Black Doggerel

Today my niece Maya turned three. My sister is an awesome woman and is having two birthday parties; today's was only family and a couple of close friends, barbecue, Pimm's and cake. Tomorrow is an alcohol-free pirate-themed shindig for twenty-odd three-year-olds and their handlers, and sister T. is far too kind and clever to try and force her childfree sisters to come to that one.

...though I was a bit tempted when I saw the pirate costumes and skull-and-crossbones cupcakes.

There were two friends from T's work there, or one work colleague and her brother, I'm not sure which. They were kindred spirits. The male one was in charge of the music and so as well as Pimm's and barbecue there was Led Zep and the Ramones and Deep Purple. One of Maya's presents was a great big easel-thing with a huge roll of paper that slides down over it, and she and I spent a happy hour collaborating on a huge glorious fingerpainting. I wanted to show you a picture of it (and Maya and I covered in paint) but my mother's lost the connector lead for her camera so slight fail. Take my word for it, it was AWESOME.

For you colonials who may not know about Pimm's, it's this. It is the best possible thing to drink on an English summer's day with barbecued things and a nice garden with congenial people and classic rock, and I have had quite a lot of it. And extra cake to take home too.

Best party EVER. Srsly.

This week I am looking after Downstairs Neighbour Couple's little yellow dingo mongrel Buster. This is both fun and heartbreaking - fun because Buster is fucking adorable and I love spending time with him. Heartbreaking because the combination of volatile dog personalities in confined spaces and Buster's cat issues means I can't feasibly put all the animals together; so Buster is spending a lot of time in the downstairs flat all alone. And when I have to leave him he stands up and holds onto me with his paws - not humping, just clinging, and panting with distress. Even if I didn't understand dog moderately well, the "Don't leave me!" would be clear as a bold-printed speech bubble. And I keep having to leave him, and he's so sweet.

I've not been trying to walk all the dogs together singlehanded; my own two are often at least a third of a dog too much for me by themselves, and I'm not quite insane enough to try it with three. But my mum and niece came over today, and I decided that one well-behaved dog, one well-behaved toddler, one Squish and one Buster wouldn't be too much for two responsible adults*.

There were a few near-misses, of the "toddler knocked flying by dogs" and the "Buster's flexi-lead vs. Squish's longleash" variety, but no actual disasters, and we all had a blast. Buster's owners love him and look after him well, but they have limited mobility and I have a shrewd suspicion Buster doesn't get many opportunities for active bouncy play. I did love seeing him enjoy himself.


( Dogs in park madness - four pics under the cut )

*...well...

Today my baby niece Maya met my dogs for the first time. Mum finally got a car seat installed so she can drive Maya around when she babysits - so she brought her to visit, and we all went to the park.

Spike was utterly awesome, as I knew he would be. My dogs may suck in a variety of situations but they are reliably good with small children, and they adore them. The evil bugger fawned over Maya beautifully and oh so gently. He showed off his mad dancing and tree climbing skillz to Maya's amusement, and he impressed my Mum by responding accurately to my "Where's Maya?" command within three minutes of seeing her for the first time.

...It's a no brainer for a Border Collie. Squish can find a ball on command but he's not capable of generalising that to finding anything else he happens to know the name of. Spike can do that easily. He did not know Maya's name, but he knew she wasn't Granny or Ball or Squish so he figured lying at her feet when I said "where's Maya?" was a safe bet. I love my clever dick dog.

Squish is not clever in quite the same way, but he is very adorable and happy and has long silky ears and made Maya giggle a lot by covering her in happy dog kisses at every opportunity. I love my silly spotted dog.

...My niece is pretty damn cool too. She's - what, two and a half now? The same age as Naamah cat, anyhow, they were born within a week of each other. She's old enough to hold conversations with and she speaks clearly and doesn't shriek. And she loves dogs and cats. And now that Mum can drive her around I should see a lot more of her - this makes me happy.

Today: my niece's first birthday party. I was originally not going to go, since my mother was spending the entire day (and possibly sleeping over) and I wasn't happy leaving the dogs for that long; but my other sister was down from London and going for a shorter time so I went with them. The party happened at Honeybrook Farm and was fun. Goats and geese and pigs and ponies, and sister T had rented their hall and filled it with food and friends... mostly people I either didn't know at all or had met once, but hey, new friends.

And while I did eat too much, over half of it was fresh strawberries and raspberries and a tomato salad-thing with olives, so yay healthy! I didn't even put cream on the strawbs.

Two of the guests had brought their dogs: an adorable chocolate lab bitch and a stunning amber-eyed black rescued greyhound. I petted and loved them and idly wondered what it would be like to have dogs capable of sitting quietly or pottering round gently on-leash in a place full of goats and poultry and small children. I really ought to get out more.

Also? I really, really really would like to have goats some day. Not enough people appreciate the beauty of goats.