Consider yourself at home.
Ours has one more spirit in it now. A very large (beside Macaulay) Guinness-coloured flop-eared aesthete from Tipperary with four legs. There is a gigantic dog bed in the sitting room, a small comfortable empire from which the doe-eyed charmer from the emerald isle monitors the comings and goings in the Shrewsday household. Actually, mostly he monitors the comings and goings of anything remotely edible.
Freddie has his great gorgeous velvet Aslan-paws under the table. as I type, a terrier sits close to me on the sofa on which he is not allowed, back close in, perfecting his wounded air. How could you, he emanates. How could you being a great Irish oaf into my carefully scented world. As if, he sighs noisily, the cat wasn’t enough.
We are being most careful to accord Macaulay top-dog status; to elevate his moustache and give him the respect his nine years deserve. He goes through every door or gate first. He is fed first and handsomely. He has access to our bedroom 24-7. He is attended to first at all times.
He’s still not thrilled. But Freddie likes him and in the forest they run like a glorious helter-skelter pack. Of two.
But Freddie is a veritable pool-eyed WB Yeats, a poet-dog, a creature of art and beauty and grace and deep, throaty barks. And admittedly a slightly highly string tummy.
He brought terrible manners with him but learns so fast and is so eager to to please that his etiquette becomes more princely every day, and the way he cocks his Irish ears and stares into your soul, the way he runs at full pelt through the forest with all the grace of the wild and then comes back to his name like a Crufts Champion; it’s all rather captivating.
He does arise and go now, and go to Innisfree. Or at least, the forest. But for a dog who seems perfect, he does have the odd minor criminal tendency.
At least it’s not a tendency to disappear down the pub, I suppose. But from the moment he arrived, he began to collect things.
First it was the Hallowe’en spider which laughs maniacally. It was lifted and lovingly transported to the palatial doggie bed and it’s still there now. Occasionally Freddie sits on it and it wails chillingly once again.
Then he took two gardening gloves. Floppy, soft, his babies. next, a duck from some young person’s bedroom; after that, Bumpy the Elephant, who was subsequently airlifted out of there and a look-alike, Lumpy the elephant, substituted.
I looked for my watch this morning. Nowhere. I combed the house, turned it upside down, dug into the sides of the sofa. Not a sausage.
This evening I apprehended the watch in Freddie’s bed.
He is the Artful Dodger.
Freddie has not been in a nice place. They starved him and kept him outside. He hates cars and is afraid of the dark. For a retriever cross, he has only 22 pounds to his name. Thus, he tries to eat everything, all the time. We have him on three plain meals a day, but he’s always on the lookout to augment his intake.
Yesterday I heard a crackling just outside my bedroom. Further investigation revealed a large black dog with a crisp packet stuck on his nose.
Irish, charming, glossy and black and with the instincts of a magpie, it seems Freddie has been here forever. His beginnings here have been auspicious, and he and Macaulay have many, many stories ahead of them.
Kate Shrewsday 
Sweet! Good on you for opening your home and heart. Blessings on all the members of the pack
Freddie looks adorable! He’ll soon learn that he will never want for food or love in your household😊
You will have blog material for years with that one!
Irish and doesn’t have a tendancy to disappear dowwn he pub, this poor dog needs all the help and love he can get; so go to it Macaulay do your duty and help your fellow K9, and a well done to you Kate for bringing him home, he’ll love you to bits!
😀
Wonderful as always, Kate. Animals have a way of straying in to our lives, don’t they? All with singular personalities and quirks that make them great company.
Ah, what a character that Guinness colored dog is, Kate. He found the perfect place to dodge. Love this. 🙂
Far better the artful collection Freddie is amassing than the cardboard tubes from bathroom tissue my crazy dog collects and hides behind and underneath the recliner, flat ones that have been stepped on repeatedly and nice still round new ones just nabbed from the recycle bin.
Macaulay will teach him his manners. We took in a deaf wheaten coated setter years ago…shut in the house all day, not house trained, fond of taking lumps of coal to bed…the terriers had him house trained in a week – they weren’t taking the blame – and had him socialised in short order afterwards. How good of you to give him a life.
He has such a sweet face. I’m glad he has a good family, including people who will feed him and a brother who will demonstrate proper table manners. I’m glad he was forgiven for kidnapping Bumpy. (Forty-five years after first reading Mr. Yeats’ lines, I was moved by your post to look up ‘wattles.’ It’s not what I thought it was.)
Sweet pup! I bet he’s stolen more than your watch . . . he’s gotten hold of your heart as well!
He sounds like quite the character, Kate — a perfect character for your tales. 🙂
Bravo to you for rescuing him. He will be buoyed by the Shrewsday clan in no time.
It’s comforting to know that Macaulay remains top dog. If Freddie hasn’t already figured it out, being bottom dog in the Shrewsday household is like winning the lottery. How’s the cat coping with the new canine edition, or are you slipping Valium into his tuna to keep the peace?
A lot of work and so much fun! Freddie has found a loving and wonderful home and for that I’m thrilled, too. Our Zena was adopted a year ago, rescued from a very poor home situation. She has a lot of quirks and insecurities, but she is so well-loved and she loves in return. Lock up your valuables and you’ll all be fine. 🙂
You’ve got your hands full now! Good to hear of Freddie’s luck in finding a better home in you. Hopefully he won’t make you rue the day too often with his pilferings. Seems like he can easily get away with a fair bit!
I’m in love with Freddie and his soulful eyes! What a lucky chap, to have found the perfect family. 😀
Freddie sounds lovely. I can imagine him and Macaulay becoming very good friends.
I am glad Freddie is with you and I am sure he will accord Macaulay all the respect due.
How could anyone mistreat such a handsome fellow? I’m so glad you and he found each other.
Lucky dog … literally!!
Ah, the tales (tails) wag and the author is inspired and we are delighted. Wonderful.
Sounds like Freddie has found his forever home. A year or so from now I’m sure his coat will look completely different with good nutrition.
He is one lucky dog to have found his home at yours – Mac will get over it (one hopes)
Welcome Freddie! 🙂
Freddie is already nosing his way into your heart and home, I can tell. He’s quite a looker.
I can imagine him ferreting away all sorts of treasures into his doggie bed. When I first got Reggie, he tried to claim a rented DVD as his own by putting his stamp on it in the form of two giant teeth marks. The store was none too happy about that. But he soon gave up his life of crime, and hopefully Freddie will too. 🙂
What a glorious way with words you have. Magical!
Hooray for Freddie. I feel as though I know him already. Well done, Shrewsdays!