Tuesday 5 November 2013

Memories of a pet.

I never had a lot of pets as a child, I grew up in the services and the nomadic life style did not go with responsible pet ownership, back in those days animals needed quarantined if they went abroad, and as we maybe had moved on again before the quarantine period was up then there really was little point. We did have more than a few hamsters, but like Sally did not realise they hibernate and have wrapped more than one in newspaper and popped them in the dustbin.

When the children were young we did get two kittens once when we got our first house, the children named them Sooty and Sweep. Turns out I was allergic to cats and after a while they made me seriously ill and I spent five days in hospital with a serious asthma attack, did not know until that point I was asthmatic. But due to the severity of the attack I was not allowed home until the kittens had been rehoused. We had had them all of three months. My husband explained this too the children to which my son, all of three years old, asked his daddy if we could rehome mummy instead as he wanted to keep his kittens, luckily for me he lost that argument.


she liked her home comforts


Anyway fast forward on seven years and we got a dog, a terrier, a smooth coated no hair casting type so both it and I could exist in the same house, cos yes I am allergic to hairy dogs as well though I had know that for years.

Shorty dog came into our lives, she was a wee rescue dog who was terrified of everything when we got her, but over time we manage to bring her out of her shell and give her a good life. There were only two things we never managed to train out of her, the fact she hated other dogs and cats with a passion.

disappearing down holes 
When we took her out for a walk if there were no other dogs around she would be let off her lead, but if another dog came within half a mile of you then the lead went back on, or I would pick her up and tuck her under my arm. The owner of the big dog use to say "its all right my dog wont touch yours" little did they know this cute looking butter would not melt in the mouth may very well try swinging from their big dogs neck!!.






Cats was her other big dislike, we took her round to a friends house one day, we were all sat in the kitchen
and this cat  appeared and sat in the hall. The cat was bigger then Shorty, but the dog still thought this cat would run as every other cat she met did. So she went up to the cat and the cat sat there, a look of confusion came across Shortys face, so she leant forward and woofed at the cat, the cat lifted her front paw from her sat position and swiped Shorty round the nose. The dog moved her head back, leaving her paws where they were, shook her head as if to say "ow that hurt" and then stuck her head back out at the cat......which swiped her again. This game went on for about ten swipes while all we could do was wet ourselves laughing at the antics of the two of them, The dog eventually gave in and the cat strolled on by to the living room.

there IS something up there!!
She was hilarious, she would run right the way across the park to chase seagulls, and use to bark at them when they had the audacity to fly away. You should have seen her with squirrels, the squirrels would run up the tree and she would try to run up after them, she may get a foot off the ground and then thud back down again. She would woof and woof at them and chase them from tree to tree as they ran away safely laughing at her.





bring it back to fetch it again


She loved fetching sticks and we would throw them into the river for her to retrieve and she would swim out, fetch them back to you and woof to have them thrown again. She was hilarious when she woofed with the front paws raising off the ground every time.









eating her Christmas card


Winter was her favourite season, she just loved the snow and would bound and play like a gazelle on the savannah, bobbing up and down to see where she was going. Winter also meant Christmas. She could sniff out anything edible that was under the tree and haul it out and sit and chew the wrapper off. Then ignore what she had found and go and find another one to open.


a joint opening effort. 

The year my daughter came up to stay between Shorty and Bob none of us got a look in at opening presents. Bob wanted to open them all, you would read out the label tell him who the parcel was for and he would take the parcel across sit himself on the correct persons knee and then open the parcel with Shorty sticking her nose in every time. A great Christmas day indeed.








there is a hedgehog up there
Hedgehogs were her other passion in life. She could find a hibernating hedgehog from miles away, and the poor wee thing would find itself dug up. She found a hedgehog one day in the barn on the farm. To get her out the barn we moved the hedgehog up on top of hay bales where she would not reach it and pulled her away. During her walk she disappeared and came back about an hour later complete with the hedgehog. No idea how she had got it down, let along manoeuvred it all the way round the building to the front of the house and up the chip stone driveway to the front door where she stood proudly barking for us to let her in.

She was a fantastic pet, who brought a lot of joy.



“This post is an entry into the Tots100/Swell UK competition.”


3 comments:

  1. Such lovely memories - pets are such a huge part of a family aren't they. I was so lucky to grow up with a dog and we have had our dog for a long time now and the children love her! Did laugh at the comment about rehoming you instead of the cat - kids can be funny can't they!

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  2. She looks like the kind of dog we need. My kids are desperate, and I'm a dog person, I just can't stand the mess

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  3. Aren't dogs wonderful. She reminds me of our old dog Milly in the picture where she is tucked up. xx

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