Life with Dogs - Priceless!

Some or other news service reckons that you spend more on a well-loved pet in his lifetime than on a luxury car. I say bollocks to that! The benefits are far greater than any skedonk (or rust-bucket, or anything else you choose to call your non-horse conveyance) is worth.

Take my two beasts for example. We get a constant kick out of having them around.

One throws his own ball, runs afer it, catches it - and chews it like doggy bubblegum, snort-panting all the time. Try catch him, and he's off again, ball in mouth. The other likes to chase his tail (dog #1 was deprived of his when a mere pup, poor thing) and act like a teenager. They tear up the house running each other down, jumping on my bed, galloping on the grass. In winter they're backwarmers on the bed and footwarmers while watching TV. One loves to roll - in his skin. It stays in one place while he wiggles back and forth inside it. Strange. My sis-in-law thinks it's freaky.

This morning I was up before any of the neighbours. Out for a walk in the pre-dawn dark I feared neither man nor beast, because my mutts were with me. They'll jump anyone who tries to get funny - and believe me, their bark AND their bite are bad. I once tried to intervene in a dogfight, and still bear the scars and displaced nerves in my fingers...

There's nothing better than being waited for with wagging tail, "soft" eyes and a wiggle-all-over happiness at your return. You never get that from people.... Reach a hand down and you'll find a wet and eager nose. Drop a crust and it's snatched up and crunched on (no throw-away leftovers here!). Drop cheese by mistake, and it won't even make it to the floor. Say "rubbish truck day!" and get a yelp of excitement, followed by a scramble to the front gate to go see. Mention "the rat" and they're off into the ferns to see if he's in need of a chasing.

Man, I love my dogs. They're such cool creatures.

But often I'm amazed that a "wild" beast can come to depend so greatly on human contact, affection and care. That a "wild" beast will let you frumple up their fur and make growly faces with their luvly-lips. Or turn them over on their backs and fiddle with their Fritos feet (did you know Schipperke feet smell like Fritos? Honestly, they DO! I'll lend you mine if you want to check it out.).

I'm not looking forward to leaving them for 2 weeks. I know what happened the last time we went away. We came back to dogs that wouldn't let us out of their sight, that jumped in the car as soon as we opened a door to unpack it, and wouldn't budge. That needed days of over-attention before they felt secure that we weren't going to desert them. I'm going to miss them almost as much as they will me.

There's a Pedigree (dog food) ad on TV these days that says, "We're for dogs."

Me too.