A Sleepy Dog Story

Once upon a time, there was a boy who longed for a dog of his own. One day when the boy was nine years old, a travelling funfair visited the village where he lived. The fair arrived in large trucks and with the trucks came the showmen in their caravans. Inside one of the caravans was a litter of puppies. The boy enjoyed the brightly painted stalls and the rides, but he quickly lost interest when he spied the puppies.  The boy longed for a puppy of his own and pleaded with his parents to let him have one. They refused… they didn't want a dog, and besides the puppies were of an indeterminate breed and probably had worms or worse! The fair moved on and the boy was heartbroken, and so began the gradual capitulation of the hard-hearted parents. Soon a puppy of a pedigree nature came to stay...

A puppy of a pedigree nature;  A Beagle by the name of Kelso or Kelly as he became known. 

Never a fussy dog Kelly was happy to sleep anywhere.

Kelly and the boy (centre) were inseparable.

Wherever the boy went Kelly went and whatever the boy had Kelly wanted ….

It wasn’t long before the hard-hearted mother fell under Kelly’s spell and turned into a bit of a softy.

Time passed as time will, the boy grew up and Kelly went to heaven. Soon the boy married and left home, and his parents missed him, and they missed Kelly.  But then Patch entered their lives, and it's difficult to be sad with an eight-week old puppy about the place.

Patch liked to sleep on chairs and on loungers, but most of all he liked the luxury of a lap.

Patch loved his new parents, but he missed his brothers and sisters. He needed a playmate and so a second Cavalier King Charles Spaniel by the name of Albe joined the family.

Albe liked to sleep anywhere, but sometimes he stayed awake while his master slept!

Meanwhile, the boy now with two boys of his own was enjoying the friendship of another dog.  Sadly when work took the boy and his family to live abroad, Rosie the Cairn terrier couldn't go with them, and she went to live with the soft-hearted parents. Before they left the boy and his family gave Rosie a special pillow knowing she would be treated like a princess!

Princess Rosie loved to snooze, in her bed, under a desk, on a chair, in a lounger or on a lap.

After a few years, Patch and Albe went to join Kelly in heaven. Rosie grew old. She started to slow down. Her legs would no longer carry her, and her eyes grew tired.  The vet suggested a pair of Doggles (doggy sun glasses) to keep the sun out of her eyes. The indignity of it didn't spoil her enjoyment of life, and she carried on for as long as she could, but eventually she too was called away. 

The kind-hearted parents didn't want another dog.  It might have worms or worse it might die. But what of the boy?  He is now a father of four, two grown-up sons and two little girls. A beautiful dog by the name of Nushka is part of the family, but the boy will never forget Kelly his puppy of a pedigree nature.

Oh yes, the boy now lives in the land of Koalas, kangaroos and other wondrous things and his parents get to visit, and they are all living happily ever after...

...but truth be told the soft-hearted parents would really like another dog...worms and all!

  If you are still awake why not pop over and see what my fellow Sepians are up to here

Love is a four-legged word. Author unknown. 

“A dog teaches a boy fidelity, perseverance, and to turn around three times before lying down.” Robert Benchley (humorist and actor, Broadway Melody of 1938)

Update October 2016: Sadly, Nushka passed away a few weeks ago. She will be missed by everyone who loved her. 

Nushka