Michelotti's dog.
"Tammy"
OK! Bliddy
Dogs!............Don't you just love 'em eh?...........My first dog was called
Tammy!
It's early 1970's and
we've just moved down to Wakefield from Durham. Dad has just passed his driving
test, and every bloody Sunday afternoon is a ride out in the bloody
car!....... God almighty! talk about BORED!.......So here we are, just had
Sunday lunch and we're off for a ride out!....Hoo-bloody-ray!........obviously I
had absolutely no say in the matter!........ It's get in the bloody car, and
shut up!. Today we're going to a garden centre (quite popular when you move into
a brand new bungalow with two gardens full of pig shit and f**k all
else!).......So off we go..........45 minutes later we pulled up on the
outskirts of Dewsbury.........Mum wind's the window down and Dad drives up
to some unsuspecting lady wandering down the street........."We're looking
for Oakenshaw"....she said.....sat in the back of the car, I witnessed the
lady wave her arms about like a windmill, and when she finished, she strode off
with great authority. 10 Minutes later we were lost again.........we pulled up
next to another poor unsuspecting woman, and she was also asked where Oakenshaw
was.........By this time I was getting seriously pissed off, and in an attempt
to speed things up (and end a miserable day)...........I leant towards the
window by the side of my Mother and said "It’s a garden centre".........................
"SHUT UP!!!!!!!!!!"....... My Mother scolded me...........God was she
ANGRY! ...........So off we went again looking for this bloody Garden
Centre............Next thing I know, we are driving down an unmade road towards
"Oakenshaw"............................................KENNELS!!!!!!!.
Dad parks the car............ and sat in the back was a very bemused 8
year old lad whose mind has had a total breakdown and is now looking
at his mum and dad in awe. He get's out of the car and now his heart is
POUNDING!KENNELS!..........That means DOGS!!!!!...".God I love Dogs" ...........he
thought.......... Mum couldn't keep a straight face and her smile was as broad
as broad could be......."Common" she said.............."Let's
find us a dog!"......(Mum had a Wire Haired Fox Terrier called Trixie when
she met Dad, and she loved that dog like no other.........the stories she told
me about that dog used to keep me occupied for hours, mum used to tell me
about how Granddad brought Trixie home one night in his inside coat pocket,
because somebody was going to kill her and he couldn't let them do
it)..................Well we saw 'em all!.........I wanted a nice cuddly
Yorkshire Terrier "Ooooh yes please" I said....... and then we
got to the Westie's....."I wanted one of them!".........Oh
Boy!!!!........What a day!! I was like a kid in a sweet
shop!!!!!!!!!............My mind was made up!...........I wanted one of them cute
little Yorkies.........My mum asked me if I was sure.............And then asked
the lady if she had a Wire Haired Fox Terrier..............."well I have
one" She said, " but she is a bit old now".............(If
they weren't sold by a certain age, they would be shipped back to Wales for
breeding)..........Mum pleaded with me to see the Wire Haired Fox Terrier..........so
I agreed and off we went to the cage where this poor little dog was
kept.
Who picked who?
God only knows!
There I
am...................8 years old and my Mothers has been talking to me about wire
haired Fox Terriers all my life.....................and all I could imagine was
a bleeding brillo pad with four legs (wire haired you see)........... This dog
was seriously cute!............I am talking fluffy bundle of fur with the
blackest wettest nose you ever could imagine!........ Not only that she
was doing summersaults in her cage............all the rest of the dog's I
had seen were really young and dozy puppy's...........this one was going
for it BIG TIME!.................OK Folks it's shit or bust!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This
is my family!.......................Boy did she pick us!....... And so the
sweetest natured dog I have ever known became a major part of our
family!................She went blind when she was 5 years old, but lived to
more than double that!...........and trusted us implicitly all her
life...............by the merest click of a finger, we could guide her
around obstacles. She could walk (and run) around the house unaided, I remember
once spending a week’s holiday in a flat above a pet shop in
Whitby. The owners of the flat were dog lovers and allowed dogs to stay in
the flat.......Every night I would walk Tammy through the town centre, Guide her
past the amusement arcades, and then onto a deserted beach where I
would remove her lead and shout "GO ON
THEN!!!!!!!!!!!"....................Oh how that dog ran!.......she trusted
me implicitly! and provided I kep talking to her, she would
follow..............for the majority of her life she could not run for fear of
bumping into something, here with the roar of the waves crashing on the
shore at one side of her, and me running by her side...... talking/shouting
to her at the other, she could do what all dogs dream
about......RUN!............ Run with the knowledge that she could not hurt
herself whilst I was at her side!!!!!!!
Her favourite place in the
afternoon was on my bed ( South Facing Window)....I used to rush home from
school and then creep round the back of the house (knowing she would be sparkout
on my bed sunbathing)........I would then KNOCK! loudly on the
window...........thus waking her up! she would stand up on the bed and bark
loudly.........I would then rush around to the door and open it, and then
rush into the bedroom and dive onto the bed whilst my blind little bundle of fur
jumped on me and licked me to death!
Bliddy dogs eh?
Worse than wimin and nearly
as bad as parents.