Flossie and I regularly walk with her canine friend Molly, a lively ‘sproodle’ with a mischievous glint in her eye. Molly brings her owner Steve along too.
Steve and his wife Sue acquired Molly as a retirement present for Steve. They have always lived with dogs but like Flossie, Molly is an adventurous girl and some of her habits have been a rude awakening.
Flossie and Molly’s friendship is heart-warming, entertaining and often eventful. They gallop across fields to greet each other with a full-on hug. They hurtle around together, a picture of complete joy, while Steve and I try to avoid being knocked flying by their exuberance.
The other day they darted through a hedge into an adjoining field, a look of mischief across their faces. Flossie returned first with what I thought was a sizeable branch trailing from her mouth. I chuckled until Steve informed me that it was in fact a deer leg. My smile quickly disappeared as I wondered what to do.
My new strategy in these situations is to show no interest whatsoever, and it works. Flossie took her treasure off into the woodland where she would find a safe place to leave it.
There was no sign of Molly. I half jokingly said to Steve that maybe she was going to find something precious too.
Seconds later, Molly trotted out of the field triumphantly. She too was brandishing a deer leg.
We couldn’t believe it. Clearly a poor deer had met its maker somehow and now we had two dogs each with their own deer leg. How had they decided who would have what? I suspect Flossie made sure she got the biggest one.
It took a while for Steve to persuade Molly to drop her deer leg. In the meantime, Flossie left hers in the woods, no doubt to return to later.
Relieved that we’d managed to lose the extra limbs, we clipped on their leads and went on our way.
Walks with Flossie and Molly are never dull.
As published in the Bath Chronicle, 26 September 2019
Suzy Pope is a certified copywriter and newspaper columnist specialising in pets, business and lifestyle. If you would like help with a writing project, please get in touch.
