The D Wing

When our cat Toby recently became yet another sacrificial victim to our road's rat-run I decided he would be the last (in this house anyway). Time to consider getting a pet that can be kept securely in our apartment and garden, and taken for walks. So, a small dog (absolutely not the whippet in the picture above, soulful as she is), and not one of those poor, snuffling, abbreviated (or elongated & low-slung) creatures afflicted with inbred respiratory problems. No, something small but well-proportioned, a Jack Russell is what I'm thinking, one that is good with children and not too yappy.

Unfortunately the JRs were all booked at the Dog's Trust in Finglas. Amazing place though, very much designed to order; even the glass in the doors, including those to the (human) toilets, is in the shape of large vertical bones. And it is hugely busy. Everybody, it seems, wants a dog, one that is perfectly suited to their household, the missing dog-shaped piece in the family jigsaw.