Hmm..we seem to have adopted Harry Houdini. #2 let B out for her morning constitutional (not using a lead, or keeping a very good eye on her it has to be said) and five seconds later she’d vanished. A quick scoot down the drive later and we could see her over the fence in the field, having a lovely play and probably totally ruining all our painstaking bandaging from the night before.

Let me try and explain the layout of our house: imagine if you will a large rectangle, which is the field, with a roughly square chunk out of it on one of the long sides, which is our house and garden. If you can imagine that, you will see that we are basically surrounded on three sides by the field, and although we are surrounded by bushes, and then by the electric fence, madame seems to be able to squeeze out of any tiny hole, limbo under the electric fence and bugger off to gambol about, chase rabbits and basically be disreputable on the other side, whilst blowing a hearty raspberry to all of us trying to chase after her. Happily, she lolloped up to #2, expecting him to join in her game and was a bit disappointed when he grabbed her collar and lead her home. Spoilsport. I’m kind of pleased that she’s easy to get back though - this indicates more a need for freedom and fun than a desperate desire to escape…I hope.

This, coupled with two puddles on the hall floor, has added up to a somewhat eventful morning. The other thing that’s odd is that greyhounds can’t sit. Well, I suppose physically they could, but they find it very uncomfortable. I suppose having hind legs shaped like chicken drumsticks makes for a rather uncomfy cushion, so they tend to stand or lie. Sometimes this inbetweeny bit between standing and lying takes a bit of effort, and we’ve had a couple of misunderstandings when she was wobbling herself into a horizontal position and we thought she was gearing up to decorate the carpet. I think she’s going to be somewhat damaged if every time she starts to sit down, someone yells ‘noooooo!’, grabs her and takes her out for a walk. It could all get rather exhausting. In fact, it’s all a bit psychological this dog-owning lark - J gave me lots of information about making sure we’re the pack-leader and she’s the…well, peasant basically. This includes feeding ourselves first, walking through doors first and generally keeping her in her place. Finally as my friend B (yes, B the person not B the dog who has been to Sweden and whose very funny and eternally upbeat emails I have missed greatly) informed me, I really shouldn’t bake biscuits every time the dog rushes off after a rabbit and cuts all her paws. After all, as she points out, self-harming shouldn’t be rewarded with carbs. This dog is definitely going to need therapy.

No Comments »