Ben
is special for a lot of reasons. First I will tell you how I came
upon Ben. I was having a drink in a local bar, a small place which if
full would only hold about 40 or 50 people but this night it was very
quiet. There were no more than 5 or 6 people there. The bar is in the
middle of the country so talk of hunting and fishing would not have
been out of the ordinary. I overheard a guy at the bar say how he had
a gun-shy dog and that the next day he was going to shoot him. I was
friendly with somebody who ran a animal sanctuary, and I stepped in
and said I would take the dog and give him to my friend at the
sanctuary.
The next evening I arrived over to his house to collect the dog and
leave him at the animal sanctuary. It was late so I took him home for
the night. He was very frightened and I tried my best to make him
feel welcome. The next morning I let him out to pee. Living in the
country it was and still is quite normal to let an animal out in an
open area to do their business! The phone rang, and when I got back
the dog was missing. Well, after looking and not finding him, all I
could do was to go to work. When I got home there was no sign of the
dog so I asked around the neighbours and nobody had seen him. I went
to bed and told myself at least he was probably alive. Lost, but alive,
more than he would have been if I had not rescued him. The next morning
when I woke, I decided to try to find him before work. I opened the
back door and he was there asleep, after finding his own way back, how
I will never know.
Ben must have been treated badly because if I lose my temper with him
and shout even now, seven years later, he will lie on his back and pee.
He is the only dog I know who is afraid of the post man. Last year I
left him for two weeks at my parents while I was on Holiday and the
neighbours phoned up to see where he had gone because I did not say I
was moving him for my Holidays. Everybody around my country home loves
him and if anything ever happens him a lot of people will miss him. Ben
is my friend and after a very bad start to life he is with me as long as
we live. He is now spoiled rotten, but I know he will never forget his
early days.
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