I watched eagerly – making sure nothing was left out. Then clambered into the car whilst Alpha was still putting things into the boot.
Sat slobbering on the backseat for the first few kilometres – last time they put all my stuff in the car I went to jail for the weekend.
But… it turned out we were going away together for a change.
We drove through a big gate and stopped outside a little house. Stuck my nose out the window. A gazillion dogs started barking at me. Big ones too!
Mom and Alpha got out of the car.
“Oi! Don’t you leave me here with all those mutts making such a racket!”
Mom gave my ear a rub. “Don’t stress Fudgie – we’re just going to talk to the nice lady.”
She was a nice lady too. She climbed in the car with us and spoke to me like Mom does. We drove up the hill, round the bend and arrived at a bigger house. We all got out.
There were oodles of interesting smells to investigate, but I followed Mom closely in case she disappeared.
They unpacked the car. I supervised. Mom chucked my ball into the garden. Retrieved it and sat on the stoep – doing more supervising. Eventually everything was inside and unpacked. My water bowl was filled and stashed in a good spot.
Alpha and Mom joined me on the stoep. They made lots of ‘aahhhhh look at that gorgeous view noises’… then decided we should go for a walk and explore.
About time too! I’d heard the nice lady talking about walks. Long veld ones, shorter veld ones and one that led to the river.
Turned out we did the long veld one – 5 km without any water for me. Mom spent half the time stressing that she was killing her precious little doglet.
Admittedly made a bit of a fuss, slung my tongue out a lot and dragged my paws on the up hills. Secretly enjoyed it all though.
When we got back we discovered we had some neighbours. The Porsche Pooches and Cone Dog. Unbelievable… one of the Porsche Pooches was also called Fudge! Cone Dog looked as though he’d had a fight with a lampshade. I waved my tail politely.
More next week…
*As told to Ginny Stone
