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George's Arrival

By this time I had long since calmed down and Mum and I had developed a nice routine. Some days we went to this place called University where Mum met up with friends and went to the Student Union Bar a lot. I liked the bar because I was allowed to come too and I would usually have a cup of tea and some biscuits. Mum's University was right in the middle of a huge country park, and so sometimes I would wait in the car while she went to lectures and then she would come back and walk me. I never minded this, as in comparison to the amount of time she spent in the bar and walking me, lectures never seemed to last that long.

We were also still meeting up with Auntie Alyson and her two greyhounds a lot as Alyson didn't seem to go to that place called work either. Mum always said that University was work so I promised never to tell anyone just how much tea we drank and how many miles we walked.

One day Mum collected Alyson's two dogs and took all three of us up to the fields for a run. This in itself was nothing unusual but we hadn't been there long when Alyson appeared from the opposite direction walking a new greyhound. This new dog was on a lead, so we all rushed up to say hello. I found out he was a boy and his name was Jet, so I pranced around with my tail in the air and then ran very fast in circles to show him how manly I was. I think he was impressed.

Eventually we headed back to Alyson's place and Jet was put into a kennel where he howled and howled. Mum and Alyson sat down for a coffee and then five minutes later got back up and let Jet in the house. Later when Mum and I went home Jet stayed with Alyson and her two dogs and this is called Fostering.

Sometimes when Mum would go places without me when she came back I would know she had been out with Jet. I didn't mind much but once when she tried to put him in the car with me I growled at him and after that we didn't see so much of him. Mum and Alyson renamed Jet "Boomerang" as he kept going off to new homes and then coming back again. Eventually he went to live by the seaside and he is very happy there (Mum insists we go down to visit at least once a year).

Anyway once Jet left for good, things pretty much returned to normal for a while until the arrival of Dixie. She was much prettier than Jet being a young white bitch with fawn patches and I liked her a lot. I showed this by running around and barking a lot, but I did go off her a bit when she was let off the lead and turned out to be faster than me.

By now of course Mum and Auntie Alyson were really getting into this fostering thing and as soon as one dog went another would appear. Dixie was followed by Blue (large grey male)who was followed by several others. Sometimes they only came for a night or two and sometimes they stayed for much longer. Each time a new dog arrived we were taken up to the fields where we would 'bump' into either Mum or Alyson who would appear walking the new dog. After a run, we would all go back to Alyson's and out in to the garden where they would hover about with the hose for a while before going indoors for coffee. During this time we would warn the foster dog that eventually we would all go inside and they would be put in the kennel. We would then go on to tell them that if they howled for long enough they would be inside, upstairs and on the bed before nightfall.

Jack and George

One day when Mum and I went round to Alyson's house there was the smell of another new dog around and I wasn't allowed out in the garden. I stood at the back door whining and next minute a large brindle face appeared in the glass panel. I barked and then stated to wag my tail so Mum let me out the back and she came out too and ran to get the hose. What she didn't realise is that I already knew the dog in the garden and his name was George. George was quite pleased to see me as it had been several years since we had been together, so to celebrate we ran round and round the garden together biting and barking at each other. Mum was amazed as although I had stopped growling at other dogs, I usually chose to ignore them rather than play with them. My behaviour seemed all the more amazing at the time, as she had no idea that George and I had been kennelled next to each other for over a year while we were kept at the same trainers'. We also retired at the same time and ended up at the same kennels while we waited for a new home. George had left before me, but he had come back not long after I went to live with my Mum when his new home didn't work out. At this point in time, although I was pretty pleased to see George, I had not really given much though to the outcome of getting on so well with him.

Within a few days he had started spending most of his days at our house and within a week he became a permanent resident. I don't think he was even on trial like I was when I first came. I think that by now my Dad had accepted that Mum was just going to cry and sulk until he agreed to let George come and live with us so he gave in pretty quickly. I also believe that because George looks so pathetic with his big bald patches and gormless expression that it is difficult to say no to him. He is pathologically friendly and actually encourages any old stranger to pat him whereas I prefer to remain a little more aloof with people I don't know.

Anyway, that is the story of how George came to live with us.

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