won’t be just a visit.”

He knows me too well.

“No, no – not to buy one, just to visit,” I replied. “I just need to hug something small and cute.”

I look at Shaun, and his face says he wants to be small and cute in that moment.

“It’s a mum thing,” I reassure him.

We arrived at the breeder’s home within the hour. Two minutes later, the most gorgeous puppy ran up to Shaun’s leg, sat, and gave him literal “please take me home” eyes. Shaun then announced, “I like this one,” and while I was still getting my fix of small, cute things, he had already paid the deposit. Okay, so I guess it is that type of visit then.

Now, Shaun already has a dog. His dog goes to work with him every day. His big boof head hangs out the side window of his Ute, tongue out, enjoying the breeze… while his dog does it too. Joke.

Shaun’s dog has become synonymous with Davies Fencing and Construction. Therefore, this puppy was for me – to preoccupy my hurting heart and fill my empty nest. We would have his-and-hers dogs. How cute.

However, I’d forgotten that puppies come with inconveniences like crying at night and chewing laptop chargers.

“Control your dog,” Shaun’d say.

“Your dog has done wees again,” he’d complain.

n the mornings, Shaun would get her out of her crate and walk her and his dog to the shed for pre-starts with the guys. She would run amok, jumping over everyone and being generally annoying. I think he liked the fact that his dog was a good boy, while mine was a terror.

Within three weeks, I’d signed all of us up for training classes. Shaun’s dog also had some anxiety issues to tidy up. Thus, our Saturday mornings had morphed from watching kids’ football to training our dogs. Definitely cute.

However, our trainer – a woman with long dreads, red bands, and five Rottweilers – did not like our idea of cute his-and-hers dogs. In fact, she firmly told us to “just stop it.”

“Dogs are pack animals. You are all a pack now. The worst thing you can do is divide the pack.”

Oh.

I saw this as confirmation that our decision to get a puppy would help fill the gap our kids had left. We have a pack – a family again. Nawww.

We each committed to training both dogs, taking turns every morning. It didn’t take long before the puppy – our puppy – was (mostly) obedient and well behaved. Very much unlike our children.

A true test was taking her to our hunting block. Vast distractions abound – deer, goats, birds – yet she walked beautifully on the lead without pulling, didn’t bark once, and was a joy. She has a long way to go before she’s off-lead like our big dog, but at six months old, she’s doing well.

As Shaun and I sat having a cup of tea on our favourite knoll overlooking the block, the dusk light illuminating everything a beautiful yellow, our two dogs resting beside us – spent from a big day of sniffs– we realised that our dogs will never replace our kids or the life we had raising them. But in that moment, we were not empty – we had full hearts.

Written by Angelena Davies

Angelena Davies is wife to Shaun and together they own Davies Fencing and Construction in the Bay of Plenty. She also runs a youth development programme and enjoys spending time with her menagerie of animals on the farm.

Published in WIRED issue 81/June 2026 by Fencing Contractors Association NZ

You may also like: A Wife's Tale - March 2026

Read WIRED online

© Fencing Contractors Association NZ (FCANZ)