I should know better

With another show looming, I will have to face up to preparing Sparkle.
I have never had a dog quite like Sparkle.   I have wrestled with huge coats, tangly ones, sparse ones, and been saddened by the creaminess of others.


Sparkle poses a different problem.    To put it simply, he is a dirt magnet.

"I am perfect just as I am"  - Sparkle

I think he goes out in the morning, takes a deep breath, and calls out:  “Here I am, dirt!   Come and get me!”   And it flies to him in clouds, and settles everywhere.  Add to this his ability to stain most parts of himself (including his tail -  how the devil does he manage that?), and the usual filthy state of his teeth, and you have a problem that begs for an industrial solution.

His sister, Tess Trueheart, has none of these problems.  She is clean, unstained with shining teeth.   How can the two be so different?, I wonder, as I zip through a bath for her, and then prepare stain remover and three different whitening shampoos for his three baths to come.  He is naturally quite offended by the different treatment he gets, and sees it as cruel and unnatural punishment.   He likes the way he looks…and smells.
 
Well, he has always been an unusual dog, to say the least, and I put up with his passion for potato scones, his insistence on knee sitting at inappropriate moments and his endearing habit on peeing on my chair whenever I get up.

So I suppose I will just get the hot water and suds ready, and we will try again

Heading into winter fast, and I have taken the plunge and mated Plush.

"Will I, won`t I?"  - Plush

Last week she visited a very charming and gentle dog, who did things to her which she clearly found inexplicable….however, all will soon be revealed.    A test in a few weeks will tell us whether there will be January puppies.

Meanwhile the other girls decided to come in season, presumably in sympathy.  As usual, a great nuisance.   Fidget in particular feels very deprived indeed, and lets me know, often in the wee small hours in a high plaintive voice.

Kept from him, the ladies turn their attention to Sparkle.  Now Sparkle is just a bit problematic.   To put it plainly, he just doesn`t have any interest in girls.   Not at all.  And so he is puzzled, and eventually annoyed, when they persist in  trying to get him to take part in what seem strange and unnatural games, and pushing their noses into personal intimate areas.  It all ends in petulant snarls and a demand to sit on my knee, well away from them.  

You may wonder at this point if Sparkle  hits them with his handbag.   I am not so sure.  I have come across dogs before who were entirely innocent of any sexual intent – and then suddenly the penny drops and no bitch is  safe, as he desperately tries to make up for lost time.   I am watching him like a hawk.

For both Sparkle and Plush, time will tell.