Learning from Nellie 25th February

                       by PIP as told to ALEXANDRA BASTEDO.

              At last Nellie, the big black dobermann bitch, has stopped snarling at me. Actually that isn’t entirely true as sometimes she lies down in MY bed in MY cage and won’t let me in growling at me all the time until my owner comes to get her out. However most of the time now she is really nice and friendly letting me lie down beside her on her bed and taking me around with her everywhere she goes.

                                   “You have always had such beautifully behaved puppies” said one visitor” so it’s time you had one like this!” I don’t know quite what they meant by that but I do know they think I am very clever. I am after all only 12 weeks old and I already know how to swing on door handles until they open and if the bolt isn’t on the gate upstairs I can get my head under the gate and force it open. Then once I am upstairs I can raid all the food left in the cats’ bowls up there. 

                           However, Nellie is my real teacher. She took me round the garden into the back door of the conservatory through the sitting room where our master’s elderly cat called Bagpuss was sitting and showed me where his cat bowl full of food was kept.  However we were caught and Nellie was told off and we were told to get out but five minutes later I managed to sneak back in on my own and scoffed the lot.  

                 When we were allowed out of the garden past the poultry enclosure Nellie showed me how to push another gate that had been left ajar and get into the catteries where we can also pinch more cat food. And because I am much smaller than her I have now found my way through a hole in the wire fence so I can get through when Nellie cannot which leaves her very cross the other side. The cats all look rather amazed when I come in but so far none of them has challenged me so I have been able to sample quite a variety of delicious cat food. That is not to say that I don’t get fed well – I do – four times a day – and they have got rid of my worms as well – but somehow there is something very enticing about cat food. In fact the only cat food I haven’t been able to reach is Caspar’s, the old ginger cat who lives in the kitchen. His plate is put high up out of the way on a table in the utility room  – but I know as I get bigger I will be able to get  it in the end!

                       Alexandra Bastedo is the author of “Beware Dobermanns, Donkeys and Ducks” and “The Healthy Cat” and “the Healthy Dog ” books (both recommended by vets). She is the founder of the ABC Animal Sanctuary for unwanted animals www.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk which is staffed entirely by volunteers and where 100 per cent of any donations goes entirely in looking after the animals.

Copyright A.L.Bastedo

February 22nd

              PIP’S DIARY AS TOLD TO  ALEXANDRA BASTEDO.

              I was born 12 weeks ago in Carmarthen in Wales along with 9 brothers and sisters. However 10 puppies was a lot for our mother Cassie, a beautiful brown doberman to handle so it was hardly surprising that Suzie Williams her owner decided when I was 11 weeks old to drive me all the way to West Chiltington in Sussex to a couple and their black doberman bitch who had just lost Ponto their brown dobermann prematurely to cancer. I have to say that although I loved them dearly it was a great relief to leave my nine biting, screaming, fighting brothers and sisters and to finally have a place of my own. Nellie, the black dobermann, was a bit hostile to me at first – snarling a lot – but she didn’t actually touch me so it was really all bluff and making sure I knew she was boss. But quite honestly after the mayhem of my previous existence with all my siblings just as demanding as me there was nothing she did that could remotely phase me.

         It was the same with my new owners repeatedly saying “NO” or “AH AH” or “DOWN”. Most of the time I just managed to ignore them and a few minutes later would go right back to doing what I was doing before. However, there was one thing they would do occasionally when they were fed up with me and that is put me in a dog cage. But I found I rather liked it as there was always a hot water bottle in there. a non-spill water bowl and some toys. They also fed me in there so the big dog couldn’t pinch my food so it has become my haven, my very own space where I can collapse when I am tired and not be bothered by anything happening outside at all.

                      However, I do think I have landed on my feet – or paws – as where I am is actually an animal sanctuary. This means there are lots of things to chase like cats and ducks and moorhens. People keep on shouting at me and telling me to stop but quite honestly it is far too much fun and it takes them a while to get hold of me, pick me up and carry me indoors. Inside too there seem to be cats in every room but most of the time when they see me they jump up on tables or sideboards or vanish out the cat flap. In fact today I got stuck trying to get through it chasing a white feline called Dancer but after I squealed and screamed the house down after a telling off  my owners came and released me which was something of a relief as I was well and truly stuck.

Copyright Alexandra Bastedo.

Alexandra Bastedo is the author of “Beware Dobermanns, Donkeys and Ducks” and “The Healthy Cat” and “The Healthy Dog ” books .She is the founder of the ABC Animal Sanctuary www.abcanimalsaanctuary.co.uk  an organisation staffed entirely by volunteers where all the proceeds go to looking after the animals.

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