Comedy of Terriers - Introducing Tangle (Part 1)!

I haven't told you yet about Tangle - a much loved, but behaviourally challenged rescue dog that I gave a home, after the sad demise of my relationship with Mr. Dyson. At the time, I was feeling decidedly unloved and, having toyed with the idea of getting a hound for sometime, decided this was the right time. And, as an added bonus, I'd just read that Davina McCall met her husband dog walking - win win, or so I thought....

Tangle was 18 months old when I offered him my spare dog basket and came with a reasonable reference! What I hadn't factored in was the schizophrenic tendencies of a young terrier with 3 homes since birth and no training. I also hadn't factored in falling in love with the chocolate eyed shaggy bundle of frenetic energy, soon to be dubbed by my friends  the Terrorist Terrier, who turned my life upside down.

His arrival in my life was not dissimilar to the arrival of a bad date and I should not have ignored the signs when, on our first walk, he leaped on a startled passing Newfoundland in a flurry of growls before being flipped onto his back and pinned down by a giant black paw. As I soon discovered, the bigger the canine opponent, the more Tangle loved the challenge. Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed it somewhat less.

Not that I'm suggesting any of my dates have jumped on a Newfoundland and started growling (not even I've been that unlucky...yet), but their behaviour has often been on a par as you will have noted from earlier posts...

After our third walk, I decided that to preserve my sanity and the lives of other dogs quietly minding their own business, it would be prudent to keep him attached to me when out walking. Instead of a canine missile, I then had to contend with a barking banshee whirling on his lead, meaning that every other person walking within biting distance, gave me an extremely wide berth....so much for meeting a man out dog walking!

Of course, even though I realised very soon into my tenure as the responsible owner of a canine of mass destruction, that he wasn't going to make my life easy, I was not unused to taking on needy males...in fact, in those days I positively gravitated towards them so it was, that I convinced myself I could fix him and set about the task. The first casualty of the battle for supremacy between myself and Tangle was Time Delay..... I'll tell you why in my next post...