Son No. 1 invited us out to dinner a couple of days ago.
It’s the first time one of our sons has done that, and the occasion was merely that No. 1′s girlfriend was going home to Italy and they thought it would be nice to see us again before she left.Â
We went to an Italian restaurant, which was amusing, because the first thing the lovely T did was to ask if I had a pen so she could correct the menu. She said that there were several mistakes, but one item on the menu supposedly consisted of two whole pigs and she didn’t believe it. Neither did I, but sadly, a quick rifle through my handbag produced no pen, so the menu was destined to remain unsullied by admonitory notation. I hope that no-one who ordered that dish was too disappointed.
Anyway, because Sid isn’t quite up to being left alone for a whole evening yet – and we also had a riding lesson booked for the next day – I arranged to take him back to his trainer to stay safely with her while we were out.
I wondered how he’d feel. I mean, he wasn’t in the kennel block when he lived there before, he was living in his trainer’s house so they’d got rather attached to each other.  You see, he’d needed intensive nursing care when he first lost his leg, and then she felt sorry for him and didn’t ever put him back down in the kennels, so he’d lived as a house dog with half a dozen other greyhounds – a constantly fluid number, by the way, since she takes her rehomed dogs back for holidays as and when needed and they ALL stay in her tiny house with her own dogs. That tiny house usually seems to contain an ocean of happy dogs.
So. Would Sid get out of my car in the yard and say: ‘Yay!! I’m back in the Land of Dogs’?
Or would he say: ‘Oh shit …Â I thought I’d escaped!’
I pulled up and parked the car, clipped on Sid’s lead, and I took him in through the gate. He seemed quite happy and interested in all the old familiar sights and smells, but when the door was opened and the welcoming tide rolled forth and enveloped him with happy yips and yaps, and The Pup ran up to bounce at him and lick his nose, Sid was Not so Happy.
In fact, he growled.
He growled at The Pup. He growled at Old Girl One-Eye. He growled at the Young Floozy. He growled at The Holidaymaker. He growled at everyone except The Grinner, because no-one growls at the matriarch, but his hackles were up in a sharp ridge from head to tail, which reminded me of The Remarkables, only furrier. But he didn’t lunge at anyone or snap, and his trainer said she thought he was probably warning them not to be too rough. Perhaps he was also warning them to remember his new status as Doggus Primus in a new home, and needed to be cut down to size a bit. I didn’t think it would take the Grinner very long to do that, in her quiet, non-aggressive way, and so it turned out. In a little while, when everyone had settled down and stopped bouncing at him (and presumably asking the usual inane questions like ‘Where have you been? and ‘what’s the food like?) he stopped growling and went to get a drink of water.
When I left, he came to the gate with me, and then trotted back into the house before I’d even started the engine, so I knew he’d be OK. He spent the evening in his old accustomed position on his trainer’s feet while she watched television, and he ate left-over duck for dinner.
You say she spoils her house dogs? Hmm … well, maybe. Just a tad.
When I fetched him the next day, he was part of the sea pouring out of the house, and once again he fought his way through the other dogs to get to me, where he positioned himself foursquare across my bows in a clear statement of ownership.  Having got over his grumbles, he was obviously happy in the company of his erstwhile shipmates, yet he was just as happy to leave them behind and come home. You see, he never got the comfy beds in that house, because there were simply too many dogs with seniority – or in the case of The Pup, barefaced cheek. So he bounced in through his own front door, checked out the kitchen, and then folded himself into his big soft-sided dog bed and snuggled down in the sheepskin with a sigh.
I really missed that dog. Just in the 24 hours he was away, a Sid-shaped hole was evident in our household.
Oh, yes – and since you ask, the dinner was lovely! Despite the non-appearance of the twin piglets on my plate (yes, I chose that meal), despite the fact that the one and only egg-free dessert item was cheesecake, which I hate, and despite the fact that my ‘Fairly weak, please’ cappuchino came strong enough to strip paint, it was a great evening.Â
The fragment of pig they bestowed upon me was, in fact, delicious. I couldn’t have eaten a whole one anyway.
admonitory notation you tongue in cheek you
There is nothing like that one owner status for a greyhound ..Pharoah loves to be just with me , so we have special rides and parks and he likes to come in and lord it over the others.
I cried happy tears at this post today – Sid has his heart home and a great great bed..sandy
sandy´s last blog ..Camera Critters #75 Couldn’t we just be friends?
Nothing like a night away to make one appreciate their own place. Even in the nicest of accommodations, home always feels good.
