Whoever said "LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE" didn't sleep with dogs. (Author unknown)

The first thing you discover when you bring a dog onto your bed is the striking difference in weight between an alert, awake dog and a dog at rest.

Rule Number One: The deeper the sleep the heavier the dog.

Most people who sleep with dogs develop spinal deformities rather than rent the heavy equipment necessary to move their snoring canines to a more appropriate part of the bed. Cunning canines steal precious space in tiny increments until they have achieved the centre position on the bed - with all covers carefully tucked under them for safekeeping. The stretch and roll method is very effective in gaining territory. Less subtle tactics are sometimes preferred. A jealous dog can worm his way between a sleeping couple and, with the proper spring action from all four legs, shove a sleeping human to the floor.

 
Rule Number Two: Dogs possess superhuman strength while on a bed.

As you cling to the edge of the bed, wishing you had covers, your sweet pup begins to snore at a volume you would not have thought possible. Once that quiets down, the dog dreams begin. Yipping, growling, running, kicking. Your bed becomes a battlefield and playground of canine fantasy. It starts out with a bit of "sleep running", lots of eye movement and then, suddenly, a shrieking howl blasted through the night like a banshee wail. The horror of this wake-up call haunts you for years. It's particularly devastating when your pup insists on sleeping curled around your head like a demented Davy Crockett hat.

Rule Number Three: The deeper the sleep, the louder the dog.

The night creeps on and you fall asleep in the 3 inches of bed not claimed by a dog. The dog dreams quiet slightly and the heap of dog flesh sleeps breathing heavily and passing wind. Then, too soon, it's dawn and the heap stirs. Each dog has a distinctive and unpleasant method of waking the pack. One may position itself centimetres from a face and stare until you wake.

The clever dog obtains excellent results by simply sneezing on your face, or they could romp all over your sleeping bodies - or the ever-loving insertion of a tongue in an unsuspecting ear.

Rule Number Four: When the dog wakes - you wake.

So, why do we put up with this? There's no sane reason. Perhaps it's just that we're a pack and a pack heaps together at night - safe, contented, heavy and loud.

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A Dingo in the Library – Extract from For the Love of a Dingo by Pamela King. (As recorded by Berenice Walters)

Napoleon

By the time Napoleon was 16 months old, I could take him out in public. I would go to the library, put him in a 'drop-stay' and be confident he would not move.  Even at the accountants or solicitors, he behaved perfectly.

Unaware there was a problem, we continued for many months to visit the library. Each time I placed him in a drop stay completely trusting him to behave. I would go off, browse the shelves, and select my books. Of course, I kept a close eye on him in case someone bothered him.


I was always comfortable taking him with me and extremely proud of his behaviour until one day the Chief Librarian approached and explained dogs were not allowed in Council buildings. She explained the staff had avoided telling me in case I thought they were discriminating against Napoleon because he was a Dingo.   “But I must add he is the most well-behaved dog we have ever seen.” she quickly assured me.

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In Memory of Miss Mione by Pamela King

Our beautiful Groenendael*, Sassy, (Weedram Sara’s Star) was expecting her first litter. Like everything Sass did it all went with a minimum of fuss. Throughout her pregnancy, my stepson, Carlo, had told her he wanted a Terveuren**. Now, this was highly unlikely because she had been mated to another Groenendael. Beau. But Carlo persisted giving Sassy instructions.

Finally, the day came. Again, with a minimum of fuss Sass went onto labour popping out four Groenendael pups with no trouble. When the next one was born, as Carlo helped the tiring mother, he questioned the colour of the pup – it wasn’t as black as the others but very dark. 




Was it a Terv just very dark from moisture? As the baby girl dried it became obvious it was fawn. The next five pups were all black.

This was our first pedigree litter to be registered with Dogs NSW. Breeders often use one of two methods for naming puppies. They either give their first litter names beginning with A, the second litter B and so on or they have a theme for the names. We had decided to name our pups after childhood heroes. With our ages spanning more than 35 years, we had a variety of generations to choose from. Names included Cinderella, Topolino (Italian for Mickey Mouse), The Phantom, Zorro etc. The name chosen for our little Terveuren was Hermione Granger.

Hermione Granger is a bit long and so like many pedigree dogs she had a call name, Mione. Later she was often referred to as Mimi (pronounced mymy), Meanie or, my favourite, Miss Mione. She answered to every one of them.

The ever patient Mione and her brother Phanto

She was a serious pup and rarely played with toys but had one soft toy, a lamb she adored. Mione’s biggest brother was The Phantom (Phanto). There was absolutely nothing phantom-like about this big, cuddly, adorable clutz. Without realising what he was doing he would sit on his sister, gobble down her food, and generally dominate attention. To add insult to injury he destroyed her little lamb.

When she was three months old, we took her to visit friends who had about ½ dozen sheep. We put her in the paddock to see if she had any herding instinct. Although Belgian Shepherds were traditionally herding dogs few dogs in the show ring have a natural herding instinct today.

In no time she had them herded into a corner and kept them there. We asked a Belgian Shepherd breeder who also trained herding dogs about this incident. Her response was it was unusual especially at that age to have such a strong herding instinct and she must be a throwback to an old line.

She was different from the other pups. She always seemed to be a wise old soul maybe it had something to do with that old line. But she was a very loving dog with the fastest tongue of all of them and it moved at the same rate and at the same time as her tail as if they were linked.

She was easily offended too. If you were busy just when she wanted attention and you ignored her, she showed her displeasure by ignoring you when you were ready to pat her. She could sulk for hours!

She was never naughty even as a pup, very loving and smart. We will miss our Miss Mione and the smiles she brought to our faces along with those rapid-fire kisses. RIP Mimi.

 *A variety of Belgian Shepherd. Gronendaels are a long hair variety with black hair.
** A variety of Belgian Shepherd. Terveurens are a long hair variety, fawn (sometimes grey) with a black overlay.

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