Cockapoos and the Water Dog

While we were away on our boat cruise I went for bike ride with Mrs Demon (she doesn’t like being called Tigger). We headed off down a lane where we were told there was nice pub. Round a corner a notice, painted on an old piece of board, offered “Cockapoos for sale”.

Cockapoos are dogs. They are what people call a cross between a poodle and a cocker spaniel. They could be called poodaniels I suppose. There are other crosses too, like Labradoodles. And Great Danehunds and Dachsations I expect. No, actually I don’t think those are possible.

We were dog people once. We had a Labrador who did nothing but eat, so we got a Springer to liven it up and that did nothing but hurtle around, watched by the Labrador between mouthfuls. Sometimes we feel that we might to close to Another Dog. This outing reminded me how terrifying close that other dog might be. Mrs Demon’s bike stopped dead in a cloud of dust and we went into the farmyard to see the dear little things. Fortunately they were all males. No way is Mrs D having another male around the place. Not with me and three sons. So we said our goodbyes and headed for the pub. We were just a willy away from some mewling, puking, barking creature taking over our boat and our lives.

When we got back to the boat a couple came along, with a sheep. Only it wasn’t a sheep, it was a Spanish Water Dog (Perros de Agua Espanol). It’s a very loving and loyal and hard-working breed, used for hundreds of years in the mountains and ports of Spain and Portugal for herding and guarding sheep and goats, and retrieving from water, said the man. The idea was that it blended in with the flocks, and then went for the wolves when they attacked. It looked like a sheep; it had a tight curly coat like a sheep, it was oily like a sheep, and it had a tail like a sheep, but it was a dog. And it was bilingual. “Sit!” said the man, and the dog sat. “Sentado!” said the man, and the dog sentado-ed. It’d be no good up in the hills where we live, I said. Go to market with that and the farmers would think you daft, buying a dog in sheep’s clothing. It’s very obedient and affectionate, and it loves water, said the man. Perhaps we should get a water dog, said Mrs Demon.