The Village Pub

I often hear my mistress saying, 'he's growing up.' I think that's because I no longer jump up at people with my paws outstretched  but what they don't understand, people do that to me when they meet me. When I was a very young dog, a puppy they called me, people would put their arms out wide and say nice things like, 'what an adorable little dog!. I just did the same, trying to be more adorable., and then they leapt back squeaked. I thought it was part of a game and so I kept jumping up with my paws wide. My mistress didn't like this game and banished me to the kitchen. She's put a gate across so I can't get out but if I'm quick and she had left other doors open, I can run through her study and into the sitting room again.

I remember one person who came to the house and was trying to ignore me. She was jumping about and shouting, no, no and flicking her skirt so I thought this was a new game and joined in. She hasn't visited us since then. Now I am older, in the words of my mistress, I behave myself. Rarely do I jump up at people unless they are special friends  and my mistress takes me to interesting places.

I really enjoy visiting some of them. There is a cafe in town and I now know the way to the garden at the back. It is very pretty with tress and shrubs and big umbrellas. Sometimes we meet friends here and when the waitress comes to take our order my mistress asks for coffee, a bowl of water and a dog biscuit (that's for me). One of my very favourite places is our village pub. We don't go there often but  when we do I am really good and sit under the table. Lots of my people-friends come and join us and sometimes other dogs arrive. Most of them are either old and go to sleep at once or young and don't know how to behave. I do now.

I have a new friend. He's called Jack or maybe I should say Jacques because he is a French spaniel. His owners talk to him in French as he prefers that to English so instead of calling, 'Jack, come here,' they call 'Jacques, viens ici.' We have great fun running on the cricket field and I can run faster. But after all Jacques is about eight years old.

Sometime Finlay joins us. He is a whippet and can run faster than me even though he is only 18 months old but I usually manage to keep up just behind him. We often play my favourite game. I find a stick and Fin comes and grabs one end while I hang on to the other. We both pull and it's whoever  holds on the longest  is the winner.Both Fin and I are really good at this and when Fin gets the stick he runs very fast around the field. He has long  legs and mine are a bit short so I have to run really fast to try and keep up with him.  Then I'm exhausted and collapse in a long heap on the grass.

Jacques sometimes tries to join in but he is not that keen or energetic and soon gets bored. He likes to wander off by himself and if we go for a long walk past the river and across the fields, Jacques often disappears altogether. Then his owner, Sally, calls him. My mistress says Sally bellows and can be heard miles away she shouts so loud. I have a lot of fun with my friends and I hate it when there is no-one on the cricket field to play with. Mind you, some dogs don't want to play but I know who they are and leave them alone