Tilly’s little stick
Mum’s been laughing at me this week, cos of my new game. The game usually starts once I have checked out all the new smells and scents during my dog walk. I like watching mum panic when she can’t see what I’m getting up to.
I like to start the game by picking up a relatively short stick and trotting along with it, until my mum notices and comments on the stickiness/danger/length (delete whichever doesn’t apply) and tells me to “leave it” in no uncertain terms. Obviously because I am such a well behaved dog – most of the time, I oblige and leave the offending stick in the most awkward place that I can find. This is usually followed by a cross noise from mum and results in the stick being hoofed out of the way.
A little bit later, I generally emerge from the undergrowth with a slightly bigger stick. Sometimes it’s bigger because it’s longer, other times it’s bigger because it resembles a log that you’d throw on the fire. I struggle sometimes to get my jaws around the log, but I always manage. Mum’s often getting comments like “collecting wood for the log fire?” She wouldn’t mind, but we don’t have one.
After a while, I smell something nice and rush off to explore, pheasants usually take off from the undergrowth at this stage, often making mum jump out of her skin, which is quite funny to watch.
Just when she thinks I’ve forgotten all about them, I bring out my piece de la resistance! The biggest, longest stick you could imagine. So big, that I often have to drag it by the end, because its just too big to try and counterbalance. My record so far, exceeds the width of the Monsal Trail, and that’s no mean feat, as it is possible to drive a vehicle along it (so that gives you an idea of the width). Mum usually let’s me carry it for a short while, but she’s usually watching for unsuspecting cyclists to suddenly appear. It’s never happened yet, but there’s always a possibility that I might unseat one of them…..felled by a dog with a stick!
Check out my latest masterpiece.
