Dogs. Part 1

Growing up I detested dogs. I think the main reason was my two year stint as a paper boy. I was charged at, nipped, growled at, snarled at, you name it I experienced everything there is to dislike about dogs, and more. When my current wife and I got together, she wasn't a wife in the legal sense for a short time, she came aloing with two kids and two dogs. The kids I could cope with but the dogs :(

There was Jasper, a smelly and very elderly Springer spaniel and Thomas a youngish Jack Russell. We had only been together a few weeks when the decision was taken that Jasper was too ill to continue. I'm appalled to say it was a relief to me. I hadn't really got to know him at all and most of my time was spent ordering the Russell off the couch. We took Jasper to the vets and a very tearful wife emerged a few minutes later. I'm now rather ashamed at my lack of empathy at the time.

As weeks went by Thomas got to know me and vice versa. I soon gave up with trying to keep him off the furniture. He hadn't been neutered and spent more than one night howling away if there was a bitch on heat nearby. We took care of that.

After 18 months we moved house to a place with a couple of acres of land. We decided to have another dog, I had now changed my mind about them, and we bought a German Shepherd pup we named Eva (as in Eva Braun). Eva was a one person dog, me. She took no interest in other people or dogs, other than Thomas who was the boss. She was enormous, even for a GSD and it used to amuse us how people would turn and walk the other way if we were out on a walk. She just ignored them unless, of course, they came too near us then she'd stop and glare. People rarely came near us. During the day she would sit on the kitchen windowsill and anyone passing would look up to see this enormous dog looking down at them.

Tragedy struck a year later. We were watching the TV and heard a squeal of tyres. The back door latch hadn't been secured properly, Thomas got out and was hit by a speeding car which, despite leaving damaged parts behind, didn't stop. It was terrible burying poor Thomas in the field and every day for weeks Eva went to the spot where I had put him whilst I dug the hole.

It took a while to decide what to do. Eva was moping so we took the plunge and bought a golden retriever pup, Elsie. She was so gentle and Eva took to her immediately. The only problem was that Eva was rough in her play and we worried that she might accidentaly harm Elsie. We took the plunge, went to a rescue shelter and picked out a sad looking dog with an underbite and a shape that looked like a cross between a collie and a pot bellied pig. We changed the terrible name she had from Kelly to Maisie, had the broken leg she had, not noticed by the shelter, and we became a three dog household. Not bad for someone who loathed dogs.