What’s a dog? Returnable item? Fashion accessory? or Lifelong friend?
In the run-up to the publication of A Street Dog Named Pup on the 1st April 2021, meet some of the dogs and find out why I wrote them into the story –
Merle and Lady Fifi
Merle is a border collie
Anyone who owns a border collie will know how loyal, active and fun they are, but perhaps most importantly intelligent. These are not one-walk-a-day dogs that like to lounge about for the rest of the day. These are really active dogs that love a job to do. They are happiest when mentally and physically stimulated. In many, their herding instinct is so embedded into their DNA that they will attempt to herd anything.
Our own dog, Ned, as an 8-week-old pup trotted around our four chickens and herded them back to us. Ned is a bit poultry obsessed. We now have ducks, and he will while away the hours following them and rounding them up if they get out of line. He was the inspiration for Star in my series for younger children Puppy Academy Star on Stormy Mountain where Star’s attempt at herding ducks doesn’t go well.
In A Street Dog Named Pup, Merle has been abandoned because her owners dumped her when they didn’t have time for her. When she was left alone for long hours, her boundless energy was turned to destructive behaviour in the house.
But it isn’t just border collies that need time and attention.
All dogs do.
Lady Fifi was bought because her owner saw her as an accessory to fashion with celebrity endorsement. A handbag dog. A whim, as discardable as a handbag or pair of shoes.
Is this what dogs have become during lockdown? Disposable items? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-55719338
Pandemic Puppy Problem
Many have seen lockdown as the right time to get that long awaited pup in their lives. For those who have put the time and thought into this, prepared to give the new pup the time and attention and the necessary socialization within the constraints of lockdown, these people will be rewarded with a well-trained and well-balanced dog for a lifetime of fun and a great friend in their lives. Their lives will immeasurably be changed for the better.
However, the pandemic has seen people buy puppies on a whim.
The pandemic has seen the demand for puppies soar.
The prices for puppies has soared too – most now into the thousands of pounds.
Now there are very genuine reasons why some people have to give up their dogs, but for many, the idea of owning a cute bouncy bundle of puppy is more alluring that the reality of the hours of training, clearing up wee and poop and having the house destroyed by a puppy exploring its world with its mouth.
Rescue centres are already seeing the influx of older puppies that have become too problematic, handed over by frustrated owners who haven’t fully taken the time to understand what dog ownership means – a dog is for life.
But many people are asking for the original price so they don’t lose the money they paid.
A quick search through a popular dog selling internet site for pups of 4-12 months shows many, many older puppies for sale with the reasons/ excuses in rough order of top reasons:
- No time for pup as going back to work.
2. House is too small
3. My daughter/son/aunt/granny/second cousin twice removed/ long-dead uncle has developed an allergy to the dog
4. My other dog doesn’t like the pup.
This idea that somehow dogs are commodities, to be bought and sold without forethought and research, is selfish.
In A Street Dog Named Pup, I wanted to tell the dogs’ story. I wondered what it would be like to be a mother dog, to have a litter of puppies, that were taken from you, not knowing their futures. It made me think that as prospective dogs owners, when we hold that new pup in our hands, we take on that responsibility of another life. It is our choice to get a pup, and with that choice comes that huge responsibility.
And so in A Street Dog Named Pup I decided to have a dog-story that each mother dog will tell their new-born pups to try to keep them safe: A story to try to navigate the world of man.
A Street Dog Named Pup – Cover Levi Pinfold, internal illustrations by Gill Lewis
Pup and his boy are inseparable. But both their worlds change forever when Pup is cruelly taken away and abandoned in Dead Dog Alley. With Nowhere else to turn, Pup joins a pack of misfit street dogs who help him learn to fight for survival on the streets. Pup holds onto the hope of one day being reunited with his boy. But as hope shrinks with every passing day, Pup begins to wonder if their bond is irreversibly broken….
Michael Morpurgo “I’m not sure I’ll ever look at a dog the same way again. Unforgettable.”
Lauren St John “A masterpiece. Gill Lewis does for Pup what Anna Sewell did for horses in Black Beauty. A wise, brave book, steeped in kindness.”
