I want a dog again.

We dog-sat at a friend’s house last night. It was great because:

1/ We had Sky. Megs had the remote until the evening and then I took over and we watched Film 4 (The only channel I would like as an extra to the four I get)

2/ Instead of using their kitchen we treated ourselves to a Chinese takeaway. I had Yunnan chicken (which was supposed to be sweet and chilli, but there was no chilli bite to it at all), and mushroom fried rice.

3/ No chores to do, which meant no reason to get up much, so we had more time to chill.

4/ We didn’t have landline calls to answer. If my friends want to get hold of me they have my mobile number.

5/ It was lovely to have a dog around. Taz is quite a character, he loves people, and is incredibly easy to dog-sit for. I’ve looked after dogs who want my attention 24/7, often because they’re away from their owners. Taz did miss my friends, he looked over at the shed and you could tell he was thinking are they in there?, and if he heard anyone out the front he was up at the window, but other than that he was happy and chilled.

Dogs have kind of been the theme of my week. At the beginning of the week, another friend lost her dog, Pugsy. No-one was sure how old Pugsy was as she was a rescue dog, she didn’t look too old so when she started being ill last week it was completely unexpected that it might be the end. However after a couple of visits to the vets it transpired she had a tumour that would kill her very soon, so she was put down.

I loved Pugsy. She had such a beautiful nature. She was my second favourite dog, with Jess being my first fav. Jess was was born in our back garden, as her Mum was our lodger’s dog. She was with us from birth to the grand old age of fourteen. Like Pugsy she wasn’t ill until her last week, and she had a tumour which would have killed her in the next day or two. I was thinking of my friend much of last week.

So this week I’ve been thinking a lot about dogs, and how I would love to have another dog. Even with Pugsy’s death and identifying with the pain of losing a dog, I still want another dog. They don’t live as long as we do, that’s something we just have to accept and I do, but the pleasure they give, and the pleasure they can have in a happy loving home is priceless. I can’t have a dog where I am, I need a garden and as soon as I have one, I’m going to get another dog.