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Hanging Out....
The House of Mutt does a good summer. Exercise is the key to happy hounds and in the summer when the dogs are in the garden pretty much all day, they’re able to run around as much or as little as they like when they like. So us lucky ‘kennel’ maids sip tea and supervise, watching friendships form and mini packs ebb and flow as like-minded mutts play, bounce, chase and collapse together in panting and waggy piles – the higher energy dogs carrying on way beyond their more sleepy contemporaries, totally irrespective of breed or, surprisingly, age. We leave them to their own devices as much as possible and enjoy the study of Canis Domesticus (why didn’t I concentrate harder in Year 3 Latin...) at play.
So, as I write and with Hector at my side (clearly sensing I can’t concentrate on words and woofs at the same time he’s surveying the scene attentively), we have an upside-down Dogue de Bordeaux in the gate corner ‘snapping’ happily at an energetically circling Italian Greyhound, we have a miniature Schnauzer chasing a Border Terrier and a Pomeranian (for those who’ve read this column before – yes, it’s that Pomeranian, the favoured one....), and we have another Dogue de Bordeaux in the hedge corner muscling off with the most energetic bulldog I’ve ever known.
From past experience I’d say the Dogue/Greyhound twosome will lie down first. The terrier combination will follow and the Dogue/Bulldog pair will battle for longest but will, eventually, be bought to a halt by the sheer pressure of panting.
Shortly we’ll head off for a walk, during which the partnerships will change. The Labrador and Dogues de Bordeaux (would that be the right plural I wonder ... why didn’t I concentrate harder in French as well) will circle a fairly constant 15m diameter around us, the Bulldog will be glued to heel alongside the Pomeranian, and the terriers would (given half a chance) be together and disappearing on the far horizon. Consequently they too will be kept at heel, but theirs is a sort of ‘let me go, let me go’ heel that puts them just beyond the Bulldog/Poms’ relaxed meanderings.
The walks are great, but I especially like the freedom and flexibility of these summertime sessions in the gardens. Dogs, like children, love to play – no instructions, no agendas, no expectations. And it’s then that you get to see what they’re really like and what it is that floats their particular boats.
So, bring on the sun, bring out the teabags and bring on the House of Mutt’s not-so-scientific study of dogs and their behaviour. I’ll report whatever gems I find and we’ll start a competition for the least likely friendship of the season. Surely that Dogue de Bordeaux / Italian Greyhound combination is going to take some beating - isn’t it?
An interesting aside on Hector. The Bulldog, here for a long stay and at the last minute, arrived a bit needy and distraught from her owner’s self-confessed pre-separation misery. Having glued herself to Hector’s side for a week, Lulu the Bullie gradually relaxed. She’s now on top form and has consequently abandoned the reassurance of Hector for the excitement of the D de B. Hector has, I think, heaved a sigh of relief – but still seems to have his pastoral eye on her. Is this yet another role for him, I wonder: the kind of supportive yet personally romantically disinclined best friend that every girl needs?!
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