It’s a Dog’s Life: The Dog Days of Summer

High summer tends to be a quieter time for Teddy, but as explained by human interpreter Helen Stockton, quietness is a relative term in the canine world

For us, August is a quiet month. We don’t have any young children in our immediate family, so we are spared the excitement of the school holidays, and for this reason, we don’t go on vacation then ourselves. 

We regularly walk past the local primary school on our daily perambulations, and in August, our route is devoid of the usual bustle, with the school itself having that slightly forlorn look that schools, without their children, tend to have. 

The clubs and societies that ‘Them Indoors’ belong to, often don’t have meetings in August, so the social calendar is quieter, although there are the occasional summer specials like barbecues and outings that only take place at this time of year.

And, if the weather continues with the sunny trend of the earlier summer months, it’ll be too hot to do anything active anyway. I shall be stretched out at a carefully calculated angle to the fan, thoughtfully adjusted floorward, quietly getting on with the business of summer snoozing. 

Anyway, quietness, for Border Terriers, is a relative term. As a breed, we tend to have quite a lot to say for ourselves and we are not afraid to share our views with the wider world you’ll be surprised to hear! 

When we were on holiday in our motorhome, we stayed on a site in Hampshire that had two Border Terriers in a caravan next to the dog walk, so they could have a vocal exchange with whoever was passing. 

When we moved on, to our next site on the Isle of Wight, the same two dogs also joined us there, so we were able to carry on our conversation. What are the chances of that! 

I have quite a deep bark for a smallish dog, and I do excited barking when it’s dinner time and when I’m playing with the apprentice, but otherwise I tend to keep my own counsel. 

Bear, on the other paw, has a shrill bark of a glass-shattering pitch that she tends to deploy when she is excited or when she wants something. 

As I am the senior fur, she knows better than to just take something of mine. Instead, she stands close by and uses what is affectionately known as her bossy bark, to try and get me to relinquish it. 

If this tactic fails, she pretends she’s heard something in the back garden and goes charging into the kitchen, barking. I dutifully follow, even though I don’t know what I’m barking at, only for her to double back and pinch whatever it was she wanted in the first place. She’s smart and sneaky, a worrying combination that is best kept quiet!