King of the park

Last Friday, Emma decided to give Sue an awful fright.

While they were walking in the park with the rest of Sue’s pack of dogs, they came across an awful old man with his two black Scottie dogs. It sounded as if these dog had been trained to attack dogs bigger than them because they set upon Sue’s bigger charges without any provocation.

Day-z, as usual, just hung back and stayed next to Sue as she wrestled with the nasty pair. Emma, on the other hand, decided to run away. Sue had her hands full of snarling dogs – the awful old man did nothing – and she didn’t see our delightful little bundle of cuteness, take off. By the time the fracas had died down, Emma was nowhere to be seen.

Sue searched the park, frantic. She searched again, this time with her kids. They couldn’t find her anywhere. Then Sue’s phone rang.

Sue puts collars on her charges with her on phone number on them. As she’s said to me, there’d be no point ringing me if one of them managed to get themselves lost. This proves what a brilliant idea it is.

Someone had found Emma up on Folly Hill. This is a long way from where they were walking. Still, she was perfectly alright and the person said they’d meet Sue at the Farnham Cricket Club ground. According to Sue, when the car pulled up, there was Emma, happily sitting n the front seat as if butter wouldn’t melt in her hairy mouth. So, disaster averted.

(I keep hearing how people detest the use of ‘so’ at the beginning of a sentence. I know I do it a lot. Frankly, I blame Kurt Vonnegut, the first person I remember reading, who did it. The thing is, it may be grammatically incorrect, but I use it to punctuate the end or the beginning of a summation. It implies a pause slightly longer than the comma that should follow it. It’s not necessary, it’s not correct but I like it. So, there!)

Emma went off on her Milo and Otis adventure last Friday and I was a bit wary this afternoon when we went for a walk around the park. I needn’t have worried. While Day-z walked next to me the whole time, (apart from the occasional random sniff at something interesting), Emma would run ahead of us, no further than about 20 feet, then run back.

She was her usual cheerful self whenever we met other dogs and at her stand-off best whenever males bent down to pat her. She’s generally a friendly little dog but, for reasons locked forever inside her head, she doesn’t take to men very well (apart from me, anyway).

And then we met Leonard.

I’ve written about Leonard before. He’s a huge white dog. So white he looks like a ghost dog from some frontier western movie about Indian tribes. And when I say ‘huge’, he’s about the size of a Shetland pony. He is the King of the Park.

Given his formidable size and ethereal appearance, he is a benevolent ruler. A long time ago, Carmen and Day-z realised his status and every time they saw him, they’d give him a wide berth with nary a glance. When we ran into him today, Day-z did her usual ignoring while Emma, not yet versed in the Courtly Rules, went up and wagged herself at him. I’m surprised he could see her so far below his giant head but he managed to look her in the eye with a curiosity reserved for royalty.

Eventually, Emma walked away, not quite sure if she should bark or curtsey and we continued on our way.

By the way, the big white dog’s name is actually NOT Leonard. When I first saw him and his owners, I mistakenly thought that’s what they were calling him. Still, I like the sound of King Leonard of Farnham Park so King Leonard he will stay…in my blog, at least.

So…