A Village Of Dogs


There is a another list of village characters in Trelawnyd. So far they have only been mentioned in passing , for the likes of Gay Gordon, Trellis ( the artist formally known as Mrs Trellis) and Jason the affable despot  have all taken centre stage On Going Gently. But living in the 200 odd houses within the village boundary at least sixty varied dogs share their lives with a cross section of Welsh villagers.

Firstly, there are the rural working and farm dogs, many of which are alert, on edge and protective of their owners and land. Farmer Basil's dog is a case in point here, for he sits sharp eyed next to his master in the farm pick up ready to snap at any untinking passer by who ventures a hand through the window.
Farm dogs are not like home dogs, they cannot be treated the same.

There are dogs that never seem to be walked  like the two aggressive staffies that reside in the bin bag windowed House and the ones that you meet every day with their owners trotting energetically in the wet lanes and streets. Trellis' whippet, Blue and the police house's Lilly both sport natty coats when  out and both stand gently and quietly by their master's sides when I come trolling up with our pack.
Things are much more frenetic when we meet Pippa and her mongrels and Terry from the flower Show and his pugnacious Yorkie, then both sets of dog packs  yap and bark at each other with some gusto. Dogs on leads love to play up loudly, I always think.

Two lovely looking Scotties live on the new estate, and a proud English bull terrier will always say hello with a confident and smiling good nature  on the few times we meet up .
I always smile too, when the nervous Shih Tzu , who is owned by the old guy from the pensioner bungalows , sees us when he is trotting around the concrete paths . He disappeares inside , as quickly as a Mexican extra from a Spaghetti Western.

Another Welsh terrier , called Seren , can be often seen perched on the knee of  Gwyneth in her electric wheelchair and the lovely Black Labrador puppy Podrick is out everyday being trained by his conscientious  owner .

Winnie is the only bulldog in Trelawnyd by the way.
60 odd dogs in a tiny village
Says something for the power of dog friendship eh?



56 comments:

  1. then winnie is a star! you are my first read of the morning at 6:23a, coffee in hand, not awake yet.

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  2. You better start snapping pictures when you meet all the Trelawnyd pups on your walks. WHEN you write your book it will be great to see the real characters!...hint hint!

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  3. One of the cutest pictures you've ever posted. I love the alert ears. And of course Winnie is the only bulldog - she definitely one of a kind!

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  4. When I was out being walked by Len the other day, we met a chap with four perfectly behaved (if rather snooty) Beagles and a crazy-ass pug with a muzzle/mask thing that made it look like Hannibal Lecter. I have never met a Winnie on my travels, would very much like to.

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  5. I can see a series of posts, through the eyes of the pups. My favorite in my building is the dachshund on the ground floor, owed by the wiener dog lady.

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  6. This is yet another reason to live in that wonderful village.
    I live in New York State farm country .. one would think dogs would be everywhere .. but strangely ( to me ) the only dogs I see are those who belong to the "Summer" people .. labradors and golden retrievers .
    I can't wait to sell this house- leave this area- find a new home - get a dog : )
    The cats will be thrilled.
    I love it that Winnie is the only bulldog .. although if there was just one other, you could blame it when Winnie leaves something on the middle of a neighbors carpet.

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  7. It's fascinating walking about with a group of dogs you get all sorts of different reactions from other folk out with their dogs, mostly good but on occasion we get a black look and their 'precious' is dragged unceremoniously as far away from our lot as possible. Of course to meet any other dogs we have to take ours into Llandudno for a prom walk or up the road towards Llanrwst where there is a great footpath that runs parallel to the main road, so they don't get to meet too many other dogs on a daily basis.

    When they do meet others, it's usually a mad tail wagging sniff at every end and in Mavis' case she has to check she can jump higher than any of them!!

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  8. We promised each other that we would get a dog when we have both retired and or our cats have passed on....not that I want the cats to go but can't imagine them with a dog......mind you I can imagine being retired!

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    1. libby, I have always had cats and dogs .. right now only cats but the dog will come soon. I remember worrying about my old cat when we got a puppy. Then we came down to the kitchen one morning and found the two of them asleep, together, in the pups crate. They were lifelong best friends.

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    2. I worried too. The first day we brought the pup home, both cats left very quickly. A bowl of chicken soon tempted them out from under someone's hedge and back into the house. I shut them in with the dog after that. The following day, one of the cats curled up beside the pup in the dog's bed and they slept together every day after that. The other cat wasn't so friendly but they built up an understanding that so long as the dog didn't get too close, she wouldn't get her nose scratched by the cat! They soon sort out the pecking order.

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    3. Albert stayed on top of the kitchen cabinets for 2 months

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  9. "Pugnacious Yorkie" is a term I rather like!

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  10. Matching dogs with owners can lead to surprises. In queue at an airport security line, I noticed an expensively dressed matron hauling a Vuitton dog carrier. When she pulled out its occupant, I was astonished to see a much stitched and bandaged mutt. The Grande Dame held her head high and announced to all: "Rescued bait dog. And if I ever catch the bastards that did this, well...!" I mentally apologized to her for an unkind assumption and aided her cause by lifting her roller bag onto the belt. Brava!

