I am Mongrel

This is a picture of me and my friend Magenta. She’s fun except when she’s tired. Then she gets grumpy and growls and snaps. I look very vicious in this photo but I promise we’re playing nicely

Anyway, last night my Mommy and Daddy took me to Aunty Odessa’s house for a play date with Magenta. There were lots of nice meaty smells coming from this fire. Every time people make a fire they put meat on it and I have to smell these lovely smells. 

One time when Magenta was tired I decided to go explore the garden. They had this little stone wall with a different kind of green plant - like a kind of flat leafy grass - on the other side. So I jumped up to go have a sniff. Wow. Those plants were floating on top of water! Not growing out of the ground! I fell straight into the water. I swear it looked like I could walk on it. I quickly climbed out and ran to my Mommy. She asked me how I got so wet. Nobody had seen me fall in. I just ran off because I saw Magenta and Heather were playing and I wanted to join in.

Today my Mommy and Daddy kept putting treats in front of my nose and then into the car. I hate the car. I like treats. It a hard decision. I figured that no matter what happens I’m gonna end up in the car. If I don’t get in myself I don’t get a treat. If I do get in by myself I get one. So it’s probably best to just get in. I’ll have to see if they keep doing it.

I’m slowly getting Jamie to come round and be my friend. I sniffed her butt today without her growling! As you can see in the picture she’s allowing me closer to her than before.  

Yesterday my Mommy and Daddy took me back to that place where there are lots of friends to play with. I remembered the place when we arrived and couldn’t wait to get down to some real playing. There were some new friends. They were about the same height as me, but they were black with little bits of orangey-brown on their faces and were very strong. But I could out run them. I had a good play with the newbees and my old friends. Then my Parents called me over and put my leash on, but just wanted to play and couldn’t understand why I was allowed to anymore. Then the lady who gave me a treat just for sitting came around. She held it infront of my nose and my Mommy reached over me and grabbed the legs closest to her and flopped me onto my side and held me down. I just lay there. What was I supposed to do? Then the lady gave me the treat. I guess I just had to lie still.

Other things happened yesterday. I saw that white ‘friend’ again. I made a dash for it to try and play but that guy who comes round on every week grabbed me and passed me to my Mommy. There was an older woman with the man. I hadn’t seen her before, but then again I’ve never gone outside when he leaves. She seemed nice and spoke to me in a squeaky voice like some people do. 

This is my new toy. The arms and legs are hard to chew and feel good on my gums. The body has fluff on it that I can rip off.

It was given to me by two little girls. Although it was very nice of them to give me such a wonderful gift, I don’t like them. They are loud and make sudden movements. I didn’t want them touching me and so I growled and showed them my teeth, and when they didn’t stop I snapped at them. I spent the afternoon close to my mommy and daddy because I didn’t like the strangers in my house.  These little girls were different to all the other people I’ve met. There’s something scary about them. Anyway, I’m a brave boy and so I eventually went to sniff them and they didn’t try to touch me but just sat there so that was okay. Maybe the next time I see them it’ll be better.

Yesterday I spent a lot of time at Grandma’s house. I have 2 friends there, Cindy and Jamie. Cindy likes me and plays with me sometimes, but she’s old, like 56years old, and has responsibilties so she can only play for a bit and then she has to either lie down or go about her own business. She spends lots of time in the water or chasing something … I don’t know what, but Jamie seems to know because she helps Cindy.

Jamie is slowly warming up to me. I can get closer to her now without her running away or telling me to back off. She doesn’t like it if I get too close or try to play with her. I try so hard because I want her to like me. She’s still young and only Cindy’s assistant and so she should play for longer. I’m going to keep trying. Eventually she’ll come around.

There’s another friend there but she’s not around all the time. She’s small and black and makes a strange sound. It sounds like “ouw”. She comes around and Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa seem to love her very much. They talk so sweetly to her. But whenever I go over to say hello, she runs away and won’t come back and that seems to upset my family. I remember seeing her the first time I went to Grandma’s house. She took one look at me, her eyes went all big, the hair on her back stood up and she scrambled out of my Daddy’s arms. I’ve seen more of these kinds of friends since that day and they all seem to have the same reaction to me. My Aunty Odessa’s one was much smaller and she had sharp claws and would make this scary noise. It sounded like “kich”, short and sharp. But that won’t put me off being friends.

I saw one today in my garden at home. It was white. I said, “Who are you? Get out my garden” because it’s my job to protect my parents house and garden. My Mommy and Daddy came out to see what was happening. My Daddy went over and stroked the intruder and my Mommy told me it’s okay because it’s a friend. I’m not so sure. I must keep an eye on that one.