This is Chum, who we got from the Dogs & Cats home after Sally died.
Tinker, who was a gentle old chap, treated the new puppy chewing at his tail with dignified distain!
As you can see, Chum was a real character! We got him from the Dogs & Cats home and were told he would not
get bigger than a poodle.
He could stand on his hind legs and put his paws on my shoulders.
He was so hairy that the only way you could tell one end from the other
was when one end bit you!
The only problem with him was that he had a tendency to round up cattle
so he could seldom be taken out off the lead. He would also do a runner
if he got loose and the only way you could catch him was to wait until he
found an interesting scent in the hedgerow, then creep up and firmly
grasp his tail!
We had great wrestling matches with each other, rolling around on the
floor, and he would walk for miles on the lead.
He adored ice cream and once tried to snatch one out of a passing child's
hand, he also loved lemon and would eat pancake and would lick lemon
juice or lemon hand cream off your hands. He also loved Maltesers. I know
now that you should NEVER give dogs chocolate because it can poison them
- but he never had many at a time and thankfully suffered no ill effects.
One morning Mum sent him upstairs with the command "Get Rosemary out of
bed". Well he jumped on the bed then pushed and wriggled his way under
the bed clothes. When Mum thought it was a bit quiet she came upstairs
and looked in to see just two heads on the pillow!
We had Chum until he was about 13 or 14. Some years after he'd gone, I
was standing at the kitchen sink one day wearing shorts. I felt something
soft brush across the backs of my legs and thought "Chum". Then I
remembered we no longer had Chum. I turned round quickly but the room was
empty.
It broke my heart when the time came to say goodbye, mate; run free now for eternity!
