Charmers and Rogues by Ann Cuthbertson

Author:Ann Cuthbertson
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472110046
Publisher: Constable & Robinson

Pixie, West Highland White

IT WAS a note left on the kitchen table that finally won me over. Dear Daddy, I must have a dog or I will go mad. Love Millie.

After months of psychological warfare waged by my wife, Jo and daughters, Millie and Eloise, I finally succumbed and, one Saturday in March 2008, Pixie, a West Highland terrier, inveigled her way into the family home, to the evident dismay of our three cats.

Their disdain was equalled only by mine. I had never been a dog lover, and insisted I would have nothing to do with her. My resolve soon faltered, of course. The girls gleefully chronicled my every surrender: covert cuddles; runs in the park.

The first year of Pixie’s life was eventful. First, she broke her hip in a mysterious accident on the beach. No sooner had she recovered from intensive weekly physiotherapy (including, I kid you not, sessions on an underwater treadmill), than she was being rushed to the animal hospital after overdosing on Nurofen (the packet had been knocked from a kitchen worktop, so the cats were our chief suspects); a few weeks later, she ran onto a busy main road and was hit by a car.

It’s true, she has put up with a lot – I once spotted her wearing a nappy and being wheeled around in a toy pram – but she has an unfailingly sunny personality. And she hasn’t been near the vet for months. One mystery remains, though. I had always thought that, for dogs, ‘walkies’ was nirvana. Not Pixie. She has a stubborn streak. Sit-down strikes, lie-down strikes – we’ve had them all. Is it a Westie trait? Can other owners enlighten me?

LIKES cuddling up on the sofa, chasing squirrels (and our cats), children

DISLIKES being bathed, healthy organic dog food, exerting herself before mid-morning

FINEST HOUR second prize at the Ham and Petersham Fair dog show

Tim Jotischky, West London

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