by Emma
overgrown field on the left, full of fascinating scents. There
were times when i would take Bracken too, because he
would cry and whine if he saw i was taking Emma on her
own. He felt it A,as his duty to accompany her wherever she
wandered. He would tear round her in circles once in the
field, looking for pieces of stick or lumps of grass that he
qi
C(Uld take her as an offering. He would push them gently to
the front of her nose as if to say, Come on, play tug-of-war
with me. She'd give him a little snort and turn the other way
aiid pretend there was something far more fascinating under
tli~it clump of grass. A little daunted, Bracken would place
the article on the ground and stand and watch me for a
moment before picking it up and trying again.
He would never give up trying to entice Emma to play and
sometimes i was quite worried when i saw him tearing up to
her with a big log in his mouth, afraid that he wouldn't be
able to stop in time, but he always did. It was as if he kept
himself in check especially for Emma. As soon as Emma had
her fill of the miscellaneous scents she would stand still and
wait for me to come and put her lead on again. Reaching
home, she would settle in her favourite spot near the
television.
In the evenings, when Don and i have finished our work
and sit in the lounge, it is total bliss to have the dogs all
around us. Emma, who would have had the lounge to herself
most of the day, would still be curled up fast asleep in her
favourite spot. The other five dogs would first of all, on
coming into the lounge in the evenings, pay their homage to
Emma, each of them giving her a little nuzzle round the ears
and a lick on the face before turning their attention to us.
Bracken always comes and sits by my chair and pushes and
pushes until i notice him. If I refuse he puts his nose up and
gives me a prod under the arm so that my hand falls over his
head and he gives me a little nibble on the arm if i stop
talking to him or stroking him. Teak comes at me like a
cannonball, leaps on my knee, pushes her cold nose all round
my cars and leaps ofragain. Shadow sits quietly by me, just
giving me her paw occasionally to remind me she's still
there. Buttons will always be lashing her tail on the carpet,
--rying for attention and then rolling on her back with her feet
in the air. Mocha, if she isn't daydreaming, will come up,
push with her nose and run otl again. It's so pleasant to be
there surrounded by all my dogs and i love all the little
capers they get up to daily, and the phrase 'the dog ate it' has
92
become a family motto. One day George our gardener
popped his head round the kitchen door while i was peeling
the potatoes for lunch.
'Excuse me, missis. 'Ave you seen me'at?'
'No, i don't think so, George. Where did you leave it?'
'Eee, i am sure i left it on that there gate post.' He pointed
his thumb back towards the gate. i was so used to George
losing things and forgetting where he put them that it didn't
really worry me.
'Are you sure you haven't left it in the front, George?'
'I'm sure i left it on that gate,' he muttered to himself.
'Well, I'll go and 'ave another look.' He closed the door
behind him.
Don came in a few moments later. 'Have you seen
George's hat?'
'No, he's asked me once.'
'Probably didn't bring it with him,' Don said. 'You know
what he's like. Have the dogs been out?'
'Yes, I'vejust let them in again. They're asleep now.'
'They wouldn't have had it, would they?'
'Probably.' i went over to look in the dog room. 'No, it's
not in here. No sign of it.'.
'I'll go and tell him he's forgotten to bring it with him.'
Poor George was sent off on the bus home convinced that he
had brought his hat in the morning, while we tried to
convince him that he hadn't. It wasn't until that evening i
discovered what had really happened.
The dogs were playing in the garden and I heard some
unusual growling noises so i went out to have a look what
was happening. There was a large hole under the rose
bush. Perhaps Bracken had been digging again. Then i saw
that all five dogs were round in a circle, writhing and
growling and pulling for all they were worth. i didn't
recognize it at first, as there wasn't a lot left of it -just the hat
band. The hat had disappeared altogether. i knew it was
George's. Poor Don was in absolute hysterics as he watched
out of his surgery window. 'What are we going to tell
George?' he managed to gasp between laughter.
93
'I don't think we'd better tell him at all, do you?'As the dogs
had obviously made such short work of it there wasn't much
left to offer George.
'How did they get it?' i)on said.
