Today I have failed. Not only have I not managed a proper walk, well, I walked properly, you know, without stumbling or falling, but I haven't walked purposefully or even manged a jog. Unless you include running up the stairs after Harvey, he keeps disappearing and as I know he has a tendency to pee on things I have to keep fetching him back down.
So I find myself in the company of my brother's dog, Harvey. We have an understanding, he takes Master Grumpy to watch Peterborough United play and I look after Harvey. On the whole I think I have the best end of the bargain, he doesn't moan constantly, though does sometimes have the odd yap. He doesn't demand endless snacks and cups of tea, just a bowl of clean water. He also has the ability of watching CSI Miami and Law and Order and other such favourites without interrupting at a vital moment so that I may miss a very important clue. In fact, I'm looking at him now as he stands on his hind legs, on my sofa, head resting on his front paws, looking out of the window, waiting patiently for his Master. I know he'll settle in a bit, probably about 10 minutes before my brother returns.
I really am rather fond of the little bundle of mischief and wonder if I'll ever have another dog, in fact, if I'll ever have another pet of any type? My eldest brother has 2 gorgeous but nutty Weimaraners, and my youngest brother has about 30 Russian Dwarf hamsters, and with Harvey around, I'm the only one petless. I have had different pets over the last 20 years, varying from a failed RAF sniffer dog, Toby the labrador to Gimlee the rabbit. Ironic that I picked those 2 and not my lovely, loyal Pointer, Mitch, that I had for 11 years. Maybe I'll dedicate a big ramble to him one day, but tonight I'm smiling at the memory of Toby.
One day, about a million years ago and I'm sure when Mr Grumpy must have been drunk, I persuaded him that we needed a dog. After a visit to the local animal shelter and passing all of their tests and visits, we ended up with Toby. A gorgeous yellow lab, that had started his sniffer dog training with the RAF but had failed. Sadly, as a puppy he had been teased with his food which left him food proud and nobody could get near him when he was eating. This also meant no tit bits or feeding from your hand.... ever. Oh, unless you thought you knew better and ignored what you'd been told, then you ended up being bitten and in casualty on Boxing day.... that person doesn't read my ramblings.
The thing though that made our life with Toby so interesting was anytime we went on a car journey. His training had meant that when he got in to a car, he thought he was off on a search and started to bark for England. That was OK when we were popping round to see my parents or off to the park but a day long trip to Scotland resulted in ringing ears and a very bad headache! The other thing that happened was that when you arrived at your destination, he would run straight into the house and search it from top to bottom. Not a problem you'd think, well, let's just say that there was one member of my family that I was never too certain if Toby would turn something up in their room. As for my mum's knitting.....
Sadly, one New Years Eve he went just a little too far and clamped his jaw on a friend's arm and dragged her from one side of the room to the other. Thankfully my dad was there and managed to prise his jaw open, that was the end of Toby. He had to go back to the shelter for some rehab, but they decided he really was too much of a risk to be around people and put him to sleep. It broke my heart, and even though Mitch came along to fill the gap, when he died a little bit of me did too. I vowed I'd never put myself through that heartbreak again. So maybe I have the best of both worlds with Harvey, I get the walks, the cuddles and the company but middle bruv gets the poo, the vets and ultimately the heartache. Of course, I shall miss him too but at the moment he's only a baby, so we should have plenty of years with him.
There, I haven't even touched on the other mental pets we've had, I'm sure they'll appear at some point, but for now, what is that smell???? Harvey!
No comments:
Post a Comment