Square Dog Tales
By Anne Bell
Description: Incidents in the life of a Cairn Terrier as told by the mistress of the house
For ages 4 – 8
Meet Square Dog
Some dogs grow very big and strong;
Some dogs are made just thin and long;
Some have big ears and wavy tails;
Some dogs are small with pointed nails.
Some have brown eyes and some have blue;
Some don’t have curls and some dogs do;
Some dogs have noses round and pink
And some thick eyebrows which they blink.
Some dogs have long and silky hair;
Some dogs are mongrels, some are rare;
But ours is not at all the same
As any other dog you name.
She’s fat and broad and creamy brown;
Her fur is thick, her ears flop down;
Her legs are short, her nose is black –
She’s Square Dog from her front to back!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Square Dog’s Christmas
Our little dog is very fat and furry. She looks a bit like a very little pig with lots of fur stuck on. (Daughter) Cherry calls her Square Dog because she is such a funny shape.
Square Dog loves doing all sorts of things such as chasing cats and rabbits, eating spiders and biscuits – yummmm, she just loves biscuits! – poking hedgehogs with her nose, and sitting on top of a low brick walls so that she can see if there is anything in the garden to chase; but of course she loves people best of all. I think you would love her too.
She has two special ways of saying ‘hello’ to anybody who comes to the house. The way she likes best is to run to her red plastic dish in the kitchen and choose a nice coloured biscuit. She has pink ones and black ones and brown ones and pale green ones. She runs back with one in her mouth and puts it at your feet, wagging her fat fluffy tail all the time. As soon as you speak to her, she gobbles up her biscuit and rushes off to get another. She does this far too much – which is why she is so fat!
If we have forgotten to fill her dish, she looks for a shoe! She does not mind what sort of shoe: sometimes it’s a big heavy one and sometimes it’s a warm furry one. When she has found one she likes, she runs up to you wagging her tail and trying hard to tell you that she thinks you are very nice. Just to make sure you notice her, she makes a groaning noise and gives the shoe a little nibble. Of course, you don’t want your shoes chewed up so you pet her and tell her she is a good dog. Then she gets bored with the shoe and licks you instead.
One Christmas, lots of people came to dinner. There were Susan and Jack – both grown ups – with Clare and Jane and baby Lucy; there were Roger and Mary with baby Tim; and of course there was Cherry and her Daddy and me. And sitting sadly under the table was Square Dog.
On the table was a big turkey to eat, with sizzling brown sausages and thin slices of pink ham, bright green Brussel sprouts, peas with melted butter and golden roast potatoes. And next to each plate was a big shiny red and gold cracker.
We were all so busy eating our dinner and pulling crackers that we forgot Square Dog. She did not like this one little bit! She was not used to being left alone and got very bored wondering what she could do to make someone notice her.
Then she saw the shoes. Susan had a lovely new pair. She was very proud of them. They were brown and had high shiny heels. But because they were new, they pinched her toes a bit, so she had kicked them off and there they lay under the table, right beside Square Dog.
Square Dog looked at them; then she sniffed them; then she licked one of them. Hm – it tasted good, so she had a little nibble.
Dinner took a long time to eat. After the turkey there was a big round Christmas pudding with a shiny green piece of holly covered in red berries stuck in the top. Then there were nuts to crack and apples and oranges to eat.
When everything was eaten up, Susan wanted to put her shoes on and felt around for them with her feet. They felt all wet and rough! She bent down and pulled them out from under the table. Oh dear! What do you think had happened? The edges all had little bits of chewed leather sticking up and the lovely shiny heels had little teeth marks all over them.
Square Dog hung her head and then sat up and begged. She made a lot of groaning noises which meant ‘I only wanted to be noticed!’
Well, it was Christmas day, so we couldn’t really be too cross with her, could we? But Susan never left her shoes under the table again!