Ben Comes Home or the odyssey of an erstewhile Trail Hound..

Ben loved his mam - and his sisters and brothers (nine in all). He especially loved the way his mam licked his face with her sticky warm tongue and the way he could sleep in a pile with his brothers and sisters feeling their warm breath and body movements - it was bliss. What really made it heaven was the way the top dogs - the ones who walked on two legs with removable coats - brought them all warm milky sweet tea in the morning with some lovely soggy toast and honey - oohhh - that was sheer contentment.
Then, one morning when the days were becoming longer, he was picked up and handed to a strange top-dog in a flat cap who rode inside a strange animal with four rolling legs. Poor old Ben had noticed that his brothers and sisters had slowly started to diminish in number but he felt safe as he muzzled into his mam's tummy for comfort. But now he knew he was alone. He cried and cried for his family but was put into a shed where he met other, older looking dogs who had strange accents that he couldn't understand at first. He had no idea where he was. His breakfast was now kibble (dry biscuits) - no warm tea or toast, and the other dogs didn't want to know about his moaning and crying. One of the other dogs took pity on him and told him he was there to train as a racing hound - one that could run for miles following a trail over the fells and that good hounds were well treated - like gladiators. Ben didn't know what a gladiator was. He also didn't like to leave his family too far, so decided to make his new owner love him as his family. Whenever he saw him he would go to him and stand on hind legs and roll over and try to endear himself. The flat-capped top dog kicked him and pushed him back into the shed calling him a 'bloody wuss' - whatever that is! Anyway, time passed and he picked up from the other dogs that things were bad in racing due to foot and mouth - Ben didn't understand 'foot and mouth' - I mean, he thought, how can you run without foot and mouth? So why should 'foot and mouth' be so bad?
After what seemed a long time of living in the overcrowded shed, futile endearment tactics with top-dog-flat-cap and being walked with six others on leads around a place he heard was called 'Cleator Moor' the other dogs got very excited. The top-dog-flat-cap came with a number one tool to shave their coat, they were fed porridge and tea and there was talk of a race.......... Ben was very confused.
The day came - Ben was with the others on the starting line - flat-cap was saying nice things to them all, but especially to Ben, calling him 'Beauty' and 'My Lad' and stroking him with a passion that Ben mistook for something more .... something lost in his puppyhood...
The whistle blew - the hounds took off - Ben made a start - then turned back - why should he leave this master? He wanted to show top-dog how good a dog he could be - and was surprised when he was yanked into the back of one of the four wheeled animals with flat-cap shouting at him about 'shooting..'
Then - a white haired two legged dog came over and started to growl at flat-cap - they growled at one another for a while then white-hair took Ben to another place with other hounds and Ben was very frightened and confused.
White-hair had some friends - RenMan and RenWoman as it happens - who had lost a hound (another story) so he asked them to come and look at Ben. They brought the fearsome ex-police dog Cass just in case she didn't like him, but she did like him and he got a good feeling from Cass who told him to hop in the back of the four wheeled animal an stop wussing - so he did.
Ben settled very well into the homestead and enjoyed the other animals - strange furry cat creatures - one with three legs and a bossy one that ruled the house. But the best thing was joining his new 'mum and dad' for a morning cup of tea (he showed them how he like it and they caught on eventually)
Two weeks later, RenMan and RenWoman were walking Cass and Ben along the road from their (very warm) house in the village of the North Wind when Danny the local Trail Hound breeder was seen to be walking towards them with two very racing-ready hounds. On seeing the Rencrew one of Danny's hounds became uncontrollable - howling and yelping and breaking away from Danny. The hound ran towards Ben who was also in a very inconsollable state - Danny came running after with lots of apologies and not knowing why this very uncharacteristic event had occured. Then, to Ren couple's amazment he said 'That dog isn't called Ben by any chance is it?' Totally mystified at such powers of psychic ability Rencouple answered - 'Why - yes'.
'You didn't get him from the rescue place did you?'
'Why - yes we did'
'Well' declared Danny 'That's his mam! He's one of our last pups!!!'
After many tears of delight and lots of licks (between the four legged dogs) RenMan said:
'Can you explain why he likes a cup of sweet tea and toast in the morning?'
Ben now sees his mam and his sister every day as they walk past - Danny says of Ben:
'Ay, he always was a mammy's boy - a bit of a wuss'

Pictures available on request.. or when we work out how to put them on here