The worst day of my life

Friday 4th March 2005

Today was the worst day of my life.

I woke up, as usual, when Two Spot, that’s my sister, started wriggling. She’s always the first to wake up. Being the greediest she makes it her duty to lick any crumbs and scraps off the kitchen floor before the rest of us have even opened our eyes. Usually Mum would scold her and tell her she’d get tummy ache but today was different. Today Mum just said: ‘You won’t be doing that for much longer, Two Spot.’

We knew then. Today was the day that was going to change our lives forever. You see, today is the day that we – that’s me Arrow and my brothers and sisters – are eight weeks old. And eight weeks is an important time in a puppy’s life. That’s when everything changes – for the worse.

About a week ago Mum (or Mom for you Americans out there) made us sit still and listen to a long lecture. At first I was a bit bored. Dimple, my brother kept nibbling my tail so I bit him on the back of the neck – just to show him who was boss of course. Then he bit me back and we had our usual wrestling match. Mum nipped both of us then and told us to concentrate. We didn’t want another nip – Mum’s got really sharp teeth – so we sat still and listened. And what Mum had to say was pretty serious.

‘Puppies, next week you will be leaving me to go and live with your human families. Some of you will be working dogs, you will be trained with other dogs to go into the fields and to find birds that the humans have fattened up. You will be taught to make the birds fly up from the bushes and trees so that the humans can shoot them with guns. That will be your role in life and you must perform it well.

‘Some of you will be companions to the family that takes you in, and in many ways your role in life will be harder than those of you who have a job. Companion dogs have to be the constant friend of their owner. That is their job and if you become a companion I trust that you will do your best.’

I was beginning to feel a bit sleepy by now, I’d heard a lot from Mum before about doing my best, YAWN YAWN. I think I even dozed off. Then she started talking about my Dad, and my ears pricked up – well as far as floppy spaniel’s ears can prick up. I’ve never met my Dad, none of us have, and my Mum’s only met him once. But we have seen a picture of him. Our human family cut one out of the newspaper and stuck it to the door of the fridge with a magnet in the shape of a dog bone. Dad is standing on a box next to a big silver dog bowl. On his collar is a rosette that says ‘Champion’. My Mum says that Azbek Paignton Wonder to give him his full title is one of the most famous Welsh Springer Spaniels in the country.

‘You are pedigree Welsh Springer Spaniels. You come from a long line of noble dogs and I expect each and every one of you to uphold the high standard of behaviour for which our breed is known. Always be true to your breed,’ said Mum. We lay at her side in stunned silence. 'True to your breed.' Now that sounds like a big responsibility.

Then Mum spoke again: ‘Now it’s time for reading, who am I going to listen to first? How about you Poppy?’

‘Oh Mum,’ whined Poppy, my other sister. ‘Can’t I go and play?’

‘No, you can’t. We don’t have much time left together and I want you all to be able to read properly before you leave,’ said Mum.

Poppy sighed and bent over the newspaper on the floor and started to read: ‘Harry Potter costumes were much in evidence at Aston Peverell School’s annual fancy dress day.. . . Mum who’s Harry Pot . . . ‘

‘Keep reading.’

Most humans don’t know half of the things dogs can do. Reading for example. One of the first things a puppy sees – apart from his Mum and his brothers and sisters – is a newspaper. Humans spread them on the floor when puppies are around. Well I don’t blame them we do make a bit of a mess. Almost as soon as we’d opened our eyes Mum started teaching us the shapes of the letters, and by seven weeks most of us were reading quite well, although some words like lieutenant still stump me. Mind you Mum says most human puppies take seven years to learn to read so we don’t do too badly do we? Some of the stuff in the papers is pretty horrible – bombs, and murders, and wars, honestly the things people do to each other! I was always quite good at reading and much better than my brothers and sisters. I even used to read some of the interesting bits to Dimple, Two Spot, Poppy, Snowflake and Jack. It all seems such a long time ago now . . .

After breakfast – the usual scrambled eggs, Weetabix and milk – Mum seemed very anxious. She kept pacing up and down the kitchen and licking us each one in turn to make sure we were all clean. We went out to play in the garden but none of us could settle to our usual games. I chased Poppy’s tail and rolled over a few times with Jack but nothing seemed right. Then we heard the noise of a strange car coming to the gate. We couldn’t see who it was – our part of the garden is fenced off from the cars, to keep us safe. But we heard them. ‘Morning Rachael, lovely day isn’t it? How are the puppies?’ I now know that was the voice of my New Mum, Virginia Philpott, or Ginny for short.

