Changes

My walks increased in length every day, but mum only allowed me to run for short periods. Sometimes when we got home I felt a little stiff and my hips ached.

Dad always made them feel better though. He had very warm hands, so he would put them over my hips. The warm feeling eased the ache and made me feel better.

Life was grand now and I slowly put all the bad memories behind me.

Sometimes I would have bad dreams but mum and dad were always there to wake me up. Some of the dreams were so vivid, it was a relief to open my eyes and feel hands gently stroking my head and soothing voices talking to me.

Often dad would take me to a place with lots of trees. As we walked around, my nose would detect lots of different smells which I just had
to investigate. Dad would always wait for me just where I left him, so I never felt afraid.

Toys were something I had never seen before in my old life, but mum and dad bought me lots. They tried to teach me what to do, but until they gave me a small round thing, I wasn't very interested. This round thing was great because it hit the ground and kept bouncing! Chasing it was really good fun.

Dad took me to the field one day and he had a bigger round thing with him. He put it on the ground and used his foot to make it move, then he kicked it to me. I tried to stop it and somehow moved it back to dad. He laughed and kicked it to me again, so I moved it back to him with my paw. Slowly I learned to push it with my nose and dad would chase me to try and take it off me.

One night, after a game with him, I was lying stretched out on the floor with dad. I felt so happy and wanted to get as close to him as possible. I was pushing my head against him and the bottom of the big baggy thing he was wearing came loose.

Somehow my nose ended up underneath it, so I pushed and wriggled until my head poked out of the hole at the top. I wriggled on to my side and lay there with my head under his chin. Dad was laughing and so was mum, me?, I went to sleep!

I felt safe and loved for the first time in my life, and several happy months passed this way.

One day, when we had been together quite a while, mum took me to a great big field. She was picking things off bushes and I was allowed to wander around freely.

Suddenly I spotted something moving in the field next to the one we were in. It was something I had never seen before, an animal much bigger than me. Curiosity took over and I went to have a look, but as I drew closer this thing turned and ran. A very strange feeling came over me and I knew I just had to give chase!

Without any other thought in my head, off I went.

The animal was leaping and running across a large field towards some trees. Somewhere in my head mums voice registered, calling me, but this chase was too exciting.

I ran faster and faster but couldn't catch this thing. It disappeared in to the trees, with me following close behind. Somehow I lost it and suddenly realised, I was alone! No sign of mum! Turning, I followed the scent back out of the trees and in to the field again.

I couldn't hear mum calling, but the scent was still strong and I was able to retrace my wild flight. Then I heard mum calling again, so I ran as fast as I could to get back to her.

When I reached her she flung her arms around me and I think she was crying because her face was wet. I was so tired I flopped down in the shade to rest. Mum gave me a little water and put cold cloths on my feet. It took a long time before I felt able to start the walk home.

We didn't have very far to go, but I had to keep stopping to rest. My hips were so painful I kept wobbling. Mum tried to help me, but it wasn't easy.

Eventually we reached home and I was able to rest, but when I tried to stand to get water, my hips really hurt and were very stiff, the pain made me cry.

A little while later mum put me in a car and took me to the vet. I had been there before and a man had stuck a sharp thing in my neck. It didn't really hurt, but I decided I didn't like this place. It smelled funny and dogs were crying.

The man I had seen before moved my hips around and talked to mum, I had no idea what he said, but mum looked upset. When we got home again, she put something over my throat. It wasn't a nice thing to have done, but hey, I knew mum wouldn't do anything to hurt me. Several times a day the same thing happened, so I became used to it.

After a little while the pain eased and moving was not so painful.

When we went for our walks now they were much shorter. Mum would not let me off the lead and kept making me stop to rest. My hips still hurt, so I didn't mind.

In time mum took me back to the vet. For some reason this time felt different, mum seemed anxious. The man took my lead from her and tried to lead me away. He was taking me from mum and I didn't want to go, something wasn't right, mum never left me!

I fought and pulled, twisting around and pulling back to mum. The vet said something and gave the lead back to her, then he put something sharp in my neck again. After a little while the strangest feeling came over me and I couldn't sit up or stand properly. Sounds and voices seemed to come from a long way off. The man and another woman lifted me on to a table, but this one moved!

I was taken in to a dark room with strange things in there, big machines and things like ropes coming from them. I just wanted to run away but I was so sleepy.

What happened after that is a mystery. Slowly I realised I was in a big cage, lying on a soft bed. Mum was there, stroking my head and talking to me.

Later, we went home, but things changed a lot. I was taken for short walks, things were put over my throat every day and, worst of all, every few days mum took me to the vet to have the sharp thing stuck in my neck again.

This hadn't been happening for long when strange things started to happen in the house.

Mum was putting all our things in big boxes and packing suitcases! It worried me because I didn't know what was going to happen. I liked everything to be the same all the time, if mum moved things around I hated it! Now, suddenly, everything was changing.

A few days later a big van pulled up and two men came in to the house.

Mum held on to me because I didn't like strangers, and these two were definitely strange. They started taking things out of the house and putting them in the big van!

Mum took me out for a walk and for some reason most of my friends were there. The people petted me and hugged mum, I played for a bit, then we went home.

When we got there the house was nearly empty! It was very scary and I didn't know what to do.

Mum spoke to the people who lived near us, then we got in to a car and drove away.

I didn't understand, but we were moving away.