PC and his companion Roger Mugford , Company of Animals.
I’m a Rangoon (!)Terrier - I think I’m about 8 but I’m not quite sure. My first memories are a bit hazy - I think I’ve tried to forget them really ‘cos I was a London street dog and I don’t want to remember some of the things that happened when I was really little.
The Boss picked me up when I was under a year old, at the Battersea Dogs Home at Old Windsor. I was making a big noise for a small chap (I’m still only small, about 10 kilos).He’d gone for a Jack Russell and I wasn’t going to let the chance of a good home go by so I made sure he heard me and I ended up going home with him. That was about 7 - 8 years ago now, I suppose I’m still the same really - always got a lot to say, very talkative and chatty. I’m a fiery, wiry, go get ‘em terrier, a performance terrier, like some people have performance cars. At Glee, where we had a trade stand, someone said the Boss should have a performing animal license for me!
What I love best is to pull an audience - I suppose I’m a natural - I work for the Company of Animals as a toy demonstrator - when he’s being a bit mean he says I’m an ego maniac because I love an audience. I’m still trying to bring out the performer in the Boss, it’s the other side to him that he finds hard to express, but I’m still working on that. Give him time and he’ll get there.
It’s worked out well, we are really well matched, inseparable usually, except when he goes off on one of his trips. So I make sure he knows I‘m fed up with him when he comes back but it doesn’t stop him going off on his travels again. Anyway, this time I fell in love with someone in the office when he was in America - but I’ll probably forgive him in a couple of days.
I’m still trying to train him, he’s a bit of a slow learner - he keeps bringing back other dogs. He doesn’t seem to understand that I want to be the only one in his life. Its really not fair - I don’t want to share him - but I think I might have to accept that its part of his charm and get over it. After all if he wasn‘t a bit of a softie when it comes to a hard luck story, I wouldn’t be here either. Like when he brought back that rescue fox hound from the court system - saved him from death row. But there’s quite a pack of us here now, there’s Dogs Trust Bouncer, Snap the Border Collie - she’s a working sheep dog and there’s Humphrey, he looks like a pit bull - he’s actually a Staffie cross Bull Mastiff and Harry, the Lab. This year we‘ve lost our Beck a German Shepherd - its been a bad year really. Still miss him, though I wouldn’t want to let anyone think I’d gone soft or anything.
I’ve got a bit of an ongoing battle with the Ukranian postman - he’s the one person I really don’t like. But then I’m not that keen on any men in uniform or motorcyclists in helmets. But everyone has to have their weak points don’t they!
The Boss reckons that I’m a “Living Sat Nav”, if ever I’ve been to a location before I know when we are nearly there. That’s right a “Canine Sat Nav” , I haven’t told him, I don’t want to spoil the magic for him, but I can tell by the way he talks and how he acts - basically I’m really tuned into him. But don’t say I told you that, he might be disappointed.
The other thing he tells people about me is the way I always know which camera to look at when there’s TV cameras around. I always look at the camera that’s live but I’m not telling you how I do that - can’t give away all my secrets.
Nearly always go with him wherever he goes - after all its my job to wake him up every morning, I just shake my collar and name tag and whisper to him. I really don’t know how he would manage without me. I’ve got my own pet passport - but there’s some places I don’t want to go to so I get to stay with someone from the office.
My favourite place to chill out in his arms or in bed on his pillow. In fact I think the best advice to a dog looking for a new owner is make sure they have a comfy bed but that the rest of the family wants you too - that they‘re ok about dogs eating off plates, you know no hygiene fetishes. They can mostly be trained too if you get the chance, but some people just don‘t appreciate the finer things in life.
When we’re on a trip in the car somewhere together I’m a bit of a back seat driver, so he now makes me wear a seat harness. But I‘ve trained him to let me ride with him on lawn mowers and tractors.
I always go to work with him and when I need a bit of a break, I take a quick dash down to the training area for any dropped treats or tit bits and steal them from the dogs in training - you know meet and greet them, keep them in line. But when we are on the farm in Devon - there’s this one tree I just have to check out. You see about 5 yrs ago I saw a squirrel run up that tree. I’m just so mad that it got away and just in case its still down there I just have to chews chunks out of it ‘cos I just don’t like squirrels at all. I hate fireworks too and want them banned but I don’t mind the noise the Boss makes when he shoots rabbits, as long as I can eat them.
We'll both be at Discover Dogs this year, it has a really nice atmosphere. There’s all sorts of people who are interested in Dogs and wanting to find out more. I’ll be there working the puzzles, some people come especially to see me . Its great for anyone who loves to see the all the different types of dogs and because its just before Christmas, people do their Christmas shopping and buy those essential things for our Christmas stockings. Hope to see you there!
