It’s been a fair while since I included news of Miss Pup in my weekly offering; apologies to her fans (who I’m sure must be legion). I am glad to report that her progress, if slow, is at least going in the right direction. Whilst we have accepted, with not a little sadness, that her nervousness and anxiety are innate and unlikely ever to be fully eradicated, it is equally evident that she derives no pleasure from this reflexive reaction, and would manifest a happier behaviour if she only could.
This seems encouraging; it’s good to recognise that her instinctive wariness is engaged in a tenacious battle with her naturally loving nature, and I will take the wins, large and small, where I can. Thankfully, there is other, more positive, news to share: her huge yet discerning doggy heart has finally permitted full entry to one of my family’s VIPs, and I am glad to report that my brother is now privy to all the benefits of the membership of this exclusive club. This, as you may suspect, is entirely down to him and his determination that he be accepted by her. His efforts have been tireless and inspiring, and the fruit of his labours is plentiful and sweet. Each time he visits Devon for an extended stay with our dad, he makes a point of traversing the road between our parental home and my house, ostensibly to watch a television show to which we’re all partial, but more accurately (and importantly) to bond with the pooch.
We haven’t yet discovered a way to prevent her from barking uproariously when a knock sounds at the front door, but we have mastered the ability to command her to wait in the lounge until the door is opened and the visitor identified, which greatly diffuses the frenetic nature of the situation. As soon as she detects my brother’s warm tones of greeting, she ceases her vocal defence, throws herself off the sofa, and runs to him, skidding to a frantic and ecstatic halt inches away from his person before racing back into the lounge for some frenzied zoomies (an onomatopoeic canine term that exactly encapsulates her dizzying careering from one side of the room to the other in an enraptured display of mingled relief and happiness). Once my brother is seated, she will plonk herself in close vicinity, fully aware that his pockets will contain one or two tasty tidbits (I’m not suggesting the relationship is purely based on cupboard love, but it certainly broke the ice in the early days).
Morsels consumed, she will readily engage with him in energetic horseplay, before settling herself lovingly at his side for the duration of his visit. It warms the cockles of my heart to witness their mutual ease these days - although she can be prone to fits of jealous pique, on occasion. As far as the animals in our house are concerned, my charming sibling seems to have cultivated abilities of which the celebrated Dr Dolittle would be envious. It has become a regular occurrence for our small and choosy cat to saunter into the room and, spying my brother seated with a lap to spare, lightly leap upon the proffered spot and curl up amidst purrs of catty contentment. Miss Pup, whose own hefty doggy dimensions preclude such an imposition, can only regard this touching tableau with a moue of discontent and the forlorn whimper of the jilted lover.
(I am not certain of whom she is more jealous, however; her largely one-sided love affair with her feline friend continues unabated.) As a regular audience to the magic spells my brother has gradually cast over our recalcitrant pooch over the past months, I had become accustomed to this softening in her attitude, and it had begun to lose its novelty effect, particularly as the circumstances are unvaryingly identical. That was not the case, however, when my husband and I were returning for a walk one recent evening. Approaching our back driveway, we spotted my brother strolling our way, on a shopping excursion; it was an unusual encounter and unfamiliar terrain for our dog. Her characteristic caution at the sight of another person in her vicinity had no sooner kicked in than Miss Pup realised she knew who it was, and she bounded up to him with unadulterated pleasure, frolicking about his person with the same measure of affection that she would display to a member of her immediate family. That observation has sealed the deal in my eyes: as far as Miss Pup is concerned, my brother is definitely In. Now all we have to do is work on the other 8,019,876,188 people in the world.
