The Dolly

  Some people buy dogs-some people seem to just acquire them and this has been the way it is with me since I was a kid. The principle outcome of this policy has been a succession of bent dogs: this one is no exception.



All was going well until she was attacked by a larger dog that was off its lead and its head. This single incident seems to have changed a placid animal to one that has made a deeply seated and seemingly irreversible decision to “get her retaliation in first.” She’s not vicious towards humans and tolerates blackbirds and magpies in an accommodating manner. Anything else is fair-game (literally): our garden is a wild-life free zone, patrolled by The Dolly.


In public she’s walked with (and deeply resents it would appear) a snout lead. This indignity does not however fully prevent her from engaging with other animals should the opportunity arise: it is however easier to stop her.


The photo? One of the lads had put her favourite (for “favourite” read the only one she doesn’t destroy) toy on the top of door jamb. She’d just found it and wanted it back……