Mutt

Today

We spent a charming evening on Friday with a new friend of Paul's and his very creative and fascinating parents.

During the evening they talked about some county sporting event during which a friend's very unpedigree dog had his wicked way with the Duchess of Norfolk's dog whose pedigree went back to the Conquest. The results, apparently, were some unidentifiable and officially useless pups for whose support the Duchess sportingly refused to accept payment.

"Of course," said our host "most pedigree animals have much shorter lives than mixed breeds."

In My Day

Back in 1984, when we were living at Montfort Close, we decided that a dog would be just the thing. We chose a rescue dog, being unwilling to devote the necessary time to training a puppy, and also knowing just how many unwanted animals there are who need homes.

In this way Caspian came into our lives, He was such a jolly dog, full of zest for living, and he gave us much. He was very handsome, despite being of inextricably mixed parentage, with clean, tall lines, an alert well-proportioned head, smart tan and white markings and a cheerful tail that looked like pampas grass.

Sometimes we found ourselves in the company of people whom I would describe as "breed snobs". They invariably had excruciating accents and would ask about Cas's breed as though it was the only important thing about him.

This set Paul's teeth on edge. He would reply in a very good imitation of their county accents: "Oh, he's a Sussex Downlander" His interlocutor would admit that this breed was new to them and ask what the significant breeding points were. "Well," Paul would continue "the breed isn't yet recognised by the Kennel Club.... but the main characteristic is that the dog has to have been conceived somewhere on the Sussex Downs!" His voice would abruptly return to normal and the snob would turn away, vaguely suspicious that they'd been laughed at.

Cas, true to his mutt origins, lived a long and healthy life, dying at the advanced age of seventeen after a stroke carried him off. And I still miss him.