The old adage says that the only things certain in this life are death and taxes, but I have a couple of undeniable truths of my own. These are as follows: ‘It never happens to a bad one’, and ‘Unless an animal is guaranteed to completely ruin my life, I cannot possibly consider owning it’.

Thus, both of these proved accurate yet again just last week when we had to say a last goodbye to our little dog. As all good dogs do, Clowndog left a hole in our hearts that can never be filled. Going out to the yard the next day without my little shadow was a hollow and painful experience, and I knew that I wasn’t going to manage without a dog in my life.

Compromise

Patterdale terriers are widely regarded as one of the more willful and recalcitrant breeds, and are not for the faint of heart. Clowndog was a Patterdale x Jack Russell and although he maintained the sunniest disposition, he was completely unprepared to compromise on his doggy intentions. This led to some hilarious and infuriating episodes over the years, but overall he was a truly wonderful friend.

I set about finding another Patterdale and somehow I have now ended up with TWO of the little tyrants – in puppy form. They have already set about destroying my sofa, and have eaten two socks and a cushion in the last two days. Nothing can ever replace Clowndog, but these puppies have made us all laugh when we didn’t otherwise feel much like doing so.

Tolerance

The large version life-ruiners in horse form have enjoyed a steady return to work over the last couple of weeks. I am sure that like all of us, they are heartily sick of the constant deluges of rain.

I took my little bay mare to the Leinster Dressage show at Redhills last Saturday, and I’m not sure if the horse will ever forgive me. Bear likes to jump, and she has limited tolerance for dressage. She also refuses to entertain anything to do with the pace otherwise known as ‘walk’. Bad enough finding yourself at a ‘not jumping’ show, but worse again when you are expected to cooperate during some sort of prolonged biblical monsoon. If this weather continues, we are going to have to hope that our annual registration fees from now on will include complimentary flippers and a snorkel.