The meanderings of Buddy

 by Ailsa Osborne

Hello, my name is Buddy and my mum is called Ailsa. Some other people call her mum but they don’t live with us they just turn up sometimes. Usually it’s just mum and me. I am a dog apparently and I have four strong legs but my mum only has two and one of them doesn’t work very well.
My mum calls me her Buddy and on a good day, when we are having a tummy tickling time, she tells me that I am her special little friend and the best buddy in the whole world. That makes me feel very special. Sometimes, when she has tripped over one of my bones or toys, she shouts at me and I don’t feel so special then.
Apparently I am the smallest from a group of four puppies and my mum chose me as the best. One of my brothers lives a few streets away with mum's friend Dotty. She calls him Benji and we meet quite often. Mum calls him ‘Scruff’ as he has long hair whereas mine is quite short.

When I first came to live here my mum says I was white all over except for a black and brown patch over one eye. Lots of people thought that my name was Patch but mum said that was too ordinary and I deserved a more unusual name. She told me that Buddy means a special friend, one who shares the good times and the not so good ones too.
When I was little mum used to take me out on her electric scooter. There was a basket on the front and I sat on a cushion in it and mum held my lead. It was exciting whizzing along with my ears flapping about, nose tingling and eyes watering. When the weather was bad I sat between her feet where it was cosier. No more flapping ears!

One day recently she went out without me on her scooter and came back with what she called an electric wheel chair. Unfortunately this thing doesn’t have a basket or a cave by her feet so now I have to walk everywhere. When we cross a road she taps her knee for me to jump up for a rest but then she pushes me back down again just as I’m getting comfy. One day when we were out one of the wheels knocked me over just as I stopped to investigate a really interesting smell. I don’t make that mistake anymore.

We have some exciting times and some dreary staying in times like when she hurt her arm and a bed had to be put in the front room. We had to stay in for weeks as she had broken a bone. 

I don’t break bones but I do like to chew them! 

We passed the time cuddled up together with her telling me stories of another dog who she called Dennis the menace. He went to a place called the P.D.S.A. but he never came home again.

A few weeks ago she told me we were going out in a taxi and when we got in she said, “P.D.S.A. please," to the driver. 

I was really worried. Was she going to leave me there like she did Dennis? It turned out to be an exciting place with lots of interesting smells and dogs of all colours and sizes. Some came in boxes or cages and looked a little bit different to the ones who walked in. I was getting confused with all the noises they made so I decided to join in too.

After a while I was taken into a little room and lifted onto a table. A person was pulling my lips up and down, opening my mouth  and staring into my eyes. Then I felt like I was going to do a ‘whoopsy’ right there on the table but it was something the lady had pushed inside me. Cheeky thing!

Finally I had to stand on just two legs like my mum does while this lady pressed and poked me around my tail. My mum held me up and let them do this to me!  I was shocked and embarrassed. If I’d known they would do that then I would have licked myself more down there before we left.
Now I know why Dennis didn’t want to live here anymore.
Little did I know then but worse was to happen a few weeks later.
But that’s another story . . .