Top dog

My girlfriend has fallen in love and it’s not with me, but I’m very happy about it anyway! I am of course referring to the dog, the rather lovely Pluto.

She never had a dog growing up and didn’t have any inclination to have one as a grown up. In fact I don’t think she would mind me saying she didn’t really see the point. You’re so much less flexible with a pet… they leave hair everywhere… you have to walk them whatever the weather… vet’s bills cost a fortune and even food is quite expensive…

She encouraged me to get Pluto because she knew it would make me happy and because that’s the kind of woman she is; generous and prepared to be part of new experiences. But yes, it did cross her mind about how it was going to effect the relationship (fancy meeting for drink after work has become a mission: I have to leave work a little earlier, go home, walk the dog, feed the dog, play with the dog and then rush out again to meet her).

When she moved in, one of the big considerations was, I’m not just living with Allison, I’m living with a very lively pooch that likes to demonstrate at ever opportunity how much he likes to be tickled and played with and who leaves hair everywhere (whereas I just leave clothes in the bathroom and that’s much easier to deal with.)

But move in she did and together we muddled along. From our point of view (the humans that is) it’s been a roaring success and from a dog point of view, Pluto has loved having her around and having someone else to interact with on a regular basis. And gradually it just seemed like we had always been together…

But it was over Christmas that I really noticed how close they had become. She had quite a long Christmas break and bless her heart, took over a lot of dog duties: feeding, walking etc., so that I could struggle through the last week of work absolutely bloody exhausted. Her confidence has increased and you would think that she was an old hand at mutt guardianship, but she’s not. Despite this she’s managed to work on his training (he can now lay down – that’s all her, I wasn’t part of the programme), he walks off lead with her, positively squirms with delight when she praises him and takes notice when she has to correct him or discipline him. He follows her round and the other day on a walk, she had to double back and get something and when she was out of sight he whimpered until she returned.

So I’m quite happy about this new love affair because although we’re both top dog in the family, Pluto does come a very close second…

In other news: we went to see our friend's new baby, Felix. A handsome young man that can yell louder than anyone I've ever met. Remarkable really as he's less than 18 inches long. We braved a trip to Brent Cross on Sunday to pick up lots of baby clothes and my partner and I felt very broody... or were we just jealous that Felix could get an entire outfit (including a hat!) for less that £20?! Answers on a non-disposable nappy...