Dog Squad Blog – Boydog the Almighty

Boydog the Almighty

Tania Grange is the chef at the delicious organic food company ‘Mish Mash’, here in Souni Village, Cyprus.  Thanks for sharing some of Boydog’s story with us this week Tania.

Once upon a time there was a little dog called Boydog. He may have known he was a dog and he probably knew he was a boy, but he didn’t know he was a Boydog because he hadn’t yet met the family who gave him that name.

Boydog lived in Souni, Cyprus. He somehow got lost of mislaid from his home; if he ever had a home. He felt at home following people with their fur babies on walks around the village. Some of these people even gave him a name, but none of them took him home. He had the unfortunate habit of chasing cars and when seen in action, it’s surprising he’s alive today. Boydog accompanied people on their walks and chased cars for the first seven months of his life.

One day, Boydog stumbled across a garden. This garden had no perimeter fences or gates, so he entered for a little look around. Now, what he didn’t realise was that this garden belonged to cat people. Cat people are not usually dog people too. They give excuses as to why they would never own a dog.

‘Cats are easy,’ they said. ‘They can look after themselves, don’t need walks, and can be left with a neighbour to feed them when their family are away.’

These particular cat people look at dog people in different ways. They get angry when they see dog poo in the street or are awoken in the night by loud barking. They mock people who won’t go on holiday because their dogs will miss them and don’t want to put them into nasty kennels (or good ones for that matter). Dog people are just silly.

Boydog was chased away from the garden by the cats who lived there. He was ignored by the family who lived there. Everyone who lived there just hoped he would latch onto a dog walker and then disappear. This wasn’t happening and Boydog just hung around looking very doggyish. He followed the cat people when they went out to the pub, then met them back at their garden when they returned. Boydog wasn’t going anywhere else.

The man of the house started to like little Boydog and now gave him that name. His logic being that it was a he dog and wasn’t staying, so didn’t merit or deserve a proper name. The lady of the house was getting quite used to Boydog being around. The cats had stopped chasing him away and didn’t seem to mind him being there. But the teenage daughters demanded he go. They were not dog people, they did not like barking and they certainly did not like dog poo.

So, the day came when a decision was made and Boydog was taken to a dog sanctuary, by the very sad man of the house.

The conversation went something like: ‘I’m so sorry, Boydog, but you know we’re not dog people, and I can’t persuade the family to change. As you say in your language, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, and I can’t train our family to be dog people.’

Boydog didn’t answer the man of the house – I don’t think he understood English at this point.

The cat family sat at home wondering how things were going at the sanctuary. The daughters were happy, but the lady felt sad and very sorry for both Boydog and the man of the house. She secretly hoped that Boydog would come back.

Exactly what happened at the sanctuary remains a well-guarded secret by the man of the house to this day. But they both returned, and the man reported that the sanctuary was overflowing with strays and they couldn’t take in any more dogs.

The family were due to fly to New York that week so were in a predicament. They accepted that they were no Boydog’s owners, but their home was not a dog house (well, only for the man of the house who had been put there by his teenage daughters when he returned from the sanctuary). Everyone agreed that it would be awful if anything happened to Boydog while they were away and, being non-dog people, thought that tying him up on a very long rope might be the answer and asking the neighbours to check on him and feed him twice daily.

As they drove back from the airport after their holiday, who should be running down the road, but Boydog. He was thrilled to see them return and knew that changing these humans into dog people would be one mighty challenge. But he vowed to give it his best shot.

To be continued…