Dear Mummy,
I have been trying really hard to be a good boy. When I get grumpy with Kez and the puppy, human mum and dad don't like it. Sometimes they put me in a big cage and close the door. I quite like the cage because I feel safe and they always give me a big treat to eat when I stop being grumpy. But sometimes the puppy is naughty and manages to trick me into leaving the treat near the side of the cage and then he steals it!
Kez doesn't run away from me like he did after I hurt him. He sometimes gets really grizzly and mutters under his breath, which winds me up cos I just want to be his friend. Sometimes he shivers as well, which I don't understand as he is a husky and should not feel the cold. He slept downstairs for the first time in ages last night, I liked that because I could sleep near him.
I have been going out with human dad on my own a lot recently. I like when he gives me lots of treats and takes me on exciting walks, but sometimes I get really scared because human mum and the other dogs aren't close by. When this happens I lay down on the floor and pretend I am somewhere else. Human dad has to wait a little while for me to stop pretending and then we go walking again.
The other day human mum took me all the way to her work. She had to take me because I didn't want to stay in my cage all day and human dad had to go to a special place to do some running stuff. Human dad is going to run all the way from the top of Scotland to the bottom of England on the road where cars go. I think he is silly cos there is so much grass and hills that he could use instead.
It was really exciting going to human mum's work, but I felt really scared when all the people she works with wanted to say hello to me. I don't know these people and shouldn't speak to them, but human mum got sad when I kept laying down and pretending I was somewhere else. I think she doesn't want me to play this game any more. She keeps telling me that I need to be a big brave boy and that no more bad people will ever hurt me again. I trust human mum, but sometimes I still get scared. Sometimes when I get scared I make bad smells too, and human mum had to drive back from work with a big jacket on and all the windows open. She kept on making weird noises too, which I thought was funny and tried to make my “woo woo” noise to join in.
One day human dad took me to the place where sick dogs go. I wouldn't leave him so he had to carry me in. He spoke nicely to me as a lady touched me and then I felt really sleepy....
When I woke up I was in a really weird place and there were strangers every where. I was so scared and wanted to be with human mum and all the rest of the family. I stayed in this scary place for ages and worried that I would never see my family again. The strange people tried to be nice to me, but I was so scared.
I was just about to try and find a way to escape, when I heard a familiar voice.... Human mum was in the next room! I was so happy. I still felt really sleepy, but I knew I would be safe now. Human mum gave me lots of cuddles and took me home to my bed where all my favourite toys were waiting for me when I stopped sleeping.
Since I went to the sick dog place, I have felt different. I felt really sleepy for a couple of days, but not as grumpy and irritable. I have been trying really hard not to upset Kez, or human mum and dad. They let me play more with the puppy and don't get all tense every time I walk over to Kez.
We went to a race the other day where there were lots of other dogs. I used to always run with Kez, but this time he stayed with human dad and human mum took me away on my own. The other dogs around me were all really noisy and I felt very scared. Human mum stayed beside me and kept telling me that I was a good boy so I didn't shout back at any of the growly noisy dogs.
We then got to run really quickly and I overtook lots of other dogs with their humans. I was faster than all of them and when I had gone by them I stopped, cos I though I had won the race. Human mum kept on trying to run so I tried to keep up with her but it felt weird as the only people and dogs were ones coming towards us! I felt really scared and wanted to lay down and hide in the long grass. Human mum wouldn't let me and I had to try and jog beside her.
Then a really big dog came charging at me and I lost my temper. Human mum wasn't happy when I lost my temper and she shouted at the big dog, and got between it and me. It didn't bite me and we ran back to the car. On the way back there was a scary man in front of me and I tried to avoid him by going under the fence, I think human mum was too big to follow me as she wouldn't let me and made me run really close to the scary man. He didn't hurt me so maybe he wasn't so scary after all.
When we got back to the car Kez and Kroi were happy to see me and we all went for a really fun run together. Kroi thinks he is faster than me and so I kept bumping into him to try and make him fall over!
Human mum has also been running some really long races recently. I think she is practising for something. She lets all of us run different bits of the races, human dad takes us in the car and when human mum appears he swaps us over.
We did a really, really long run this weekend. It was dark when we got up and really dark when we got home. Kez got to run first with human mum and then it was my turn.
It felt really weird running somewhere that I had never been before. There was a lovely big river that we seemed to be following as we could always see it as we ran, but human mum wouldn't let me chase the ducks or go swimming. There were so many people running near us and they were all really scary. I kept on trying to run away from any that came near us, but human mum wouldn't let me. She kept on trying to make me run on the same path as the scary people and I didn't want to. Then we suddenly saw a massive group of people and they were all staring at me. I was so scared and I tried to hide by laying down on the ground. If I made myself really small the people might not see me and I could play my “pretend I am somewhere else game”. But human mum picked me up and wouldn't let me lay down. She spoke to the people and then took some cake from the table where all the people were.
When we got away from the people human mum stopped and offered me a piece of cake. She was really upset and her eyes were watering. I don't like when her eyes water cos her voice goes funny and she smells different. I didn't want to eat the cake, so she eat it all instead.
When we started running again we went really slowly and lots of people overtook us. Every time they did I tried to lay down and hope they wouldn't see me. Human mum's eyes kept watering and I didn't want to look at her cos it made me feel sad and I felt even more scared.
We finally got to human dad and where he was waiting with Kez and Kroi. Human dad gave Kroi to human mum, but she wouldn't run. She just stood there saying words that I did not understand. Human dad tried to chase her away, but she kept stopping. Kroi tried to pull her away cos he wanted to run, but she just stood there. Human dad finally made her run away and Kroi tried to catch up with all the people that had scared me when they ran past. I suddenly felt really brave and knew I would be safe with human mum and Kroi, so I screamed at them to stop, jumped up and down, making human dad drop my lead and went chasing after them....
But a big scary man blocked my path and human dad grabbed my lead again. He took me back to the car. I could see human mum and Kroi in the distance, just standing still, waiting for me to get to them. But human dad drove away and it was ages before I saw them again.
When we finally got home it had been snowing and Kroi was so excited as he had never seen snow before. We played for hours and it was so much fun and made me so tired. Kez didn't play much, just watched. I think he was really sleep from all the running he did with human mum that day as he had four goes and I only had one go.
The next morning when human mum said hello to me in the morning I ignored her. I usually say “woo, woo” every time I see her, but this time I didn't. She lifted my paws and prodded me all over, but I stayed really still. I didn't even lift my head. Her eyes started watering and she went away for a while.
When she came back I remembered to say “woo, woo” and she smiled a really big smile and her whole face went smiley. She hugged me and said nice things She said that she though she had “lost me”, which is silly cos I was always there. I was just really, really sleepy and wanted one of those lay ins that humans speak of. The she said something really nice mummy, she said “dear Kobi your mummy would be so proud of you”. I know she meant you.
Wherever you are Mummy, I am trying really hard to be a big brave boy, I promise.
Kobi
