Hello! We’re Archie and Dexter, English springer spaniels, also known as Senior and Junior Edit-paw-ial Assistants to Kate Hardy, our pet author (henceforth referred to as Mum). We’re half-brothers because we have the same father, and we’re exactly three and a half years apart in age. [Pet Author note: at the time of writing, May 2020, Archie is 3 and 3/4 and Dexter is 8 weeks.]
Archie says: so this is the moment I first met Pipsqueak, in our back garden.
I wasn’t very impressed with him. Apparently he’s 1/15th of my size. Mum had told us about social distancing because of something called Covid 19, so I took the rules very seriously and insisted on putting some distance between me and Pipsqueak. (Mum said it doesn’t apply to people who live in the same house, and he was my baby half-brother. I was no longer an only dog. It seemed that Pipsqueak wasn’t just a visitor: he was staying.)
I soon discovered that puppies are exhausting. They run around *all* the time, they yip when they want something because they don’t have any manners, and then there are the needle-sharp teeth! The only way for a dog to deal with the situation is to hop up onto the sofa (where the puppy can’t reach you, even if he does a bit of bouncing and yaps at you to come down and PLAY WITH ME NOW) and to maintain a dignified silence. Thankfully, puppies eventually crash out and sleep for ages, giving a Senior Edit-paw-ial Assistant a chance to catch up with Mum and check out the new toys in the house. (I’m not allowed to have squeaky teddies because apparently I shred them – hmm, isn’t that the point of teddies? But there are new squeaky tennis balls, which is a Very Good Thing. Pipsqueak has a tiny one that I’ve got my eye on. He likes my oversized one. We can possibly arrange a swap.)
Once Pipsqueak had crashed out, I had peace and quiet to think. I decided I ought to take charge and teach him a few things… And thus began the Pipsqueak Posts.