I was rather restrained not to christen this blog with a post about my hairy child and there was no way that any blog of mine, regardless of it's supposed theme (not sure this has one) could not mention our lurcher Elf so lets get this over and done with! He will be 14 in August and this photo illustrates how I still think of him (age 6/7) though in reality, these days, he is asleep for 23 hours of the day (excluding the times he gets us up in the night - thanks Elf) and struggles with a degenerative spine condition. He still has quality of life and even some puppyish moments on the rare occasion he is awake, but sometimes 'the mind is willing but the body is not' springs to mind - usually when he tries to show off on the local Rec!
I can't really explain how much Elf means to me. I got him at approx 6 months old after I graduated and at that time I felt rather lonely and lost. He gave me a focus, companionship and an interest. We walked for miles in our local woods - Norbury Park, he entertained me with his antics (mostly!) he trusted me and he gave me something to love. I feel a great responsibly towards him as he has been such a gentle and faithful companion. Having always been very clear on boundaries I think that now he is in his twilight years we can relax them a little and he has accepted this climb down graciously! Rachel's organic honey yoghurt is a favourite at the moment ( rookie mistake - I tried to switch him to Sainsburys basic natural yoghurt mixed with honey after he'd tried Rachels but he wasn't't having any of it!) and cocktail sausages seem infinitely more preferable to Bonios. He has accumulated many nicknames over the years; Elfred, Augustus Cornflake, Rigo, Mr Poo, King Crumb (due to the mess me makes with is biscuits) Goofoo (due to his undershot jaw) I think I'd best stop there because a) the list is seemingly endless and b) seeing them written down makes us sound a little unhinged! In short I feel lucky to have found him and I hope that some day he'll forgive me for thinking he was a rather mangy, knobbly and unattractive specimen when I first set eyes on him.
Age 13
Elf doing what he does best!
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