A boy’s best friend
Watching the two of them, the dog and the boy, wrestling around on the lawn gave me cause for a wry grin. Not that long ago, when Mabel was a puppy, I had forbidden Charlie from teaching the stripling any bad habits — no ball chasing, no tugging, no spoiling, no fighting, no biting, no inconsistency. A hardhearted standpoint perhaps, this liturgy of don’ts, but essential for the pup’s education.
Charlie has grown up with dogs; he is an only child, so they are the closest thing he has to siblings. His first word ‘Gheee’ he repeated over and over. My wife and I eventually twigged he was calling our aged whippet, Ghillie. His maiden tottering steps were achieved by him
