Today is Whitevanwoman’s birthday – she won’t tell me how old she is in human years but she said that in dog years she would probably be only about a year older than me. I can’t figure that one out but I don’t suppose it matters much – the main thing is that she and I are both fit and active and young enough to enjoy a good walk and various other active interests.
She said that she didn’t feel much like celebrating today because she is a bit sad because it was 15 years ago today that she saw that fateful sign saying “sheepdog pups for sale” and Lanky went to live with her. She said that she had no idea at the time how much that decision would shape her life – no more trips abroad when she had some free time and spare cash, a gradual acceptance that from now on dirty boots and wet coats would be a normal part of everyday life, and a drastic learning curve about dogs and dog behaviour. She says that it is only now when she looks back and thinks about that day 15 years ago, that she realises what a different route her life would have taken if she had just carried on driving past that sign without stopping. I must say I am extremely thankful that fate took her past that sign on the side of the road that day as she would probably have never become Whitevanwoman if she had not become a dog owner and I would probably have never become Rigg the pig.
I think she is quite sad today and has been thinking about Lanky alot. As well as it being 15 years since she got Lanky as a pup, it is 7 months today since he went. I caught her having a little sniffle earlier so I leapt on her and gave her a huge cuddle pinning her down so that I could lick every inch of her face and she could not excape my clutches. I think that made her feel better. I’m keeping a watchful eye on her and am quite prepared to do the same again if necessary.
We’ve spent the day quietly with Whitevanwoman cleaning her kennel and I’ve been pottering round the yard. We had a busy day yesterday and spent a couple of hours collecting money in buckets for the Search dogs in the town centre – I love collecting, because I get loads of fuss and attention and I get to show off my tricks such as speaking and lying down dead, which always seem to get admiring gasps from the audience. I took my new toy with me and got plenty of attention because of it, particularly during the 15 min walk from where we left the white van into the town centre, because I carried it in my mouth all the way. My new toy is a big rubber tongue which Whitevanwoman got for me for being a good dog. I’ve had to stay home alone quite alot recently because the weather has been so hot and Whitevanwoman has not been able to take me out in the white van because it gets too hot inside the white van. Apart from getting up on the desk to look out of the window (and knocking all the stuff off the desk onto the floor), I’ve been very good when I’ve been left home alone. I can’t say I enjoy it particularly but I know sometimes we just have to accept things which we don’t enjoy because they are for our own good.
I love my tongue toy – it’s the second one I’ve had. Years ago when I was just a youngster, Mil’s owner Dave got me a tongue toy and it lasted several years and I loved that one too. Eventually after years of chewing on it, the original tongue got smaller and smaller and then ended up in bits which was the end of it.
Here I am a few days ago with my new tongue toy :
Tags: dog blog, rigg the pig, rigg the pigg, riggs blog, riggthepig, riggthepigg
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