DOG'S EYE VIEW

ARCHIVE:

27th October - 8th November - features the following subjects: My humans, Choosing humans, The noble art of carpet scratching, Devastatingly dull food, Fenix the cockatiel, Martha the Bedlington, Martha on my mind, The Dandington puppies, The war against Vacuum Cleaner, The mythical "work" excuse, The eye-opener.

10th-21st November - features the following subjects: Human guests, The human dinner, Hostile hospital house, The wild hedgehog chase, Lucrative laundry, Early morning festivity, The potato thieves, King of all seasons, In search of the roe deers, Stefan the lawyer.

Monday 24th November 1997 - Mouldy myths and mirthful movies

I really enjoy watching television, especially when I'm accompanied by my humans. When they watch television, more often than not they drink coffee and eat cookies. Their concentration on the TV is total, so my usual tactic of using pitiable and sad looks is not as effective as usual. My special "TV viewing strategy" is to sit down somewhere out of view and then request a cookie. "Be quiet, Rasmus, we're watching the news" Matte or Husse will say. I repeat my request until Matte says "If you are a good quiet dog, Rasmus, Matte will give you a cookie". So I get my cookie from Matte (this procedure can be repeated several times).

Apart from a way of getting cookies, I also enjoy television as entertainment. Occasionally, human movies feature dogs. Whenever I see and hear a dog on TV, I always run towards the screen to explain to my humans what the movie dog is doing and saying. If all goes as planned, Matte will reward me for my pedagogic explanation by giving me a cookie.

I also enjoy watching animated cartoons, in particular those about a lazy and overweight cat called Garfield (his human is obviously much more generous when it comes to food than mine are). Cats are much more amusing in animated cartoons than they are in real life.
According to myths from time immemorial, we dogs like to hunt cats, and according to the same disinformation cats usually outsmart dogs in these hunts. Whoever dreamed all this up must have had a really vivid imagination. Let's clear this up. No dog I have ever met have hunted cats. Most of my dog mates can go on for hours about hunting badgers, rabbits, birds, foxes, utters and so on. But cats? Why whould one want to hunt them? They don't look funny, they have a wimpy cry and who in their right frame of mind could possibly want to eat feline meat?

I remember when I first met a cat. I was a young puppy at the time and bumped into a cat when I was out with Husse. Being open-minded, I suggested to the cat that we should play a bit. The cat spat and arched its back. What a complete bore! He had probably watched too many animated cartoons and not been able to separate fict from faction.

Tuesday 25th November - In the fairylands

Yesterday afternoon it started to snow. When Stefan and I were out taking a walk in the evening the forest seemed completely transformed. Just a few days ago, the trees looked so bare and colourless and the ground was full of leaves. Now the tree tops and the bushes and the forest path were all covered by snow. The setting was tremendously inspiring and stunningly beautiful. Like a postcard from a fairyland that time forgot. The chilly evening air felt very fresh and all the scents could be distinguished clearly. It was very serene and quiet. I felt like I could be walking around in this private fairyland all night, and Stefan didn't seem to be in any hurry to go home either. Eventually, we returned home and Stefan treated me to one of these nice warm paw baths. This evening walk had been wonderful and I was really looking forward to my next walk.

I woke up in the middle of the night, having dreamed sweet dreams about extensive walks with Stefan, Matte and Husse in a landscape covered in snow. I felt really happy when I woke up. I strolled around the lounge and into the kitchen. Out of habit, I checked the door to the dining-room, expecting it to be shut as usual. To my surprise and delight, I found the door was open. I could hardly believe it. For years, I have wanted to practice the noble art of carpet scratching on the carpet in the dining-room, but my humans have always been particularly fussy about this particular carpet.

The room was dark, but lit up slightly by the snowclad tree tops beyond the neighbours' house. Even without proper lighting, I had a vision, a pattern in my head. I started scratching the carpet, feeling sure that my artistic instincts would guide me. I felt that the Art I was creating was of timeless quality.

Yes, this was definitely my masterpiece, my best work yet. I felt that this was my finest creative hour so far. I had reached perfection, had got exactly the pattern I had imagined. To reward myself for a job very well done, I decided to take a nap on this soft and cosy carpet. This had been a truly heavenly night - first that wonderful walk with Stefan and now I had finally, after all these years, practiced the noble art of carpet scratching on the dining-room carpet. I was in a state of bliss and fell asleep at once. I slept like a puppy for the rest of the night.

In the morning, Husse woke me up with the words "So there you are, Rasmus! It's time for breakfast - yummy dog food!". Yes, this time even my dog food tasted special... and I was eagerly looking forward to my morning walk in the beautiful winter landscape.

Wednesday 26th November - Where the wild boars grub

A few months ago, I was out holidaying with Matte and Husse in the southern parts of the country. We had visited several places with beautiful nature and fascinating fauna. It had been a great experience and I was looking forward to telling my dog mates back home all about it.

We were travelling along the coastline northwards when we decided to go on a little detour. Matte and Husse had heard of a kind of a zoological garden at the manor of Eriksberg and were keen to visit it. On arrival there, we decided to try out the safari tour open to tourists. Having heard a lot about jungle safaris, I expected this to be really thrilling.

The first part of the tour was alongside a large meadow. The meadow flowers were in full bloom and the afternoon sun made it look really stunning. We could see a few straying red deers, but not much else. Disappointingly, I couldn't see any lions or zebras like on the safaris on TV. Next we came to a fairly big pine-forest where we saw more red deers and some fallow deers. I really liked the fallow deers' colour schemes - what beautiful creatures! Still there was no sign of any lions or zebras. The rest of the safari tour was much the same: many deers but not much else. A bit of a disappointment.

