There is a rather lovely cartoon, of dubious theological veracity, showing a puzzled man before the judgment throne on which is seated a dog in glorious white robes, saying: “The joyful, loving, eternally forgiving nature of dogs never tipped you off?”
It will resonate with many companions to dogs. Our family has always had dogs, but none so delightful as my current border collie-labrador cross, Nessie. I call Nessie my Mary Poppins dog, “practically perfect in every way” – joyful, loving, eternally forgiving, in fact. I’ve lost count of the times strangers have said “what a happy dog”.
Barney Zwartz and his dog, Nessie, a border collie-labrador cross.
Proud recipient of the advanced obedience certificate, she is also officially the cutest dog in our suburb, an award conferred at the 25th anniversary of the local native reserve association in 2019. Held in pouring rain and bitter cold, only 25 dogs and their companions turned up, and I suspect Nessie won for her friendly nature as much as her undoubted canine pulchritude.
A good friend’s Australian shepherd came second, despite his overwhelming confidence before the event. So I secretly bought a trophy online ($15), brought it to our morning walk, and gloated. Excellent value: he was jealous for days as I’d delicately needle, “I wonder why no trophy for second?” – until after a week I confessed. (The real prize was a pig’s ear.)
