The Ghost Dog

This is Spinney, my former lap-dog and lovely girl, who died on 1 August last year.

And seems to have taken to visiting us now and then.... Not that we believe in ghosts or ghost-dogs, but something strange happens every so often.

It happened again this past Saturday night.

I had gone to bed and was waiting to fall asleep. The Usual Dog (Didi) had yet to pitch up and plonk himself on the bed. But I felt light doggy footsteps on the corner where Spinney used to be - not a "jump up" feeling, just the footsteps as if she was finding her place and settling in. I felt the blankets move slightly with the feet - ever so lightly.

And then Didi came bounding in with his clonking big paws, jumped on the bed at the same spot I'd felt the doggy feet and collapsed in his usual place.

It's not the first time we've felt a dog on the bed who isn't there. Shortly after she died, we'd be watching TV and feel her jump up and walk across the bed behind us - but there was nothing there. It happened to my son too, he felt the same thing. We could dismiss it as 20-year old bedsprings moving, but it's a specific movement of dog feet, not bedsprings.

It's so weird and freaky. Not in the scary sense of the word - it's more like something we smile over and laugh at. "Felt the ghost dog again last night".

Strange...