Dogs

What are dogs like?

Every morning ours comes in to wake us up for his early morning walk. Usually between 6.30 and 7am. Sometimes a little earlier, rarely later.

If The Early Morning Dog Walker (ie him not me - this is Men's Work) is feeling idle he tells Pipps to go away and come back in ten minutes.

Pipps trudges out, sighs, and flops loudly on the kitchen floor - where he can see the clock on the wall.

He waits the prescribed 10 minutes (obviously, watching the clock), and then comes in. Occasionally it's nine minutes.

There is no peace after that. He either runs in and out loudly, swinging his large tail around wildly and creating a nasty cold draught, or he sits at the side of the bed, battering The Early Morning Dog Walker with his huge feet.

Then there are a few loud stretches, a few HRRRMMMPHs, and some more running in and out. He is a loud dog in the morning, and we haven't even got on to breakfast time yet.

Anyway, I thought I'd have one over on the little monkey last night, so I didn't put the kitchen clock forward. I calculated that if I put it forward and he saw the clock, and came in at his usual 6.30am, that would be like 5.30am, which is a little too early for a Sunday. So I left it, thinking we wouldn't get a real lie-in, but we wouldn't be woken up at silly hours either.

Oh no. Pipps wasn't having a bar of that. He came in at quarter to six, ie real time quarter to seven. His normal time. He might as well have said, "Come on, I know the clocks have gone forward - who do you think you are kidding?"

I thought it was bad enough having a dog that could tell the time. But one who knows when the clocks go forward?

Edit - Pippa now has his own blog - so if you want to read any more about him please have a look.