dogs

I got back home about six in the evening three days ago to be greeted by my wife with the news that 'I've lost Timmy.'   Timmy is not a person, although I am not sure he would agree on that, but is a black labrador dog.  Now normally Timmy does not 'go off' but he does have a tendency to do so if I am away and that is what he had done.  Normally again he comes back within a few hours. So I left the friont door opened and hoped for his reapperarance.  He still wasn't back by the time we went to bed, but again this has happened before so I wasn't overly concerend.  When I woke up though and looked down at the bean bag by my bed and saw no Timmy my heart sank.  This was unprecedented.  I had to leave for a meeting after breakfast and all day I suffered from that empty feeling in the pit of your stomach, a gut wrench of worry.  I got home in the evening to the bad news - still no sign of Timmy. there is - I think -nothing worse than a missing dog. It is the 'missing' bit which is so awful and which allows your immagination to run riot.  His absence was like a damp blanket over our whole household - my children adore our dogs - hell the dogs sleep on their beds and, when 'mummy' is not watching share their plates for that matter. Again we left the door open all night - again Timmy failed to show and again I had to go off to a meeting. I had now prepared myself, mentally, for the fact that we might never see Timmy again wen mid day the wife rang with great news -'we've got Timmy' hurray a hapy ending - a great friend of mine who always has Jack Russels is not so lucky and said to me once - 'You know I've never buried one of my dogs.' Awful but that is too often the cost of owning a Jack Russel -they can't resist a hole the ground. For now though we are once again a happy family - till the next time - but just at the moment Timmy is under close arrest