shaggy dog story

Her double in a photo by Johnnie Essex:
www.flickr.com/photos/19090567@N03/3795137534/in/photostream

This dog looks just like my old mutt,
Dusky, shaggy and scruffy.
No-one knew what breed she was
But she was waggy and wuffy.

Now that's a rhyme of the very best, confirming my worst fears.
I feel it in my bones and chest; you are the great Pam Ayres.

This shaggy dog is the absolute double
Of my old dog, Dusky, a bundle of trouble.

I found her one morning, looting my bin,
So I gave her a pie and took her in.

Her owner went crazy and gave me a clout,
But I paid for the dog and sorted it out.

She lived with me then for the next fifteen years,
A constant companion through all of my fears.

We had lovely walks in the woods most days,
But this didn't cure her vagabond ways.

She ran off to the chip shop, the naughty hound,
And her broken leg cost me fifty pound.

She raided Bill's kitchen whenever she pleased,
And came back with chicken and blocks of cheese.

And her unplanned pups were crossed with the best,
The pedigree labrador, Star of the West.

But then at the dog show, and I'm not blagging,
She won first prize for the best tail-wagging!

Her playmate was Trixie, so happy together,
And they swam in the river whatever the weather.

She slept with the cat, side by side on my bed,
Till one fateful day he was shot in the head.

Just kids having fun on a council estate,
But Dusky she pined for her feline mate.

And her eyes had gone cloudy and her legs had grown old,
And she no longer heard me, to come when I called.

So the following year I laid her to rest,
With her friends in the wood, in the place she loved best.

And they lie there together, two dogs and a cat,
But the secret location, I'll not tell you that.