This evening I have been to see two beautiful dogs – a lurcher and an ex-racing greyhound who came from Ireland three years ago.
And a red hen!
The hen lives in the house with the dogs. She roosts on the arm of the lady’s chair.
They are all treated like royalty and waited on hand and foot by their very elderly owner.
There is a bit of grumbling when the lady’s foot may nudge Lurcher Jessie in bed at night. Greyhound Charlie may growl slightly if someone sits next to him on the sofa.
Jessie will steal any food she can see (but then she is hand fed from the table) and Charlie barks when they come home (but then they do make a big fuss of him).
King and Queen
The people and dogs seemed happy with the two dogs being King and Queen and the owners being their loyal servants.
What is concerning is Greyhound Charlie’s attitude towards other dogs when out on walks. Having been kennel-bound all his young life, civilised country walks were not something he had grown up with.
He is very wary of dogs and he will bark at them and try to get rid of them before they have a chance to attack him – or get too close to Jessie who, unlike Charlie, loves other dogs. The nearer Jessie gets to them the more frantic and aggressive Charlie becomes.
A while ago Charlie bit a man who was trying to protect his dog, so now poor Charlie, who can live in harmony with a chicken in his house, has to be muzzled to protect other dogs. This will make him feel even more vulnerable.
They have a wonderful dog walker who was also at our meeting. She is going to help the elderly lady work on treating their dogs a little more like dogs and dealing with Charlie’s fearfulness with other dogs. Then the lady, in time, will be able to enjoy walking her own dogs together.
