Mutts !

　

A little commentary on the whole wonderful doggie world !



Hubby patting a pooch,

Since I met my husband, 37 years ago, we have never ever had a dog !! I was brought up with a variety of dogs having spent quite a few years on the family farm and also when my parents had a wonderful 16th century coaching inn with a good few acres of land.



A free roaming flokati carpet ?

On the farm we had a variety of dogs, all working -- none were idle or thought of as pets as such and never allowed in the farmhouse at all. There was a few border collies for rounding up the sheep and cattle and a terrier for ratting (I was never allowed near this fierce little bugger and was well trained to avoid him !) .

There was also a lean greyhound which my uncle used for racing at the grounds in Aberystwyth. I suppose he was as near a pet as a farm would allow (or at least, my grandfather) in those days. A pampered pooch though? - doubt it very much, everything had to earn its keep. I am talking about the fifties here when money was scarce and resources well managed!! No easy-to-get bank loans.




He adopted us at the last campsite

The nearest thing to a personal pet a I had as a very young child were orphaned lambs. These were cute but not soft and fluffy as one imagines (their fleece was quite wiry when very tiny)and their feeding with glass bottles and teats fun to start with even though their tugging at the bottles was ferocious. Sadly they soon outgrew me and became very boisterous indeed. Then it was time for them to join the flock and mingle a little more with their own kind !!?

My next personal pet was a POODLE !! A little black ball of fluff and fun...... looking back, I reckon my mother got me this as a distraction when my father went into hospital full time. Looking back, I think she thought it would help me by being a sort of surrogate for my father. A transference of love from daddy to a new and exciting puppy all of my own.

I actually gave her the name of SOOTY as at the time I was a great fan of the Sooty and Sweep Show, most unoriginal, but what do you expect from a 7 year old ?? My brother got the hamsters to keep him busy !!

So back to the mutts ......



 

 A shaggy pile enjoying the sun.

Dogs in this country are almost always on a lead, especially in towns and around children in parks etc. In Spain and Portugal, the opposite is the case !

  I have yet to see a spanish owned dog out for a walk with their owners - they are mostly regarded as watchdogs for their properties and bark/snarl/charge at fences and gates whenever you pass by on rambles etc. A bit disconcerting and sometimes quite frightening !! I'm a wimp when it comes to growls and bared teeth....


The other thing they do is just let the dogs wander at will ... anywhere and everywhere... especially in the country villages. These have a great life and are obviously traffic savy enough to survive the manic drivers too - we never saw any corpses scattered around the lanes like we see mangled badgers here - a very sad and quite commonplace sight nowadays.

The bigger one was very snappy !

Have often wondered if you can eat badger (it's about the same size as a decent turkey I figured). We went through a phase of hoicking dead pheasants off the roads and casseroleing them - quite delicious in red wine and lots of thyme.

Once we got them home, I'd pop on my rubber gloves and instead of trying to pluck the feathers off would simply flay them with feathers intact straight into a plastic bag, gut them and then leave them to hang in the garage a few days before they hit the pot !! Simples....I love food for free.

Was a bit upset a while ago to have missed a hind - passed her on the roadside legs up on the verge - but had a client to go to first and when I got back she'd been snaffled !! Shucks..think hubby was relieved though, all that butchering to do....

Our permanent doormat !

Anyway, these free roaming dogs are the cutest looking as they are proper mutts..see what you think. Invariably scruffy, scraggy and adorable on the whole with a whole lot of character ....


They especially seem to find my husband adorable, but then so do I !!
 





 

 Soooooo cute, aint they ?