MARJOLYN POLS
When we had to put to sleep our Great Dane Ludo, the circumstances
were such that we could not immediately consider having another dog.
We still were in the happy possession of two Siamese cats,
one of which, Byou, of an advanced age, and it would have been unwise to spoil
her last few years with the presence of a lively puppy.
In May 1998, however, we had to take our leave from Byou as
well and at that moment our house became a very quiet place. Besides that, her
pal Joy was terribly sad and cried the whole day.
We were getting used to our easy life. No more compulsory outings
in the rain. No hurrying home to be in time for the dog’s outing. Nevertheless
we decided that the time had come to have another dog, although at the same
time we thought that it would be better not having such a big one anymore, but
a smaller breed would do as well. The type, as I still call it, of a carry along
dog.
Preferably a breed that is not subject to over breeding (and
regretfully there is a lot of over breeding and mismanagement in this respect).
Beagle, Kooiker dog and some other breeds were thoroughly scrutinized and after
careful consideration, the choice was made for a French bulldog, notwithstanding
the long waiting lists.
Although my sister Karen cried that she could not understand
what made us choose for this type of dog with the decided look of having walked
with his snout into a brick wall, we remained firm in our belief that the French
Bulldog would be our best choice.
A Sunday visit to Marjolyn (yes another one) and Dick Langwerden,
to finally see their redecorated and partially rebuilt farmhouse, provided an
agreeable surprise. A Welsh terrier, called Tara, warmly welcomed us and when
we learnt in the course of our conversation with Tara’s bosses that Tara
was in the family way, we were immediately sold to the idea of a Welsh.
Quite elated we drove back home. A couple of days later, however,
we were bitterly disappointed to learn that Tara was not pregnant at all. Our
nice plans were really double-crossed.
In the mean time we were absolutely and totally focused on
a Welsh terrier so that we (read: Bill) made an enormous amount of phone calls
to breeders. No Welsh available. Not for many weeks at least.
There was just one five months old puppy available from a breeder
in the south of the country. He originally had wanted to keep the pup for himself,
but due to special family circumstances the pup had to be given away.
There was one little snake in the grass: a holiday trip that
could not be cancelled at such a short notice. A quick phone call to Karen and
Hans was enough and the pup was very welcome during our holidays.
Full of expectation we drove southwards… and Charley
himself tells the rest of the story.
Marjolyn Pols started writing stories at the age of six and
even published a handwritten girls club magazine!! Won a first prize at primary
school at the age of ten. Member of the editing committee for several magazines
and responsibilities to fill the gaps in these magazines, made writing stories
a daily must.
In the pursuit of quite another career (Export manager for
some international companies and traveling all over the world) writing was restricted
to business related items for a long time.
Her later involvement in local politics and the need to prepare
clear and people oriented presentations, made writing a daily activity again.
Love for animals and this special dog called Charley, plus
spare time spent at airports waiting for yet another flight to catch, are the
cause of the creation of a series of short stories.
Charley himself, of course is the real author of the book.
…These are personthings obviously. They smell like
nothing and they are no treats and I can do nothing with them.
Even when we do not go with Car, sometimes I have to stay at
home all by myself, although I can hear that Bill is in our outside territory.
I would love to join him, but it is not allowed.
Once the door to go outside was not closed properly and I was
able to go and take a look. I heard Bill somewhere in the outside territory
but I did not join him, since I wanted to go and have a look on the street all
by myself. I ran towards the street and I saw Rascal passing by with his manperson.
Rascal also is a dog but I would not know his type. He has been put together
with several types in him. Rascal was on his leash and of course, I was all
by myself. Well, as you can imagine I made this known to him with some barking.
I don’t like Rascal, because he always barks and growls. I have tried
that as well and fortunately I am quite good at it of late.
Right when I wanted to pursue him, Bill came running towards
me. He called me loudly and his voice was quite angry. He seized me by the scruff
of my neck and Rascal has seen it. I was very upset and I felt quite ashamed.
Bill carried me home and dropped me in my territory. I did
not get a cookie.
So, let us wait again to see what is going to happen the rest
of the day.
Somewhere halfway through the day, we are going to the woods.
That’s always the longest outing. We make a long walk and go a long distance
and today we are going to the grass. There are many big animals walking on the
grass. Not dogs and they make a very different noise. They don’t bark
or growl. They look at me but they don’t come near me. They don’t
even move. Unbelievable, but they eat grass. I like to try that. It does have
a strange taste. My own food is much better…
…I now know that Sit means that I have to sit (not always nice in the
wet grass). Down means to lie down completely. Stay is to behave like a fool
and stay where you are when your manperson walks away. Really an absolutely
stupid thing to do.
One of the first few words was watsjfi, but I know better now
and it is just the same as: Watch me. And that means looking at Bill and wait
until the next word comes. Sometimes the word is Free. That is great fun, because
it means that I can go and run wherever I like to run to and do as I please.
It is most of the time only for a very short moment, because the next word is:
Come. When I hear that word it means that I have to go to Bill. There are moments
that I have no great wish to obey and that means that he has to say the come
word a couple of times.
Fortunately he is never is really angry. I suppose he thinks
that I still have not really understood.
I shall never forget that I had to walk in a long dark bag.
It did not seem so great in the beginning, but I am never one to give up easily,
so yoho into the bag and no nonsense.
Okay this was a very long bag and yes at the end of the bag
Bill was waiting for me with, as you may guess, a cookie.
Yes, it really is quite easy, if you do what Bill says, there
are many cookies.