‘Morning Ginny. They’re fine, eating me out of house and home, and piddling everywhere,’ said Rachael, the Mum in my human family.

They went into the house and we all ran in through the back door to the kitchen. ‘How is my little pup?’ said the strange voice. ‘He’s in great shape,’ said Rachael. They turned and the human with strange voice scooped me up and tickled my tummy. ‘Oh he’s absolutely adorable, I’m sure the children will love him. Shall we sort out the cash? I hope £20 notes are okay?’ She dumped me back on the floor. She's come to BUY me!

She took a small blue sack out her handbag and started counting and counting and counting. I was starting to doze off – I usually have a little sleep in the mornings - when the strange voice got louder. ‘Four hundred pounds. And you have the pedigree certificate don’t you?’

Four hundred pounds. Now I know that’s a lot of money. In the newspaper today there was an advert for a new sofa and that was £399 – I cost more than a sofa. But I’m not as much as a car – that’s thousands. But I’m more than a pack of chicken drumsticks, they’re only £3.99. I can’t believe I’ve been bought like I was a bag of spuds in the greengrocer’s. But that’s what’s happened, and that’s how I’ve come to be here at The Green House, The Green, Aston Peverell, Worcestershire, England, UK, Europe, The World, The Universe.

While Ginny was counting out her cash Mum whispered in my ear: ‘This may be the last time I see you Arrow. Be a good boy and remember always be true to your breed.’

‘But I will see you again won’t I Mum?’ I had this terrible feeling in my tummy as if a cold paw was squeezing me from the inside.

Mum licked me and then turned and went to sit in her basket. I ran after her crying: ‘Mum, Mum I want to stay with you, and Snowflake, and Dimple and everyone.’

Mum turned her head away from me but not before I noticed that she had tears in her eyes. Suddenly I was scooped up by Ginny. ‘Shall I let him say goodbye to his Mum?’ she said.

‘Yes, yes,’ I cried.

‘No, it just upsets them,’ said Rachael.

‘Too right it does,’ I screamed. ‘Mum why don’t you look at me?’

‘Ahhh, listen to him he knows something is up,’ said Ginny.

‘Too right it is,’ I shouted.

Before I knew it I was whisked outside and handed over to another human. ‘Here you are Liz, he’s a wriggly little thing, have you got the towel to put on your lap?,’ said Ginny.

We got into the car and I sat on Liz’s lap. Now normally I like cars. I’ve been for several journeys in the eight weeks since I was born. Once we were all taken in a big cardboard box to see Rachael’s Mum down at the farm. It was really exciting. We lay in the box and watched trees and houses whizzing past. Once a big lorry came right up behind us and we waved our paws at the man behind the big steering wheel. He was holding a little black box up to his ear and talking into it. Mum said it was a mobile phone.

Another time we went to the supermarket. We parked in the car park and Rachael left us in the car with her human puppies – Emma and Kate. They were supposed to keep an eye on us but they spent most of their time lying on the seats waving their feet out of the window. When Rachel came back she had loads of plastic bags oozing with tempting smells.

This journey was different, because I was on my own and I didn’t know where I was going and I was very, very afraid.

We weren’t in the car for long but I cried all the way. ‘He doesn’t sound very happy, does he?’ said Liz.

‘I’m not,’ I screamed. ‘How would you like it if you were taken away from your Mum by a couple of complete strangers and told you might never see her again.’

‘He’ll soon settle in,’ said Ginny.

My new house is very different to my old house. My old house smelt beautiful. It had all the smells of my Mum and my brothers and sisters. It smelt of puppy milk, and scrambled eggs, and gravy, and rubber boots. It smelt comfortable and warm. It smelt of home.

My new house smells strange. But there was one smell I have smelt before. Cigarettes and air freshener. The horrible kind thats smells sweet and makes your nose prickle. I've smelt this smell before. A few weeks ago the gamekeeper popped round with a couple of rabbits for Rachael. He smelt sort of smoky and musty – my Mum said it was the smell of cigarettes. When he left Rachael sprayed with room with air freshener and muttered something about ‘filthy habit’ under her breath. That’s what this house smells like – smoke and air freshener. There’s some other smells as well, and I think they’re animal, but I can’t get any scent of dog. NO DOG! How can a home be a home without a dog in it?