'It certainly wasn't in the Jog room when i looked this
morning.' i pointed to the hole under the rose bush. 'I would
think that Teak found it ot, top of the gate - she's the only one
who could jump that high - picked t up and buried it under
the bush until she knew Caeofge was safely out of the way,
and then unearthed it t(~ pl,,y with this afternoon.' Teak
loved to jump. She was klm(~t cat-like in her approach to
getting what she wanted. She could leap a clean six feet into
the air and snatch something that was falling far before any
of the other dogs could get it, i would always put food out of
the reach of all the dogs biat i soon began to realize that, with
Teak around, it was no 9God. ~he couldjump on to the work
surfaces in the kitchen without any problem whatsoever and
she used her long slender i)aw~ like hands to prise open tins,
push lids off pans and sG on * But all Teak's and the other
dogs' antics made life wh~lt i,,,vas for me, absolutely perfect,
until the commercial bank railg me one morning to say that
they were very sorry but pead office had turned our
application down.
'But why?' i asked hitn. i;ou told me that everything
would be all right as the i%cal pranch had passed it.'
'Yes, I'm sorry. i didn't re~lllzc that head office had this
policy.'
'What policy?'
'They won't back anything 4vith animals.'
'But why not?'
'I'm sorry, i don't know. They Just said that they would
definitely not lend money on poarding kennels. I'm awfully
sorry, Mrs Hocken, but i'rn c in you'll get your mortgage
,jrtal
somewhere else.'
i wasn't so sure. Befor~, i h;~id time to collect myself over
the next few days from th(~ shDCk of hearing we weren't going
to get our mortgage, i haq anolther blow. Mr Reynolds from
the District Council callej on me. We had met before over
9,4
the cattery i wanted to start. My application had been
turned down by the council and Mr Reynolds had called
then to tell me of this decision. So i wa
sn't very pleased when
i saw him standing there waving a letter in his hand.
'I've received this letter,' he said rather sternly, 'and I'd
like to speak to you about it.'
As much as I would have liked to have turned him away, i
knew that he was only doing his job and, whatever it was, it
wasn't his fault. i invited him in and tried to make him feel at
home.
'How can i help you?' i asked.
'Well,' he said, opening his letter, 'we've had a complaint.'
'What about?'
'That you're still boarding cats and that you have some
more dogs.'
'Yes, i do have some more dogs,' i assured him, 'but I'm
certainly not boarding any cats. i can't, can i? You've
refused me permission.'
'I'm only telling you what's in this letter.' He tapped the
paper with his hand.
'Would you like to come out and look into the cat houses in
the garden? They're all empty, except for my cats, who are
out there, of course.'
'I don't mind. If you say you haven't got any boarders .
'No, i haven't, but i insist that you come and have a look.'
i had a terrible feeling in the bottom of my stomach at the
thought that somebody had complained. Of course, as I've
said, we lived in suburbia where not many people seem to
like animals, or businesses for that matter. Sometimes i have
this awful thought that suburbia - in fact the world - will end
up one day without animals in it, without domestic pets,
because some bureaucratic body has thought they were a
nuisance. i can imagine looking up and seeing no birds in the
trees, none flying across the sky, empty parks with no
children playing in them because they make a mess, no dogs,
no cats. Once we've ravaged the jungles for elephant tusks
and leopard skins, we will start on the domestic pets in towns
and suburbs.
95
After showing Mr Reynolds the cattery and convincing
him that I'd no cats hidden in boxes anywhere, i introduced
him to the dogs. They gave one bark and i told them to be
quiet. i have always felt strongly regarding dogs barking. It
annoys me, so I'm quite sure it must annoy neighbours and,
having six dogs, i felt it was important to keep a very strict
control on them all.
'It says in this letter they bark a lot,' he said.
'I don't think so, do you.' They're obedient. i don't let
them bark.'
'No, I can see that,' he said. He looked a bit further down
his paper. 'Well, i don't know whether to mention this or not
then.'
'What's that? Not another complaint.'
'Mm, I'm afraid so.'
'What about?'
'About the surgery. They're saying here there's a lot of
noise from people walking up and down to the surgery.'
'Goodness me! I never hear them and i live here. My
husband is running a chiropody practice,' I said, getting
rather annoyed, 'not a daily disco session, you know.'
'Yes, i am sorry, Mrs Hocken. I'm only doing myjob. I'm
quite happy that everything's in order and i can assure you
that if we do get any more complaints, we shall ignore them.'
At that, Mr Reynolds left.
We seemed, at that time, to be dogged with bad luck (if
you'll forgive the expression). For only two months later our
own bank changed its policy and were quite willing to give us
a mortgage on any property but, alas, the Barton Hill
kennels had been sold. Undaunted, we both continued the
search for our Utopia. And, would you believe, the next
kennels that we found for sale were withdrawn from the
market just as we were about to sign contracts! It sounds
very much like a hard luck story, but i don't believe in bad
luck, i believe in determination. And anyway, what would
we do with our weekends if we weren't searching for houses?
