It's a Dog's Life by Alex Marchant
Last month I blogged about facing
an ‘empty nest’, with both daughters now at university. But to be honest, it’s
not empty at all. Not only is it occupied by myself and my partner, but there
are also the pets, so it doesn’t seem particularly empty at any time, even if
the elderly cat spends most of her time asleep, curled up near a radiator.
Gunner, the dog, more than fills any space that’s left.
We rehomed Gunner
in February this year, our second adoption. It was a very deliberate decision
each time to offer an older dog a new home, rather than opt for a puppy, but I’m
not looking for any credit for it. I simply didn’t want to face all the time
and effort needed to train a puppy – however cute – in all the basic
necessities, like house-training. I am, it has to be said, rather a lazy dog
owner.
One can, of
course, feel good about offering a dog a new home. There can be many reasons
why a dog needs rehoming and the word ‘rescue’, while often used, in our cases certainly
hasn’t been appropriate. Milli, our first dog, was reluctantly given up after a
relationship break-up led to her owner moving into a rented flat which couldn’t
accommodate pets. Gunner was also a much-loved pet whose family were
experiencing difficulties which meant they couldn’t give him the time and
attention he needed. It will have been tough for both owners to make the
decision. And we have been the fortunate beneficiaries of their misfortunes. In
both cases we inherited amazing dogs.
Cocker spaniels
both, each typical in some ways, but very different in others. With Milli we’d
decided to look for an older dog, who might not need so much exercise, as too-long
walks would eat into my work day. (I knew the children might be desperate for a
dog, but it would be me who’d do all the work). Eight years old when she
arrived, she was still full of life and energy, and continued to be mistaken
for a puppy until only weeks before her untimely death from cancer only four
years later.
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| Milli was a little on the tubby side when she arrived - 3.5 kilos overweight in fact... |
She was very
much a ‘people dog’, disdaining to take much notice of other dogs, but always
keen to encourage us to play. Tug, piggy-in-the-middle, chase (us chasing her,
of course) were among her favourite human games – and she also loved to dance, pirouetting
on her back legs for a titbit, or bouncing across a room for the fun of it. She’d
been brought up in a bar in Spain, so perhaps had learned there to dance for her
treats. She was respectful to (if not actually scared of) the cat, friendly to
the chickens and guinea pigs, and loved all humans – except the postman. Even
someone in a red tee-shirt and shorts carrying a letter could set her off
barking. We think it was defensive – perhaps one too many divorce-related solicitors’
letters thumping on the doormat, or just the feeling that the house was being
attacked…
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| Milli in play mode |
After our sad
loss of Milli, it took a while before we acted to fill the now gaping hole in
our lives. We knew straightaway we would have another dog, but actually finding
one to adequately fill that hole was always going to be difficult. We returned
to the same spaniel rehoming organization, looking once again for an older,
female show cocker. ‘Oldies’ are often overlooked, so it would be good to
rehome one again – even at the risk of losing them in a short time once more.
(Although, it has to be said, none of us wanted to contemplate that…) So, there
was no way I was going to look twice at a 13-month-old, male, working cocker –
was there?
It has to be
admitted it was the name that first caught my attention. As a lifelong Arsenal
supporter (third generation), I wasn’t going to pass by a ‘Gunner’ without
noticing. But knowing how boisterous young working cockers are (my sister has
had one from a puppy, who only now, aged five, is beginning to calm down –
sometimes), I took one look at his details and moved on to the next dog.
But something
drew me back. It was the fact that everything else about him was right: good
with people, loves children and cats and other dogs (maybe OK with chickens), travels
well, can be left a short time, good training and recall… he sounded perfect.
Except that he was only 13 months old and from working stock – hence the name,
though he’d been brought up a pet.
So, reader, we
adopted him. And not a day has gone by when we haven’t been grateful for our
good fortune in giving him a new home (and also to his first family for
bringing him up so well). He became part of the family in an instant (though
the cat still won’t accept him) and, while lively and loving his walks and play,
suits us by settling at other times.
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| Gunner, the (mostly) calm working cocker |
He hasn’t ‘replaced’
Milli, of course. That’s not possible. Perhaps he ‘complements’ her. They’re
very different personalities, after all. She barked a lot, he never does, except shortly and sharply to encourage another
dog to play. He often spends an entire walk with his nose to the ground; she
used to walk along with nose and tail in the air, apparently a red-rag to other
dogs. He only displays mild interest in postmen and window cleaners, and as I’m
typing this, has thankfully shown no reaction at all to the fireworks going off
outside. (Yes, it’s only early October, but Firework Month starts early round
here.) Although he has puppy-chewed the odd thing (we don’t leave slippers
around now, and make sure there are no trailing wires where he sleeps), he’s
not so ruled by his stomach that he’s likely to give us the same wealth of food-related
anecdotes as Milli. He has, once, managed to flip a whole pizza from the
kitchen counter when our backs were turned, but we doubt he’ll shape up to the
two-entire-advent-calendars-including-foil-and-cardboard,
whole-bag-of-foil-wrapped-chocolate-coins-and-two-packs-of-cough-sweets-including-wrappers,
four-doughnuts-foraged-somehow-from-the-very-back-of-the-counter, or half-a-bag-of-rice-very-nearly-leading-to-death-but-fortunately-resulting-in-exploding-rear-and-front-ends-without-an-expensive-vet-trip
incidents that Milli cooked up.
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| Gunner, hurtling... despite the 'cone of shame' after a recent op |
Milli was
responsible for the decision to include in my books Murrey, the loyal
puppy-growing-to-hound companion to my lead character, Matthew. Murrey is the red-coated,
runtish offspring of Duke Richard’s favourite hound, Florette, and Conqueror, from
the kennels of King Edward IV, and she remains with Matthew throughout his
adventures, when even his closest friends are not around to keep him company.
Many of Milli’s traits can be seen in Murrey – from the dancing (taught to Murrey
as a pup by the young Edward, prince of Wales) to her tendency, like a typical
spaniel, to show loyalty to anyone with food. They are features that prove
rather useful at various times in the story. Sadly Milli died before the books
were published, but some of the raw emotion I felt at her loss made its way
into the narrative in the final draft. Now when I watch Gunner hurtling across
the same moors that prompted many of those scenes, I often wonder how different
Murrey might have been if inspired by him. But then again, Murrey’s sister,
Shadow, appears in my work-in-progress, so maybe I’ll find out….
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| Up on those moors... |
Alex is author of two books telling the story of the real King Richard III for children aged 10+, the first set largely in Yorkshire, and editor of Grant Me the Carving of My Name, an anthology of short fiction inspired by the king, sold in support of Scoliosis Association UK (SAUK). A further anthology, Right Trusty and Well Beloved..., is due out 1 November.
Alex's books can be found on Amazon at:
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