After the tour, Matte and Husse had coffee and I had some water in a cowshed-cum-cafe. The cafe had a nice homemade biscuit which was very munchy. As we were walking back to the car, we spotted an enclosed pasture surrounded by a stone wall. Matte and Husse got curious and went over to see what could be seen there. I followed them, thinking that perhaps there would be lions or zebras there.

I stepped up on the stone wall - and was disgusted at the sight. Rather than seeing the beauty of zebras or the dignity of lions, the enclosed pasture featured a swarm of wild boars of different sizes, grubbing about in giant pools of mud. The big ones were grey, muddy, had repulsive bristle, big ugly snouts and little hornlike things coming out of their mouths. These animals looked like something from a surreal nightmare and had a yucky smell. There also seemed to be millions and millions of little piggies everywhere. It was a really awful sight. "YOU DISGUSTING BOARS!! WHY AREN'T YOU PORK CHOPS ALREADY!! SOMEBODY SHOULD ROAST YOU WHOLE RIGHT NOW!!" I yelled angrily at them before Matte dragged me away.

Having seen what these repugnant creatures looked like was so traumatic that I even briefly considered becoming a vegetarian. Fortunately, things went back to normal when I saw some nice, normal-looking cows by the side of the road a bit later in the afternoon...

Thursday 27th November - Return to Willows

It was a sunny forenoon in early August and we were on our way home. We had travelled a hundred miles hither and thither the past few weeks and seen several fascinating places. The end of Matte and Husse's holiday was nigh.
"We have a surprise for you today, Rasmus!" Matte said suddenly. A surprise? I looked out of the car window. There was something vaguely familiar about the landscape around us. A sense of deja vu - but I couldn't quite put my claw on exactly what was so familiar.

When we stopped and got out of the car I saw a big red house, a big garden and a few other smaller houses. This place was so familiar... I sniffed the air and realised where I was. Yes, this was definitely a very special place. We were at Willows near Strängnäs. This is where I was born and spent my early puphood. Two humans came towards us to greet us. I recognised them immediately. It was a couple of old friends - Lili and her husband, who were mum's humans. I remember them clearly from when I used to live here. Me and my siblings really liked them a lot and it was a true pleasure seeing them again after all this time. The years hadn't changed them at all - they are still as kind and friendly as they were back then. True friends of us Dandie Dinmont Terriers.

Lili updated me on what had happened to my brothers and sisters since we parted ways. I hadn't really kept in touch with them through the years, but they are still very dear to me. It was good to hear that they all found themselves great humans.

While Matte and Husse had coffee with Lili and her husband, I decided to check out the garden. So many memories of a bygone era came flooding back to my mind...
I remembered playing in the long grass with my siblings. The day we first met a horse. Chasing goldcrests, ortolans, wrens and other birds. Mum and dad. Sharing dreams and formulating plans with my brothers and sisters at sunset. That feeling of the world being at our paws. Happy, innocent, frivolous, exciting days.
I sniffed the air carefully. The scents were so fresh and so Dandie Dinmont Terrier-ish. Just the way I remembered it.
I started to think of the day I met Husse, Matte, Peter and Stefan for the first time. It was here our lifelong friendship began all those years ago. I thought of how I had moved from mum and my siblings and Lili here at Willows to my humans in Ensta. I felt so happy that I had been able to move from one paradise to another.

With that thought, I finished my trip down memory lane and rejoined Matte and Husse by the table in the upper parts of the garden. It was time to go home to my own sweet home and see Stefan again.

Friday 28th November - Tomorrow never fades away

It was an early morning and the room was dimly lit. Outside there was a chilly wind and snow was falling very slowly. There were still a couple of hours to go before sunrise. The room was empty apart from the two of us. We probably weren't bugged at this moment, but the man lowered his voice all the same.

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to walk into Stefan's room, wake him up and bring him to the kitchen table for breakfast. Memorise this. This instruction will probably self-destruct in a few seconds time."

Husse opened the door and I entered Stefan's room. I was well prepared for my top secret mission. Having spent a lot of time here before, I was familiar with the scents and the furnishing and even though the room was in darkness I knew where to go. I felt very confident of success.
Stefan was asleep in his bed. I strategically placed myself out of reach and said, loud and clear, "Good morning, Stefan! Husse would like to see you at the breakfast table immediately".

In the past, Husse's less than exquisite method of waking Stefan up was to open the door and switch on the light in the ceiling. This proved to be less than effective, however, as Stefan would retort this action by pulling his quilt over his head and refuse to accept it was morning.
Eventually, Husse realised I had all the necessary credentials for the job. No one sleeps when I talk. My charm factor is infinitely greater than a ceiling light's. I am very tenacious.

There was no reaction from Stefan. "Good morning, Stefan! Husse would like to see you at the breakfast table immediately" I said again.
He stretched out his left arm in order to pat me on my back (which he assumed was what I wanted), hoping to be able to do this half asleep. Since I had positioned myself out of reach, this didn't work. He had to get up to pat me on my back. He did this and I kissed his hand.

After a minute or so, I walked out of the room for a mid-mission report to Husse. Predictably, Stefan returned to his bed for a lie-in. I got back into his room, just inside the door. "Husse would like to see you at the breakfast table IMMEDIATELY!" I told him. Reluctantly, Stefan got up again and once more he patted my back. He realised he had met his match and that I wouldn't give up. He put on his dressing gown and together we went to the kitchen. "Mission accomplished!" I told Husse and he rewarded me by giving me a piece of cheese.

It had been a difficult mission, beyond a human's abilities, but I had succeeded of course. A Dandie always gets his man.

Tuesday 9th December - In the eye of the storm