Frank & Dannie's New and Improved Sad Mad Chukkie Site

Just humour me, OK?

This page was really just a self-indulgent look at our two dogs, Pippa and Bobby, but we lost Pippa to a Hit and Run driver in December 1999, so I've given her her own special page here: Pippa. We adore them to bits so we thought it would only be right and fitting to give these two little chirpy fellas a little airtime along with the chukkies! First, Lady Muck!

Pippa

Pippa is a Blenheim Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (what a mouthful!) and was born on October 2nd 1990. We know this because we have the Kennel Club certificate which also tells us that her KC name is Mistress Jenna. What a load of old codswallop! I'm sorry, but I don't hold with all this crusty twaddle about pedigrees. When you start going down that road you start treating your dogs as commodities, and I've seen them at dog shows. You just know they're going to punish the dog for coming second instead of first. (Don't send me your hate mail, just go out and get yourself a sense of humour!)

Pippa Anyway, Pippa came to us when she was just a year old because a friend of mine who is a bit of a dog rescuer discovered that the thug who owned her (why do such people get dogs?) was jealous of the relationship between the dog and his wife and was going to do away with her. Talk about a poor self image! Anyway, my friend Andy called and said I had 15 minutes to make up my mind. I looked at Dannie. Dannie looked at me. We said yes. 30 minutes later Pippa was with us, wagging her tail and happily sniffing around the room. That was all there was to it, we weren't giving her up for anything!

Bobby

In early June 1996 we decided Pippa needed a playmate. There's a superb RSPCA Animal Rescue Centre near us at Wethersfield in Essex, and one Sunday we took a drive there to see if there was a sort of Pippa-dog whom we could rescue. After chatting to us for a while the lady in charge, Maxime, described the dogs she had available at the time, most of whom were larger dogs in advancing years, and many of whom didn't like animals or children (there's a difference?). We didn't feel we could make a choice at that time and were about to leave when the lady said:
"Well, there is just one abandoned little lad who's only just arrived..."

Bobby She showed us to the pen that little Bobby shared with another dog. It was weird, all the other dogs in the kennels were barking and making a fuss, as if they were saying "Take me, take me!". But Bobby just sat there, a little black mongrel pup with a stubby tail (the result of a bad docking), looking up at us with big appealing eyes. Well, the decision was made there and then. No, I don't mean we chose Bobby. Bobby chose us. It's as simple as that. Of no distinguishable breed, but with as much lurcher/terrier in him as anything else, he's brought a whole new meaning to the concept of housework! And we should have re-named him Bosch... he's just got a way of shaping wood with his teeth!

Animals... they're worth it.

Our Friends' Luvverly Dawgs...

Zoë & Babet in Bennekom, Holland
Waf, Cody & Flossie, Finchingfiled, Essex
Bonzo, Bosie & Alfie, Galleywood, Essex
Toby, two doors away in Chelmsford