I’m in the process in talking Peli into getting a dog. I have always had a dog, well ok the last 15 years while living the in England or France, I haven’t had a dog. I have always enjoyed the company of a dog I don’t think there ever have been a time where the wasn’t a dog in the circle of close family or friends.
One of my all time jokes to do when meeting a dog and it owner the first time. Is to go “you are such a dumb and ugly dog, yes you are so dumb” while giving it a good old greeting/ruffle, the dog will be loving it while wagging its tail to the brink of falling off. The owner will stand there trying to make a wain attempt to explain that their dog is ever so clever, hehehe đ
Last year we where in Denmark on holiday and while having lunch we spotted a dog laying out side a shop in the shade on the other side of the road. A German family walked past and the little girl saw the same dog and called to it, woofy. Since that day every time we spotted a dog we go woofy. So if, let me rephrase that, WHEN we get a dog we will probably call it Woofy. Unless of course it have only three legs and then its gotta be called tripod.
My job brings me to many parks here in London and I see tonnes of dogs being walked every day. And I think that the interest have slowly been simmering along over the last two years. I think the fire really started a couple of month ago when a little dog came up to me in the park while I was working. It barked at me and I turned around and spotted it there making the typical movement towards its ball telling me to throw the ball. Five minutes later it came up to me again and did the same.
Here is a list of dogs I can remember and somethings that made them special … (pretty good chronology order, though some might be a bit out or forgotten)
– My granddads old dog, pretty much a flea bag, my granddad could run his hand down it and catch them.
– Rico, my nans German sheppard, who would take me by my arm with its mouth and drag me through the house to show its new toy or chewing bone. Playing catch with a big dog like that indoor wasn’t the best but he was very gentle when he ran about. Snored like a trooper when sleeping under the coffee table and demanded that you hold his paw, would stop snoring and kick you until you grabbed the paw again.
– Snoopy, black (show, I think) cocker spaniel , scared of water and unfortunately did bite one of my school mates when he jumped down and scared Snoopy while he was eating his new bone. So had to put it down when he was around two years old.
– Black cocker spaniel, can’t for the life of me remember its name. Was only 10 or so weeks old when he ran out the back door to see where my dad was and ended up on the road and got run over and died on the way to the vet.
– Bessie, my uncles first German shepard, very well trained dog, came 4th in the European champs and was so friendly. I could just about hold her when my uncle was trying out a new skill on her, others of his dogs would pull me down. Even if I was bigger and stronger later on.
– Bølle (Bully in English), white “mini” poodle, naughty little dog would nick the neighbors socks and other naughty things and just run a way when it had the chance. Was scared thunderstorms, we knew when there was one on the way he would hide one place where he normally wouldn’t go. When he became daddy to Zitta (my first dog that was mine) he mellowed out. I think he was 15 when he died.
– Trille, white “mini” poodle or a mix there of, mummy to Zitta, I think she also helped to calm down Bølle. She was around 13 years old when she died.
– Laica – golden show cocker spaniel, loved to play football with me, though not that keen on fetch, I had to kick the ball to her. Would eat my Lego as it was candy the amount of times I had to dig one bit of Lego out of her mouth. Would only go into the sea if we all went in, if one was still on that she would wait there. She became jealous of our cat and would sit the cats bed which was way too small for her. Didn’t mind that the cat would ride on her back while running to the back door to greet my dad when he came home from work. She would not leave the bathroom after a bath before she had her collar back on. Took a dog show just for a laugh, since she was pedigree and got a 4th place, without even knowing how this works or doing anything special. One winter she ran after the ducks in the local pond and went through the ice. 
She was gone for a 10 or seconds until we spotted her nose turn around like a periscope on a submarine towards land. She was very long haired that winter and it was nice powder snow, so we had thaw her up with the hairdryer when we got home. Unfortunately she was put down when she was four because the situation we where in and I decided that that was the only solution, you can ask me the reason why if you should ever meet me.
