Those of you who read my blog on my recent visit to the West of Ireland may have noticed this ear at the bottom of the page. It belongs to Paddy, the resident Yorkie who shares his space with Nessa, a very tolerant and slightly rotund sheepdog.
In fact, the space really belongs to Nessa who was already resident when Paddy was rescued from the middle of a busy dual carriageway on the outskirts of Dublin. Presumably he had been dumped out of a car. He was very grungy and dirty and somewhat subdued, but perked up considerably after several vigorous baths and some food – and decided that life might, after all, be worth living.
He had been chipped, and was traced to a breeder who claimed that he was a pure bred Yorkie who had been sold. But the new owner had not registered his ownership and had, presumably, soon regretted his purchase which is why he had dumped him on the Blackrock bypass. What to do? Well, of course, he joined the family…
Now I am not a great dog lover. Not that I have any objection to dogs but I don’t particularly fancy the leader of the pack role and I really don’t like being pounced on and slobbered over. So an extremely bouncy, vocal and ‘licky’ Yorkie would usually be my idea of hell. But I have to admit that within minutes, even I had fallen under Paddy’s spell. He bounces, and barks (but does not yap….), demands continuous attention and hands to lick (but not ‘wetly’), harasses poor Nessa and the long suffering cat, chases everything, whether it exists or not – and reduces a walk to a continuous hunt for missing dogs – but he has all the charm of the Irish rolled into one small furry body and you can not but succumb!
He also has boundless energy and determination. The longest walk we went on during my stay took us nearly two hours up over the hills almost entirely covered in knee high, thick, tough heather. The heather was well up to Nessa stomach so, was effectively, over Paddy’s head – but would that stop him? Adopting a cross between a rabbit’s, a kangaroo’s and a rubber ball’s bounce, he bounded up the mountain, across the top and was still bounding when we made it back down the other side! See what I mean?
And when we did stop for a very pleasant cuppa and piece of obligatory chocolate on the top, who instantly snuggled into the nearest available lap?…