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I have a special place in my heart for little humans. They love unconditionally and are always ready for a cuddle and a game.
I take it as a personal challenge when any human turns up and says they are scared of or don’t like dogs. One lady said she would not have booked to stay with us if she’d known there was a dog on site but, by the end of the holiday, we were best friends and the family were even talking about getting a Spaniel as a pet. Result!
My other major success was a little boy who started off terrified of me, screaming and running away if he caught a glimpse of me on my patrol. By being gentle, never jumping, and sitting quite still by him so as not to cause alarm, again we became great friends as he learned to trust me enough to give me a hug.
Image my pleasure this week when a little boy turned up for the day who not only wasn’t scared of dogs but wanted me for a playmate. He told me he had a dog at home but that she didn’t like to be cuddled. That’s Terriers for you.
I went out of my way to show him what fun a dog can be and even forgave him when he ran his toy car over my tail in a particularly exciting car chase around the sitting room carpet.
My reward came when he did some cooking with my human. Four-year-old humans are clearly not adept at keeping food on the table so I had a feast as pastry, sweetcorn, sausage and green pepper got dropped my way on the floor.
I also found we had a shared passion for poking around in odd corners of the estate where most people don’t bother to go and asking just the sort of questions I’d ask, if I could speak. Things such as: ‘Why do beetles go in the pool filters if they can’t swim?’ and ‘Why are magpies so noisy?’.
It made me think that perhaps we’re not so different after all and that why dogs will always be a human’s best friend.