Mongrels, Dishlickers, and a Poodle: Sheba, Fiver, Nix, Bandit, Sooty, and Scooter

By Pauline Darby

Everyone from five to ninety-five who has ever owned a dog must have wondered at times just how their pets think. What do they think about? What do they think about us, the humans? If only they could talk and tell us their thoughts! All dogs are individuals, just like humans, with different personalities to match. We can get some idea about how they feel, but its just guesswork.

Barry and Pam have had many canine friends through their family life, and its these dogs that enlighten us about human behavior. Their first dogs were inseparable because they were a brother and sister called Shah and Sheba. Then came Fiver, who cost a fiver; followed by Nix, who cost nothing; Bandit, who had a long life; and during his time, Sooty arrived; and at the farm, they adopted Scooter who was in need of a home.

This is their story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Nov 18, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524519407

Pauline Darby

Pauline Darby is a professional artist and English teacher. This book is based on her family life with her beloved dogs. She specializes in drawing pastel pet portraits, and after drawing many pets—both cats and dogs—it was her dream to bring her dog portraits to life. Readers who love stories about pet dogs and cats will enjoy reading about the lives and adventures of Sheba, Fiver, Nix, Sooty, and Scooter. It must be difficult for our pets to understand our strange ways. So these six dogs tell us their stories through their words as interpreted by Pauline.

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Copyright © 2016 by Pauline Darby.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016918709

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5245-1942-1

                Softcover        978-1-5245-1941-4

                eBook             978-1-5245-1940-7

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 11/14/2016

Xlibris

1-800-455-039

www.Xlibris.com.au

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Sheba

Chapter 2: Fiver

Chapter 3: Nix

Chapter 4: Bandit

Chapter 5: Sooty

Chapter 6: Scooter

Chapter 7: Sooty

Chapter 8: Scooter

Chapter 9: Sooty

Chapter 10: Scooter

CHAPTER 1

Sheba

I was snoozing in the sunshine with my brother when I heard footsteps stop outside our cage. I half-opened my eyes and checked it out. There was a young bloke with thick dark hair and neatly dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. He asked the keeper about my brother. I was curious but decided to play it cool; I shut my eyes and pricked up my ears to listen. At that moment, brother woke up, stretched, and yawned as he stood. And when he heard the man calling him, he ambled lazily over to the door.

You’re a sweet little pup. The man put his fingers through the cage and scratched his ear. I really like that male pup because I used to have one just like him when I was a kid, he said to the keeper. I think I’ll take him.

The keeper opened the door, picked brother up, and handed him to the man. I jumped up quickly and ran towards him. Nobody was going to take my brother and leave me behind. I had to convince this prospective owner that we were not going to be separated. I jumped up at the man’s legs and stuck my snout under his hand. He laughed at my forwardness and patted my head.

You are a lively one, and I love your golden colour, he said as he kneeled to look me over. Are these two pups brother and sister?

Yeah, they come from the same litter.

Mm, decisions, decisions. I love them both, especially as they are brother and sister, and it would be a shame to break them up. He picked me up and juggled us both in his arms, looking from me to my brother and back again. I put on my cutest face and licked him on the chin, which made him laugh. I then stared into his eyes and whimpered a little. That must have done the trick. I’ll take them both.

How lucky was that?

At last, my brother and I were released from that horrible place—the dog pound—and it was the beginning of our lives with Barry and his wife, Pam. As Barry drove us to his house, he told us about his last dogs and how wonderful they were, and that we, too, would make him and his new wife very happy. We were named there and then after his old dogs. Not very original, but I became Sheba, and brother became Shah.

Our new home was a building site with a house only half built. Barry and Pam lived on the ground floor with an old man they called Dad, or Don. To my dismay, there were two cats. We first met cats at the refuge, and I thought they looked rather harmless until the keeper walked us past their cage, and they hissed and snarled at us. I was wary of cats from then on. Now we had to live with these two. The male tabby, called Tiger, was a surly character that regarded us newcomers with contempt. He snarled at us if we got within feet of his claws. The other cat, Panther, was as timid as a mouse and kept well away.

Pam was delighted to see that Barry had bought two pups, and she welcomed us with a cheerful smile. She was an attractive woman with long brown hair and bright blue eyes. As soon as Barry lifted us out of the car, she held us both in her arms, uttering words of adoration. We never hit the ground until she put us in our beds she had lovingly prepared. They were sturdy cardboard boxes with soft, warm blankets that she placed in the corner of the garage near the door to their room. Beside our beds was a bowl full of crunchy food and a water bucket. I checked out my bed and found it comfortable, but I wasn’t ready to rest yet as there was exploring to do.

The area where the house was being built was surrounded by bush with only a couple of other houses further down the street. There was no fence around the house, so we were free to roam all over the place. That’s what we did straight away, although Pam was always behind us to make sure we didn’t get lost. Everything smelt wonderful around the house. No other dog had marked the area, so Shah did his best to mark as many bushes and things as he could, and I followed behind him. Once we got more confident with our surroundings and ourselves, we sped off into the bush every morning to see what we could find and to sniff out new smells. We could tell that other creatures lived in the bush.

