The dogs - Sandy, Molly and Crazy

When mum first arrived in Unawatuna, she came with an owl.  The owl, she had had both at home and in the hospital with her for about a year. She had bought it out of a home order catalogue from a man at the door. When the batteries worked its eyes lit up bright green which could give you a bit of a shock.  She treated it like a baby, wrapping it up warm and watching kids tv with it. She took it walks with her and chatted to it. She always worried that it never ate. It slept with her.  She was devoted to it. And when it came time to fly to Sri Lanka the owl came too, from Glasgow via Dubai to Colombo.   She slept with it her first night in Colombo.

On arrival in Unawatuna though, it was given pride of place on her bedside cabinet.  It started wrapped up with a hand knitted woolen scarf. They had done knitting at the hospital. Since that first day though the owl has sat there ignored. It has lost its covering.  Recently she mentioned that she would like to wash it in order to give it to my brothers’ children when they arrive at the end of July.  Why the change of attitude towards the owl? My theory is the dogs.

I’ve got three dogs.  Molly is an Emirati desert dog, now 14 years old and not expected to last much longer due to kidney problems according to the tests the vet has done. She doesn’t seem to know this though and still races after cats only to suffer from her arthritis immediately after.  Sandy is an Unawatuna beach dog though she doesn’t really know it either. She left Sri Lanka when she was 6 months old and came to stay with me and Molly in the Emirates. Then we all came back to Sri Lanka about 5 years later. The customs official wanted to charge duty on the dogs until it was pointed out to him that Sandy was in fact Sri Lankan and she was bringing a friend to visit. Crazy, the third accidental dog,  is a cross Alsatian and beach dog.  She had a very unhappy childhood. She was run over by a truck then was abandoned by her Dutch family and left in my garden. I had agreed to take her if they could demonstrate that she would get on with the other two. This they never did and I forgot about her till one weekend I came down south and found her in my garden.  The three have a fairly orderly and relaxed existence. Molly, the smallest and oldest, is the alpha dog. Then there’s Sandy who is a bit of a bully but really a scaredy cat and then Crazy who can look scary since she looks like an alsation but is the softest dog out. She used to be a nervous wreck, hiding under my car for hours on end because of the slightest upset. Now though she is a very chilled dog.

They rule the roost down south. Add mum to the mix and what happens. Positives and negatives.  The negatives are shorter. They do get in the way. Mum is rather wobbly on her feet therefore putting her in the same house as three dogs, two of whom accompany you wherever you are going, is not a great idea. Molly and Sandy do get in her way on route from bed to couch, couch to porch, porch to kitchen. Most places Sandy leads the way and Molly brings up the rear.  She is always refusing to move because she will trip over the dogs.  She never has of course as they quickly move if they see anything like that about to happen.  Sandy will land on her bed in the early morning and give her a fright as although smallish she is a rather hefty dog and does like landing on you and then sliding into you in order to get the closest she possibly can to you then she settles down for ages.  That’s about it for the negatives.

Positives abound. She has not one, not two but three constant companions when we are down south – regardless of what I or anyone else is doing. She has a constant companion even while sleeping: Molly sleeps at the bottom of her bed every night.  (My bed is a bit too high these days for Molly and her arthritis.) The dogs are always happy to see her. Molly’s tail constantly wags. Molly and Sandy join her on the couch for her Andre Rieu concerts and Rogers and Hammerstein musicals. I’m sure Crazy would too but she isn’t allowed on the couch.  They join her outside on the porch in the mornings and early evenings. I can hear her chatting to them as I am working in my study.  She gives them into rows when they start barking and racing to the gate at the sight of feet beneath it. She loves feeding Molly and Sandy gingernuts. All my hours of training to keep them away from the table during meals was quickly swept aside when mum started feeding them gingernuts at the table. Now they watch as you eat.

Who is her favourite? Well, she has a soft spot for them all.  But Sandy is probably the favourite.  Mostly because she is the one that will curl into her on the couch, sleep on her feet on the porch, put her head on her knee while watching tv, stretch out outside her bedroom while she is getting showered in the morning, and is generally to be found wherever mum is.  Molly usually keeps her distance; though, when it is around time for mum to go to bed, Molly will start checking her bedroom to see if she has gone yet. And the minute she does head for bed, Molly is at the bottom of the bed. Crazy, mum calls the big black dog (she is actually mostly brown) with sad eyes, tends to lie stretched out in the middle of the living room which makes moving around the room a bit tricky. The owl really had no competition!