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    1. It does us all a bit of good to get our assumptions put in check. I have been in your place. Brava to that lady indeed!!!

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    2. Good for the grand dame

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  11. Lovely photo and post John. Over the years I have made some very good friends by first meeting them when dog walking. Can't imagine how it will be when I am no longer able to have dogs - they are such wonderful, faithful companions.

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  12. You can always trust a dog's judgement. Your village must be a safe and secure place to have so many willing to tolerate the humans.

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  13. Sounds like our kind of village, John!!

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  14. if teddy lived there everyone would quickly learn to pass her by and never make eye contact and for gods sake, never stick a hand out to her.

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  15. You can tell much from a person by the dogs they keep.

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    1. What can u tell about my personality gail?

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  16. "A world without dogs is like a world without sunshine" I can't remember who said that... oh it was me!

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  17. A bevy of barking beauties!

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  18. Rex, my Border Collie, would love a walk through your township. He can be quite the social butterfly at times. (yet, at other times, he just wants to walk and sniff and ignores everything but smells).

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  19. I love that you know so much about the neighbourhood dogs!

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    1. Did you do a post on neighbourhood dogs steve?

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  20. Cute picture! Sometimes a neighborhood of dogs is a good thing and sometimes it's not. On a warm, moonlit summer night, the noise of the baying and barking can keep a body awake - Dogs and coyotes alike letting their presence be known.

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  21. What a great post today. I love the photo.
    When Son walks The Square Ones, he would get waves from cars a quick hello, where have you been, we miss the Scotties. The sadly sweet I miss seeing Watson.
    I do the same when I drive by.
    Even in our car lifestyle, it is so nice to connect.

    cheers, parsnip and thehamish

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  22. That is a lot of dogs!

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  23. That photo, those faces. Perfect!

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  24. What a fun filled hamlet! I can only walk 1 out of our 3 at a time (too much to handle) and for now most of our energy is training our lab/mastiff cross (Karma) when we are out and about. A village with that many dogs would make her very happy indeed! :)

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  25. Great picture of the dogs. What about the cats that might be roaming in your town. Surely Albert isn't the only feline. Can you tell I'm a cat lover???

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    1. He is the only cat ( apart from the feral churchyard cat) in this part of the village

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  26. My poor Pup was neutered and everything was fine until we moved to Buenos Aires. Where they really don't believe in neutering males that much and they teach the dogs to walk off leash and then ignore them when they go all nutty and hump someone else's poor neutered dog... Standard Poodle ... Poor Pup.

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  27. That seems like a large number for a small village! It makes me happy to see any animal being cared for and cared about.

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  28. Our village is smaller than yours John with only about 120 houses, but plenty of dogs around. One family have three rough haired Jack Russell's and there are quite a few other Jack Russells. A few spaniels and a scattering of labradors. Quite a lot of gun dogs too and a Hungarian Vizla. I like to think of them all as residents just as we are.

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  29. You can't go wrong with dogs. Unless you have an epileptic fit and they take exception to it.

    Dogs are dogs.

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    1. Or you die on the toilet and no one comes around for a week

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    2. And the dog eats you.

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    3. I should know better than to eat while reading blogs .. some blogs .. blech ...

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  30. Sadly that English bull terrier ( Archie ) died a few weeks back 😖 he was a lovely dog , he had been poorly for a short while But was only a young dog .....anyway , Happy New Year and all that 🎆

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    1. Oh no..he was a lovely character......i forgot to mention your two jason.....HOOPER AND BRODY
      WHAT film did you enjoy in the 1970s?

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    2. JAWS....hooper was played by Richard dreyfuss and brody was Roy scheider

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  31. So this is what the saying "going to the dogs" means, eh?

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    1. Mike , I had to google the phrase as I had no idea where it came from
      http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/go-to-the-dogs.html

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  32. I think we have here 120 houses and 50 dogs, my bulldog hates each one of them,so sorry about that.

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  33. It also says a lot about the power of kindness of the folk. :)

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  34. Love the photo. I have two poodles and they were recently groomed complete with a red festive bow on top of their heads. The bows are only worn for a short time. As I walked the dogs home I passed a very large group of high school students returning to school. I rather feared the onslaught of comments about the dogs with their bows. To my surprise many comments were made but they were all kind comments .

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  35. Great post. Thank you.

    _____________________
    American Actor HD Wallpapers

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  36. I loved hearing about all the dogs in your village, but then I would, being a dog nut. :)

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  37. I love any animal with four legs, especially dogs, and also love all animals. you have a whole menagerie.. the village sounds like the place to be.... our beloved Max was a dog in my husbands truck, that no one could put their hand in. once at the gas station a man said to Bob. can i pet your dog? bob says if you can get in that truck you can have it. here's the keys. the man backed off

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  38. Your village sounds like a grat place to live in my book.

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