Most days, Barry and Pam went off to work and left us in the care of Don, who was rather abrupt with us. If we got in his way, he’d say, Rouse, rouse, you mongrels, whatever that meant. It was Don’s job to build the house, and every day, he was busy, hammering away at some part of the building. Slowly, the house began to grow, especially the upstairs part. After Don put the stairs up to the veranda, I ventured up there to see what was going on. Not all the flooring had been put down, so I followed Don as he skilfully tiptoed along the joists on the veranda that led inside the house. Shah climbed the stairs but was too timid to walk the joists. He preferred to sniff around on the ground, chasing lizards and annoying the cats. As the house was situated on the hill, my favourite spot was at the top of the stairs. I had a great view of the countryside whilst enjoying the warmth of the sun.

At night, after we were fed, Barry, Pam, and Don liked to sit around in easy chairs and have a few drinks or more, and we were allowed to sit at their feet. Barry would bring out his guitar, and they all sang songs and laughed a lot. It was one of the highlights of our day. The cats lounged around, too, usually on the beds, which was a place we weren’t allowed. Tiger would stare at me scornfully, as if to say cats were superior and, therefore, had more privileges than dogs.

One night Leo, a friend of Don’s, arrived to join in the merriment. As soon as he came through the door, my nose twitched with delight, especially when he dumped a large bag of meat on the table. Shah and I got up immediately and ran straight to him because his whole being smelt of meat. He laughed as we sniffed and licked his legs and shoes all over. He patted us both, and as his hands touched us, the smell of meat was so strong that we licked his hands as well. We were to learn after his many visits that he was the local butcher. He was one of our favourite humans and delighted us every time he came to the house.

Pam thanked Leo for the bag of meat, put it on the table, and sorted it all out. Shah and I sat mesmerised, watching this wonderful pile of meat being chopped and placed in small portions into plastic bags. Tiger had smelt the meat as well. He woke from his slumber and stood alert on the bed, watching every movement Pam made as she moved the packets of meat from the table to the fridge. Just as Pam started to cut off bunches of sausages, Tiger leapt onto the table and grabbed some sausages in his teeth.

Pam and Barry wrestled with him to get the sausages back, but he wouldn’t let go. He snarled and hissed at them and then jumped off the table and headed for the open door, with the bunch of sausages trailing across the garage. He escaped into the yard with Barry waving a broom in angry pursuit. Finally, after much yelling and snarling, Barry was able to get the sausages back. Tiger must have gone off to sulk and lick his wounds, as we didn’t see him for the rest of the night.

Shah and I were amazed at all the happenings. That’s what cats had over us dogs, as they could leap from place to place, whereas dogs, at least pups, found it more difficult. But then we dogs had better manners and soon learned that good things came to those who waited. As a result of Tiger’s theft, we were the winners. Pam couldn’t use the sausages that he mauled, so that night, we each got a sausage as an extra treat, and we got some for the next three nights. I think that was the incident, plus our arrival into the household, that made Tiger decide to look elsewhere for comfort and treats. He spent less time around the house, only coming back in the evening for dinner. I often saw him lounging around on a neighbour’s doorstep when we went for our walks. Panther seemed much happier now that Tiger had moved on. He must have bossed her about, and she was more inclined to get closer to us now. In fact, I often saw her snuggling beside Shah sometimes during the cold days, but she never came to me.

Pam was the one to feed us every day, and with our energetic lifestyle, we needed every scrap we could get. We had a variety of food, from tinned stuff that was ordinary to lovely, tasty kangaroo meat being one of our favourites. Best of all were the bones that Leo used to bring us. They were so meaty and huge that they lasted for a whole week, until he bought us the next ones. Another treat was the remains of a barbecue. Shah and I learnt to be on our best behaviour at barbecue time. Keeping Tiger out of the way was to our credit because he always made it home when he smelt the meat cooking. We got extra food when the meat got too burnt for the humans to eat, and Don was particularly good at burning the meat. After a few weeks of eating good tucker, Shah and I grew into healthy, medium-sized dogs, although Shah was slightly bigger than me.

It was about this time that Pam came home from work early and told me very quietly that I had an appointment with the vet. She put the leash on my collar and carried me to the back seat of her car. We drove off in the direction of the shops, and that’s when I found out what a vet was and what they did. Although the lady was very friendly and gentle, it’s how I felt afterwards that made me wary of her in the future. Not long after Pam left me, I was taken into a room where I was made to lie down on a hard steel bench. She spoke softly to me as she patted my head and then I felt a sting on the back of my neck. I woke up sometime later feeling horrible; my guts hurt, and I had a silly plastic collar around my neck instead of my usual leather one. I kept dropping off to sleep, and the only pleasant thing about the whole experience was the great dreams I had about food.

Pam picked me up after I was fully awake; I was glad to be going home, but I still had to wear the stupid collar, which kept me from scratching my itchy tummy. Shah wanted me to come and play, but I didn’t feel like running around; instead, I stayed in my bed and tried to get those super dreams back from my memory. During my convalescence, I got to know the Hobson girls, Linda and Suzy, and their parents, who lived down the street. The girls bought me lots of treats from their mother and pampered me so much that Shah felt out of it. It took a couple of days before I felt my real self again, and it was a relief when Pam took off the silly collar. Now I was free to run around the yard with Shah and the girls.

The girls came to see us nearly every afternoon after school and on weekends. They weren’t allowed to have a dog of their own, so they spent as much time as they could with us. We had great times playing fetch the ball and other games, but we also had to learn to be obedient, and Suzy was the best teacher. She was bossy, but if we did everything her way, we got little treats. Pam was very pleased when we demonstrated how clever we were when given commands to sit, lie down, shake hands and stay to wait for our dinner. From then on, we obeyed the commands because it meant treats