Ann Allan: A Tale About a Dog.

It was Halloween and I was dog sitting and looking after the eight year old grandson. Not the best weekend for dog sitting I soon realised. When Poppy (that’s the dog) was dropped off she ran in circle like something possessed for at least 5 minutes taking in a tour of downstairs at the same time. She’s a black cockatoo,sorry cockapoo, 😂 and as her coat is long at the moment she appears to have no eyes and therefore looks like a shaggy rug. I wasn’t prepared for what happened when her ‘mummy and daddy ‘ left. She howled and cried like a baby. She ran to the window and perched up on my new armchair which didn’t go down well. She was looking to see where they’d gone. She then decided that my knee was the place for her and dog sitting literally became the dog sitting on me. As the shivering and shaken stopped I breathed a sigh of relief. Daughter was texting to see if she had settled. Just like she used to do for the weans.
Took her out to the back garden for a wee run around. ( I was terrified she’d leave any little parcels in the house) and some idiot, sorry the hubby had left the side gate open. Poppy made a break for freedom. We all three charged frantically after her as she headed on to the main road. Luckily her attempt was thwarted and we caught her in time. Cue hubby cursing and swearing.
Back indoors Poppy followed me everywhere I went. Tripped over her a couple of times and patience was wearing thin. Fed her, hubby took her for a walk and we settled down to watch Strictly. Well when I say ‘watch Strictly’  strictly speaking since I started tweeting I rarely watch anything properly. I glance up every so often and annoy G by asking what’s happening. This time it was difficult to do both cause Poppy again insisted sitting upright on my knee. I was now her best friend.
I hadn’t envisaged what it would be like to have a dog at Halloween. First there were a few bangs then more bangs. The poor thing started to shiver and shake while uttering a sound of pure terror. I hugged her and stroked her and once more she settled down. That was until the door bell rang and the trick or treaters arrived. Poppy went berserk, barking and growling. This happened on more than 5 occasions and I was seriously considering opening the door to the trick or treaters and telling them to f..  er,  go away. Then the fireworks went off in town. The whole house seemed to shake and Poppy was traumatised. I began to panic. Can dogs have heart attacks? This one was surely heading for one. A lot more hugging and stroking and she again settled down.
Bedtime and I made her a bed on a chair in the bedroom. She settled down and exhausted I drifted off to sleep and forgot all about Poppy. I felt something nuzzling up to me during the night and thought G was dreaming. But as this was an unusual occurrence I reached out to return the sentiment. When the panting started and I felt something really hairy I jumped out of the bed in a panic. It wasn’t the hubby ( I might have known ) Yes, Poppy had been sleeping in the bed between the two of us. Pushing her off made no difference so all three of us settled down to sleep. At about 8 o’clock the grandson decided to go on the Mac in the study and I swear the whole street was wakened with the volume. At least the dog had vacated the bed.
Daughter and son-in-law collected both at about 12 and I sank down on the sofa to catch up on some sleep. What have I learnt from this? I wouldn’t like to be a dog at Halloween.