I flamin’ knew they were up to something!

I knew they were up to something! As soon as we went out for a second walk last Saturday afternoon I knew that something wasn’t quite right. What happened? We got back from quite a pleasant walk up Bay Pond Path and I was piled unceremoniously into the car thingy. I knew I couldn’t trust him but Daddy Richard too. I was very disappointed in him! Generally speaking, I have learned that if we go out for a walk and then immediately afterwards we go out in the car thingy it isn’t going to go well. I usually get prodded or stretched or poked in the most uncomfortable of places, or worse, get some flamin’ needle stuck in me! As it turned out, however, it wasn’t that bad but it proved my theory that they were up to something. It turned out they were giving me a lift to my Country Retreat. Now, don’t get me wrong, I like my Country Retreat very much. I have an Executive Suite there. I am met by my personal concierge who escorts me directly to my Executive Suite. I am very well cared for whilst I am there with two good meals a day and I get to go for nice long walks in the country too. But when they’re giving me a lift to my Country Retreat, it definitely means they’re up to something. Well, only turns out that they were going to this place called ‘India’. I mean, I’m not even sure where that is. I’ve tried Doogling it, but it is a very long way away! Mind you, I reckon I’ve got it cracked now – he does all that ‘cooking’ stuff he’s so rubbish at because he needs to learn what the locals like. I guess he needs all the practice he can get because from what I can gather there are almost 1.3 billion people living there … and that’s definitely more than Godstone! Apparently there are over 30 million dogs living there too, so that’s quite a few mouths to feed!

He took this picture whilst they were in India. I’d be jealous but these doggies don’t have proper homes. They are called ‘Pariah Dogs’ but that isn’t because they are ‘Pariahs’ in the way in which we understand it. They are certainly not social outcasts, in fact they are the opposite. They live on the streets in packs and are actually very social dogs. In India it is illegal to kill a ‘Pariah Dog’ and many people lay out food, water and bedding for them to sleep on. They are not tame though and, whilst they rarely attack anyone, India has the highest proportion of rabies in dogs than anywhere else in the world. Rabies is a dreadful disease. Furious rabies occurs when the rabid dog becomes highly excitable and displays evidence of a depraved appetite, eating and chewing stones, earth and rubbish. Paralysis eventually sets in and the rabid animal may be unable to eat and drink. Rabies almost always ends in death. Humans can catch rabies from an infected dog through a scratch or bite and the virus attacks the central nervous system causing progressive damage to the brain and spinal cord. Once symptoms are present, rabies is almost always fatal. I don’t think even he would take the risk of catching rabies, so whilst I am not happy that he’s looking at other dogs, I am OK with him looking at these ones. They are quite handsome although evidently nowhere near as handsome as me! I am, after all, the handsomest dog in dogdom!