Monday Memories.

Happiness is a warm puppy. ~Charles M. Schulz
There haven't been many dogs in my life. I much prefer a cat that doesn't need to be walked & coddled, though strangely enough all my cats have had doggish tendencies that way. I can really only count 3 dogs. Rajah was the first.

Rajah was a cocker spaniel. As a breed they are a working dog bred initially for hunting woodcocks & have been around since the 1300's. Working dogs are generally smart but when kept exclusively as pets can be rather doey. Spaniels, who tend to be happy, exuberant dogs & were bred to remain calm under gunfire, tend to be doey~ier than most. Rajah was no exception to this generalisation.

My father bought Rajah as a gift for my mother ~ as was his habit when he wanted something! He also bought a collar & lead, telling my mother that Rajah would shortly be well trained. I don't think one should ever make those sort of promises when it comes to dogs but my father was an optimist & on his first free day proceeded to put his promise into action.

He retrieved the lead from its peg behind the back door, clipped it to Rajah's collar & led the reluctant dog into the backyard for a lesson in obedience. I think he had visions of Rajah shortly walking to heel & sitting on command. What actually happened is my exasperated father found that the dog was smarter than he was. Rajah promptly dropped to his belly howling dismally at the top of his perfectly good lungs & as my father attempted to train him to the lead wound both of them round & round the Hills Hoist, howling without cessation until my mortified father scooped up the quivering puppy & hurtled back inside declaring that he was never walking that dog again. The neighbours would think he'd been beating it.

I imagine things were rather fraught in the household & that Rajah was in dire disgrace. My father made no further effort to train mum's spaniel. He obviously didn't know spaniels. When the clock rolled round to the hour of lead training the next day dad was blatantly ensconced behind the paper & studiously ignoring the cause of his humiliation. Rajah obviously had no sense of self~preservation for he arrived promptly at the appointed time, lead in mouth, tail wagging happily more than prepared for another round with dad around the clothes line. Prosperity has not recorded my father's reaction. Perhaps it was unrepeatable in polite society?