Ginny took me into her kitchen. The whole floor was covered in newspaper. ‘I thought I’d better be prepared,’ she said to Liz. ‘Would you like a coffee?’

‘What a cheek! How much mess do they expect me to make all on my own!’

Ginny picked me up. ‘Let’s have a good look at you little fellow. Oh you are so gorgeous.’ Then she did a most horrible thing. She kissed me on the top of my head.

‘Puhhlease. I hardly know you!’

I’m sorry to say I peed on her lap. Puppies do a lot of that. We can’t help it, it’s just that we forget to hold on.
‘Oh the little b*****’ Ginny jumped up and I fell on the floor.

‘You’ll have to get used to that,’ laughed Liz.

I wonder if that’s what Mum meant by being true to my breed?

****

I have my own bed, in my new house. It is a big cardboard box with a fluffy blue blanket in it, and it’s next to the boiler so it’s nice and warm. I have my own water bowl and my own food bowl. Lunch was quite nice. Ginny made me some scrambled eggs mixed with puppy milk. It was quite strange eating on my own. When Rachael gave us our food she put it in a huge bowl that we shared. It was quite a fight to get any food, let alone as much as you wanted. Here I had the whole lot to myself and I scoffed the lot – after all you never know when your next meal is coming do you? After lunch I went into the garden with Ginny. It was so quiet. I felt very lonely sitting in the middle of the lawn with no brothers and sisters to play with. I felt so lonely I started to cry.

‘Don’t whimper little one,’ said Ginny. She picked me up and gave me a cuddle. That made me cry even more because it made me think of my Mum, and I’d have given anything to be back at home with my real family, right then. We went back indoors and Ginny put me in my bed and stroked me until I went to sleep.

****

I was woken by the most tremendous noise of doors banging and footsteps and shouting.

‘Mum, is the puppy here?’

‘Can we see the new puppy, Mrs Philpott?’

‘Where is he?’

The door crashed open and through it poured more human puppies than I have ever seen in my whole life. They crowded round me and started poking me with their fingers and stroking my ears, and tickling my tummy. I got really excited. This was fun.

I spent the rest of the afternoon being passed from one human puppy to the next. After a while some of the puppies went home for their tea – I think they were friends of the puppies who live here. The big boy puppy introduced himself to me:

‘Hello Arrow, I’m Nick.’ He held me up to his face and gave me a nuzzle, just like my brother Jack used to.

‘This is Ben and this is Jake.’ He held me up for Ben and Jake to inspect. Then he plonked me on the floor and threw a ball across the room. I chased it of course – balls are fun. Then I gave it a good chew, and got told off by the little boy, Jake. ‘Nick you’ve made him chew my ball.’

Ooops, I didn’t know it was his. The boys then sat down for their tea, which smelt really nice. Spaghetti Bolognese. Ben made me laugh – he took a piece of spaghetti and slurped it up through his lips, spattering sauce all over the place. Nick thumped him because a piece of sauce flew into his eye. Then Ben hit him back. Then Nick hit him harder. Ben started crying and Ginny shouted at them all to be quiet. Just as everyone was shouting louder and louder and I thought that things were going to turn really nasty I heard another voice.

‘Good evening my most loving and welcoming family.’

‘Daddy,’ the boys shouted and they all left their food and ran out of the room. I was too scared to go with them. I don’t know my way around yet and I’ve never been anywhere but the kitchen.

‘Hello, darling’ said Ginny. ‘Our new addition has arrived.’

‘Well where is the little fellow?’

The Daddy man, whose name is Clive, came into the room and looked down at me. He is soooo tall. I can hardly see his face.

‘So this is what you get for three hundred quid is it?’

Ginny turned very quickly to the stove and started humming loudly.

****

Much later, after I’d had my tea, and the boys had played with me some more, and then gone to bed, and Ginny and Clive had sat at the kitchen table drinking a bottle of wine and chatting, and they had played with me some more, and Ginny had mopped up the floor after my little accidents, it was time for me to go to bed. Ginny put me in my new bed, in the utility room, turned the light off and closed the door and left me. I was all alone, for the very first time in my whole life. I was all alone, in the dark. No Mum. No Jack, no Two-Spot, no Dimple, no Snowflake, no Poppy. Just little me in a strange bed, in a strange room, in a strange house. I started to cry. I cried, and I cried and I cried. And that is how I ended the worst day of my life.