SAM'S MUD BATH

Look at me! Do I look muddy to you? No, I know I don't - because I'm not. Not muddy, I mean! But I was - before the bath Mum just insisted on.

Sometimes I don't understand Mum. That is, I don't understand her attitude to mud. I try to tell her that there's nothing better than rolling in the stuff, but she doesn't seem to hear me.

Take today. We're staying with our friends Barbara and David out in the country and I've been on my best behavior. Before she went off to the shops in Ludlow with Barbara this morning, Mum took me for a long walk, keeping me on my lead for some reason. I don't like being kept on my lead.

Then off Mum and Barbara went, leaving me asleep in front of the fire while David sat in his big chair reading his newspaper. Once they'd gone and David had finished reading, he said: "How about a walk, Sam?"

Well, I was instantly on my paws, hoping he wouldn't remember I'd already had my walk. As he opened the door I saw that he didn't have my lead in his hand. Things were getting better and better. Then we set off along the same lane I'd walked along with Mum. But I didn't have the same feeling as before. I felt wonderfully free to explore.

So I explored all the sniffs I couldn't quite reach earlier ... all the trees and fallen leaves ... all the puddles Mum had steered me from.

There was one really stupendous puddle and I threw myself right into the middle of it. Then I rolled over and over, kicking my legs in the air and loving every minute. I think David might have called me once or twice but I couldn't really hear him. I was having such fun in the lovely sticky mud.

He didn't look happy, though, when he took me home. "I think we're both going to be in the dog-house when the women get back," he muttered worriedly. "I never expected you to do that, Sam!"

Do what? Sometimes humans are really odd.

I expect you can guess the rest. When Mum saw me - and when she and Barbara saw the cream carpet that had a new pattern on - they both had lots to say to David about the fact that the Shropshire brand of mud was not just sticky, but also red.

Mum also mentioned - more than once - that I'd been newly bathed and groomed for our little holiday here and now she'd have to start on me all over again. Oh heck!



 

MORE REAL DOG STORIES

Today we are not going to the beach.  We're going to see Violet - one of Mum's friends.  She's elderly, Mum tells me, so I mustn't jump up.  I must BEHAVE.

Okay! I know about behaving.  I find out about it by misbehaving.  But I won't be misbehaving today because I'm learning to like praise.  When Mum praises me she smiles and there's a lovely light in her eyes.  I hope she can see I'm on my best behavior!

We're driving to Violet's place.  I like sitting next to Mum in the car, with my paw on her knee.  But today I'm in the back seat so that Violet can sit in the front. Hm!

"Ah, there you are!"  The lady is standing in her front doorway.  "As you can see, I'm ready and waiting."

I like the look of Violet.  She has nice eyes and she's wearing a white dress.  With her hair as well, I'm seeing a lot of whiteness.

Mum helps her into the car, although Violet says she doesn't need help.  Then we're off again.

"I thought we'd go to the park," says Mum.  "We'll see the sea from there, but it'll be too far from us for Sam to go and plunge in.  The last thing I want is for him to get wet and shake himself over your beautiful dress."

"You wouldn't do that, would you, Sam?" Violet asks me, after turning her head in my direction.  "I can't imagine you doing such a thing."

I like the way she speaks to me.  She seems a very sweet lady.

We reach the park and Mum puts me on the lead.  I wish she would just trust me.  Well, when I find smells she and her friend will need to wait while I sniff them.  They'd be better off setting me free.

"Other dogs are not on leads," Violet tells Mum after a while. "So why is Sam tied to us like this?  It isn't fair on him."

She's right, of course.  It isn't fair at all.  I watch Mum's face for favorable signs.  "It's your pristine dress that worries me," she says.  "If Sam forgets himself and jumps up, there could be grass stains ... or ... or ... "

"It hasn't rained for days," Violet states, "and anyway, what's a grass stain or two between friends?  Let poor Sam enjoy himself."

I'm liking Violet more and more as Mum gives in, whispering to me as she removes my lead: "Remember to behave.  No jumping up, or I'll be the crossest I've ever been."

That does it.  I'm going to be so good that Mum will never get cross with me again.  I start off by walking to heel, just as I've been trained.  I look up at Mum and she smiles at me.  I can see she thinks I'm being a good boy.

Here's a pretty little girl giving me a admiring glance.  She has long blonde fur and walks with rather a twirl.  I follow her.

We do a bit of appreciative sniffing and then her human calls her and off she goes, tail in the air.  I look around me - and see an enormous tree.  I should find some good smells over there.  So off I trot.

Well, this is better than I expected!  As well as smells there's lots of black gungy stuff all round the tree trunk. In I plunge.

This is such fun.  If I turn on my back, kicking my legs in the air, there's a smell everywhere.  And I can't see my fur as it's oozing with mud.

"Sam, Sam ... where are you, Sam?"

Mum can see where I am, can't she?  No, perhaps she can't.  I'd better stand up and show her that I'm right here by this tree.

"There he is.  Oh, just look at him!"  says Violet.

"I'm looking," Mum tells her as I bound over to them, "and I'm not liking what I see."

Is she saying she doesn't like me?  She can't be!  Mum loves me.  I know she does.  And I love her - hugely.  To express my love and show that I know not to jump up and how to behave I go over to them both and give myself a vigorous shake.