Trixi & Coco. A matching pair of Cockapoos. They are half-sisters; their mother was a bit of a trollop.
We were told they were champagne colour, but it’s an off-white.
They have a full pedigree kennel club family tree. But basically, as they are an unrecognised breed, they are just mongrels. Expensive mongrels.
Like having two permanent toddlers. They don’t understand many words. They need feeding at the same time every day. They sleep for hours. They get overexcited over nothing. They will do anything for a biscuit.
They were the ones who taught me what complete unconditional love felt like. I have walked miles with them, and they never ever refuse a walk. When they first came to live with us, we taught them tricks, and they entertain children that we meet in the park.
They remind us of the time when they need snacks. They are very good at shouting at all the birds in our garden. They have never come close to catching a squirrel, but they have chased hundreds.
Coco once saw a cat appear from under a car, so now if you walk along a street, you will see her glancing under every car to see if there are any cats, because clearly that is where they all live.
Just five minutes where either they speak English, or I finally learn fluent woof. I would take a big breath and tell them … when someone arrives at the front door, one woof will suffice. That we don’t need to be informed of every leaf that falls in the garden. If we say no, we mean no, and we can’t be persuaded even if they do use puppy dog eyes. It is okay to lie on the bed with us but to respect the fact it is our bed and do not stick two paws in our back and start pushing. And most importantly of all, while we do understand that occasionally a puppy might fart, please do not leave the vicinity of the offence while glaring at us as if we did it.
No doubt they would have a few things they would say to us. I imagine they are outraged that sometimes we break a snack in two and offer half each when they can quite clearly see there are more snacks in the jar. Why, oh why, do you insist on taking us out when it is raining and we get all our furs wet, and people see us looking less than our best? When we are fast asleep and resting our head on you, or we are laid across you, please do not wriggle or try to get up because then we wake up and we don’t like it. Please try to remember that we have a very complicated guarding system and we will not tolerate being diverted from our duties … ooo a biscuit.
I don’t remember life without them.
Friends who don’t realise how much I love my dog. Imagine if you and my dog were hanging off a cliff and I could only save one of you.
Now, if you genuinely think I’d save you, you must mean a great deal to me and we must be very close.
You’re also wrong.
I’d always pick my dog.