Oh, Sid. I’m so happy you’re back home in your snuggle bed. It’s nice to get out and have a bit of an adventure, but nothing’s better than coming home.
(I’d be wanting to correct the menu too. Drives me nuts.)
JD at I Do Things´s last blog ..I Kept a Diary so you don’t have to
Sid looks absolutely pooped! Great to have a reliable Sidsitter. Of course I’m very interested in your riding too. How is that going? (Is that even English? Sorry, I’m pooped too and can’t think straight.)
Love,
Carolina
brinkbeestinenglish´s last blog ..Oh, the glamorous life I lead
Ooh, I hate it when they use the wrong words or have wrong grammar. It always makes me want to correct it too!
And Sid looks lovely in that first photo!
Mara´s last blog ..Camera Critters 75
I wonder if Sid, at any point, thought you might not come back for him. He’ll know next time you have to leave him though.
babs – beetle´s last blog ..Fly by night?
How funny that he growled, clearly his status has been elevated since being the alpha male in your house and how lovely that he was so happy to come back home. Dog bed? What’s that . . my bed is the dog bed!
Baino´s last blog ..9/11 and the 2996
Apparently it wasn’t “two whole pigs”, but “two or more pigs”…
A Sid-shaped hole – I love that phrase. I hope Sid appreciates you as much as you love him.
ethelmaepotter´s last blog ..Where Were You?
Sandy – Thank you!
They certainly do seem to pick one person, don’t they?
Sistertex – It’s good to know he feels that way, too. You never know with greyhounds. Do they miss the busy life at the kennel, being part of a pack and with a steady routine? I think some do, and many don’t. Yours have a pack, of course!
JD – I think he loves us even more now he’s home again. LOL!
He does love that bed.
Brinkbeest in English – ‘How is that going’ is perfectly good English! Not perhaps formally correct, but people say it all the time.
Riding is going well, thanks! I haven’t done as much this year as I’d have liked, but I’m still enjoying it and it’s such good exercise. I am at the stage where I can now canter around performing very simple tasks like correcting the line and keeping the speed constant etc. And that pleases me no end, because of all the years in between learning as a teenager and taking it up again now.
Mara – Thank you! He does, doesn’t he?
Yes, I hate it too, especially in English, which is after all our mother tongue!
Babs – We said that, on the way home from taking him over there. We said ‘Perhaps Sid is thinking – oh, that didn’t last long, did it? Here I am, back here again .. ‘
He was very philosophical, if so!
Baino – Ah, but Sid doesn’t do stairs, OR furniture! LOL! Actually, we never have let our dogs on the beds. We need the space!
Jake – Which makes it even funnier!
Ethelmaepotter – Well, it was! And yes, I think he does appreciate us. He certainly does seem comfortable here!
How I love your ‘Sid’ stories. He is such a darling. It doesn’t take long to make Sid (or any other dog) shaped holes, does it! I’m feel sure you would have told us, but I think I must have missed it Jay, how did Sid come to lose a leg?
granny grimble´s last blog ..GOOD NEWS!
Sweet Sid! He’s such a beauty, Jay!
)
LOL I’m sure son No. 1′s g/f would have mentioned to me that
grated parmesan cheese is to be sprinkled on to enhance the flavor. You see, being the cheese addict I am, whenever I eat Italian I literally pour the grated cheese over my dish. Though, I must admit, I have cut back on the habit!
Almost like eating two pigs!
Poor Sid missed his home so much! Im glad you all have a lovely time and Im glad you all made it back home and HAPPY!
meleah rebeccah´s last blog ..The Surprise Blind Date Guy, Who Turned Out To Be Totally Super Hot And Awesome [Otherwise Known As ‘Puddy’ From Seinfeld – Only Smarter] And, My Very First Wine Tasting Dinner, Featuring Facebook Status Updates That Could Have Been!
Granny – It certainly takes no time at all to make dog-shaped holes! I think about five minutes does it! LOL!
Sid broke his hock (‘ankle’ joint) in his last race. He shattered the calcaneus, which is the little bone that sticks up at the back and supports the achilles tendon. Unless you can get a strong mend, it’s always going to break again under strain, and that’s not good. The vet actually said there was nothing to wire together anyway, so poor Sid became a tripod. But at least he’s not in pain!
Petra – Thank you!
OH is exactly the same with parmesan cheese. No. 1′s girlfriend saw absolutely nothing wrong with it at all!
Meleah – Well, he certainly missed his bed! LOL!