In the meantime, i had my dogs. i put my heart and soul
into training them, trying to find out what they really
96
i
enjoyed doing most of all. Shadow was perfect at the obedience
work. What i didn't realize when i decided I wanted to
take up obedience showing was that i had to train myself how
to walk: i had to be upright, straight, keep the correct pace,
turn on the spot. Abouts, left and right turns had to be done
with precision, because if they weren't i would lose marks in
the ring. i had to remember which foot to usewhen turning left
or right. This is an indication to your dog ofwhat you are going
to do. i t is no good ambling around and falling over her or i t'll
put her offdoing her close heel work. i had to spend hours not
only training Shadow, but training myself. Probably people
thought I was absolutely crackers in the park or on the front
lawn when they saw me walking round, turning left and riglit,
about turn on my own and counting how many steps I was
taking. But, with patience, we both progressed-and how true
the saying is that a dog is only as good or as bad as its owner. i
know with a better handler Shadow would have got there
much faster but i was determined to be a better handler and at
least I've proved that i can win prizes with her, despite the fact
that most of the time in the ring i can't see where I'm going.
But determination is what counts. Teak, well she lovesj'umping
and i set upiumps here and there for her so she can have
the joy of jumping and i can have the pleasure of watching
her. Mocha much prefers to sit and daydream. Bracken i
continued training but i was searching for what he liked most
of all. i should have known long before i did, for he shares
many characteristics with Emma, who loves an audience.
i realized that when i was talking to an audience,
Bracken also wanted to be in on the act, and he made it
very plain one day when i was addressing a large group of
ladies. i had a microphone pinned to the lapel of my suit.
Bracken was sitting quietly at my side when suddenly he
leapt up in the air, grabbed the microphone off my suit
and ran around the hall with it. It had the desired effect,
for he received all the attention he wanted. But it wasn't
until i met Dorothy Steves that i began to realize what
Bracken really wanted to do. He wanted to act.
97
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
i RECEIVED ANOTHER invitation from Shelley Rhodes to
appear on the 'Live at Two' programme for Granada, and
what a very different kettle of fish this programme was going
to turn out to be - a particularly doggy one. All kinds of
people had been invited to appear with their dogs. i decided,
of course, to take Bracken. It was a programme made to
show the public what dogs could do. People who worked at
Granada came along with their difrerent types of pet dogs,
and a nearby Dog Training Club brought their team who
put on displays to raise money for charity. Britain's top
working sheepdog was there, plus many more. It was only
the day before that i received a call from Granada to
ask me
what Bracken could do.
'What do you mean, what can he do?' I asked.
'Most of the dogs that are appearing on the programme,'
Lynn, the programme researcher, informed me, 'are going to
do something.'
'Why didn't you tell me that before? Am i expected to do
something with Bracken?'
'It wasiust a thought,'she told me. 'Can he do anything?'
The one thing Bracken really enjoyed doing was retrieving,
so i thought maybe he could do some scent work by
finding my article from among other people's. i promised
Lynn that i would produce something out of the hat for the
next day, hoping that Bracken would be in the mood to do it.
Betty was the one elected to take me up to Manchester, as Don
was rather busy, and we got lost as usual. We passed Oldham
Post Office three times, but we arrived eventually. When we
were shown into the Hospitality Room, Bracken was
absolutely astounded. He'd been in lots of television stations
and knew he was going to enjoy himself but he'd never been
98
in one where there were thirty dogs in one room. He stood
rooted to the spot by the door, looking around at dogs under
tables, dogs on knees, dogs barking, and then stared back at
me in total astonishment. His expression gave away his
thoughts: Now this is what I call a television studio, he was
saying. Being an old hand at this kind of thing he felt that it
was up to him to show the other dogs how a television
personality should behave, so he was on his very best
behaviour. He walked calmly down the roorn, ignoring all
the dogs that were leaping out to snifr him, and sat by my
chair looking positively angelic.
This was a live show and both the director and Shelley
Rhodes, i felt sure, thought it might be rather hectic, so we
were all asked to be there early and lunch was provided for
us. We were all given the chance to go through our particular
part. There was only one thing that was worrying me and
that was my tooth. Mocha had done it again: the night
before, I'd been too enthusiastic when i told her what a good
girl she was and she leapt straight up in the air on one of her
Olympic high jumps and hit me in the face. i managed to
