Pets are the shining light of lockdown

Beauty, Health and Lifestyle

Our dog Bella nearly sent us to the divorce court.  My husband had always said we couldn’t have a dog because we both worked and it wouldn’t be fair to have a dog at home alone.  But I wasn’t having it. My abiding memory of early childhood in Australia was spending time with our sausage dog called Minnie who would lick our tears. She had learned which houses to hit around the neighbourhood to get fed. Her name became decidedly ironic.

I wanted the kids to experience that. And I wanted to relive it.

We had a small practice run when a dog adopted us for a few weeks. This great big auburn canine just arrived on our doorstep one evening having befriended the kids on the green. Christening him Charlie, we put adverts on the radio looking for his owner on discovering he had no microchip. Then one night he went to the door asking to be let out and just never returned.

We were all heartbroken.

After spotting the most gorgeous dogs at my dad’s neighbours, I asked the owner to tell me if there was ever another litter. When she called nearly a year later, I had to make a split decision whether to take the last pup, which was the strangest mix of all time – an Old English Sheepdog crossed with a Pomeranian.

Deciding to worry about squaring it with the hubby later, I agreed. When the call came to collect the pup from a farm in Belmullet, panic set in. I had raised the issue in the interim but was repeatedly shot down. So, myself and my daughter agreed on a plan: we would ambush him at his garage declaring this was what she wanted for her communion present the following week.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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