– Neighbors beautiful golden retriever, who would greet us by putting its head over the hedge and didn’t mind that Laica would jump up and put her paws into his eyes while they said hello. As the Danish saying goes “this dog was that good if you kicked it it would turn around and say sorry”. The the neighbors daughter could do anything to it and it would just stand there taking it all in while wagging its tail.
– Zitta, daughter of Bølle and Trille, also called Sisse, she knew is was in trouble when we called her Zitta and was ok when called Sisse. Boy was she her farther daughter when she was little, an escapist no end no door or fence would keep her in. The amount of times I had to clean up after her when I got home from school, because she had mixed the flower pots and it contents together with my mums knitwear or other things she did. And then on the other side bright as a button the way she “talked” to you and the things she would do, you just knew that there was something going on in there. But she didn’t have a clue what the dangers were when she walked up two cats in fight, even when they were bigger than her. I tried to get her to fetch, got her all geared up to play and run, I threw the ball, she looked at the ball then at me then at the ball at the other end of the garden and then she just walked over and went to sleep in her bed.She hated water and wouldn’t go out when it rained, she just about accepted a bath but you would read KILL ALL HUMANS in her eyes. The only reason why she accepted it was that she got a blast with the hairdryer after and then your could read BLIZZ I’m in heaven in her eyes, while laying on the heated floor in the hot air. Later she simply enjoyed sitting in my mums bicycle basket looking at the world go by. I would carry her around inside my jacket with her head sticking out if were doing something touristic, to the amusement of other kids. She died of kidney failure after an op when she was 14’ish years old. I saw her a couple of days before she died, she was laying in her bed very weak, she didn’t move but wagged her tail very slowly when she saw me. I sat with for a while and then went over to the sofa to talk to my parents. She then came limping very slowly over to me and lifted her up to lay next to me on the sofa and she laid there with her head on my lap for the rest of the evening.
– Kalle, Thor and Buffer, big, bigger, biggest German Shepard’s which my uncle trained. When Buffer was a puppy still, when standing on hind legs he was looking me into my eyes and I’m 6’4″. Probably the biggest German Shepard I have seen, but as all the others very friendly and well trained dogs.
– King and female, two Doberman’s that my dad had for some reason he decided that it was a brilliant idea to have two from the same litter. Never seen such two scared dogs in my life, one of them lost half an ear from their fighting over who would be boss. Which resulted in the female getting put down when it attacked the boy next door, lucky only a light bite on the leg.
– Lady, a schnauzer poodle mix, unfortunately in her late years became deaf and blind so we had to stamp on the floor to let her know that we where coming by.
– Pina our neighbors springer cocker spaniel, whom we baby erm dog sat quite often. She would get on with Zitta but not with Lady.
– Gigi, Samoyed, my best mate first dog probably the dumbest dog I ever have met. A wet plank of wood would out smart that dog. But very very play full never the less.
– Suzie, Samoyed, my best mate second dog, the IQ on this one is much higher than Gigi. She is getting on a bit but still a lovely dog.
– Sisse II aka Sisse, a mini puddle, a spitting image of Zitta. I had moved away from home but she stayed at my folks for some years. Was scared of lines, if she was walking on one kind of pavement and when the design changed she wasn’t keen on crossing. Even lines from shadows, tram lines etc so we had to lift her over them. She had to be put down because of various illness.
And then there was the boxer the girl I had a crush on when I was around nine had, all my school mates were scared of it but I wasn’t đ Plus the black laborer which was just fatter than a fat thing because all the leftovers was fed to it, the sad thing was that when they got a new laborer it was as fat within months đ And then there is all the ones that friends, school mates and family members had over the years. And not to forget the Rev’d Lord Mungo Mycroft, where’s your mush ?
I’m very keen on getting a bitch working cocker spaniel. Since cockers are great family dogs, not too big or too small, very easy to train and keep. I’m already designing in my head how the trailer have to be modified so that Woofy lay in that. While we are cycle touring without getting wet or cold. It wouldn’t take long to train the dog to be in the trailer and when we are on quiet roads, paths she can run next to us. A fully loaded touring bicycle wouldn’t be traveling much faster than a working cocker spaniel.
Peli, can we please have a woofy pretty please ?