I recently read Kate Atkinson's newest novel, Started Early, Took My Dog. Early on, Jackson Brodie, the PI who anchors four of Atkinson's books, gets a dog. He witnesses someone abusing a small dog and decides to hit the dog's abuser and take his dog. The dog, a border terrier, is with Brodie the rest of the book. And him having this dog really made me want a dog. (I had a Beagle puppy for five days when I was five years old but haven't been around any since.) I started researching dogs on the internet. And thinking about taking dogs on walks. Then, last week at work, I learned of a situation where someone had to give up her dog because it snapped at her granddaughter. So I called my wife, asked her what she thought, and now we have one. And its just a great as I thought it would be.
3 comments:
Aww, now THAT is a cute dog. I never used to like dogs - more of a cat person really - but having moved out of London to the country I'm starting to think a dog might be a good idea. Walking a dog on the South Downs might be rather nice.
I love genre stories where an awesome dog gets a role and I love people who adopt dogs, so doubleplus good post on you, Book Glutton!
We've got two cats ourselves, but if we ever move to a place with real space for a dog to run around, we'd consider it. In the meantime, I've got the best set up which is the neighbour family, with a single mom and three kids and a big golden retriever that I take out for walks. I get the pleasure of the long, thoughtful walk (though sadly not on the South Downs which sounds excellent), none of the responsibility or bills and everybody treats me like a big hero.
Life is still pretty wonderful with our new dog.
The South Downs was the cover story in a recent issue of Country Life and I would kill to be able to have and walk a dog there. If I were there, you wouldn't be able to stop me. (New converts are always the most zealous, aren't they?)
O.F.- We almost got a cat first but the adoption process we encountered was more difficult than getting a top secret security clearance. You're so lucky to have two cats and your neighbor's dog.
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