Pip’s Diary as told by Pip, the dobermann puppy, to Alexandra Bastedo
I was a bit worried when my master and mistress left the house and got into their car carrying cases and didn’t take Nellie, the other dobermann, and me with them. However, we were left in the care of Peter Kirkwood, who knows a lot about dogs, and I have to say I do rather like him. He does have a problem though and I suspect he is a lot older than he looks because he is terribly slow. Whenever he took me round the village on a short lead and a halti every time I pulled ahead he stopped and refused to go on until I was back by his side. This took an age and meant that a walk that would normally have taken 20 minutes was more like 40. I wouldn’t have minded if he had let me smell all the interesting smells on the lamposts and trees but he wouldn’t even let me do that and it was so BORING just walking by his side though he did let me pee occasionally. He is a bit eccentric too as he has a thing about my number twos- he picked them all up in plastic bags. Now I could have understood if he had wanted to keep it but when he got home he just threw it into the garbage. Why he couldn’t just leave it for the other animals to smell- it was after all my calling card – I really don’t know.
I had a lot of fun too because he didn’t know me very well. He didn’t put things up on high surfaces so I had a field day in terms of all the extra food I scoffed: the lamb chops and chicken breasts he was going to have for 2 dinners, boxes of fresh eggs, tomatoes, home made cakes and a bag of flour though the latter got into my eyes, nose and ears so it wasn’t very satisfactory. Eventually he got wise to me and whenever I tried to take anything would squirt me with a water pistol which I didn’t think was very funny or very nice of him.
When my mistress phoned to see how we were Peter said “Pip’s quite a handful isn’t he !” Whatever that meant. Then when she asked if he might house sit again he said he wasn’t sure he would be able to cope over a long period of time- which is a shame as I really did enjoy getting away with murder! In fact I nearly did once when I managed to get on to his bed and Teddy the cat got on too. I tried to get at him but Peter stopped me and never allowed me into his bedroom again.
I think what I liked most about Peter was his soft voice. He is a very gentle person and I really got very fond of him. In fact it was very confusing when the dragon – my mistress- came home and for a while I really didn’t know who to go to. The trouble is she is a lot stricter than Peter, has everything well out of reach and shouts at me if I do something wrong. However the really bad thing that Peter has done is leave his far-reaching water pistol behind and has taught my mistress how to use it both inside and outside the house. Now I can’t even pounce on the cats or send Nellie flying without getting wet. It really is so unfair- I wonder what they will think up next!
Copyright A.LBastedo
Alexandra Bastedo is the founder of the ABC Animal Sanctuary on www.abcanimalsanctuary.co.uk where a photo of Pip can be found. The sanctuary will not be able to survive without your donations- however small. We also have adoption packages for the animals and are happy for people to visit the animals they have adopted by prior appointment. She is also the author of “Beware Dobermanns, Donkeys, and Ducks” and the vet recommended Healthy Cat and Healthy Dog books. There are a few remaining copies available from our website shop.
