Carting comedians

Now as my regular readers will remember, the tales of my predecessors are frequently told of an evening while we are chewing on the odd bone or enjoying a lie around swopping tales of the day, but today, for the first time ever I have seen a story that I will be able to tell my grand pups in days to come. The venerable Merlin has been carting since he was paw high to a wishbone , but today he lent his cart out to a beginner with hilarious consequences. We have a great uncle Clive who had a Bernese MD given to him when life was being cruel, first taking his wife and then her beautiful Leonburger from him. Well anyway he came by a very large dog he calls Echo who is now the centre of his world. If truth be told I would say there can't be much difference in what they weigh, but Echo thinks the sun shines out of his dads ears so it's not really a problem. In addition great uncle Clive has a son called Ian and they both help us out when we are planning any of our charity bashes. Now this year we are trying to raise funds with a charity walk and cart pull for the Veterans Charity (StDunstans) but our senior carting dogs are now too senior for the length of the walk, so it went out on the blogg and face book that we needed some new trainees. I applied myself but they keep telling me that I am too young. Now I know for a fact that by the beginning of June I will be taller than both Freya and Theia, and nearly as tall as Merlin so where's the problem? Anyway they say I can borrow a harness but not a cart and still walk around with them. Anyway, last week Merlin lent Echo a harness and a lump of wood to practice with, and then Great uncle Clive came and collected the traces, because Echo was doing so well. Anyway today was the big day.... The full works. Harness traces and cart all in the correct place with him providing the get up and go. Anyway between the three of them, Echo got harnessed up and went between the traces with no problems, and that's where the fun began....I was watching through the back door when I saw him do this bronco bucking jobby, closely followed by an attempted full pike with spin. Never seen two blokes move so quickly because they had hold of his leads. Think between them there were a full eight paws off the ground together, and Echo managed to jump back that far that the chest strap went over his head and he nearly escaped. It was so funny, I was laughing my head off but give Echo his due, he went for it again and the a third time. He made a very creditable performance in the end, but by then he was doing his best to break the speed limit. Merlin had also been watching and I think he felt a bit left out, so her indoors harnessed him up and gave him to uncle Ian so he could work with an experienced carting dog. The two of them set off at about twenty miles an hour. It's a good job that we all know the local pc or it would have been either a speeding or a parking ticket, but it showed uncle Ian the commands for turning corners , left and right, and also how to stop in a reasonable fashion. All in all a very entertaining morning was had by all. Anyway time to go out for a wander by the river.... Before it rains again or the pups wake up and grab every bodies attention. Got to say I am feeling a little bit left out, it's not till bed time that I get her indoors total attention, unless we are out walking of course..... But she does let me snuggle up on the bed for a treat. I thought Merlin would do it, but he usually goes to bed quite early these days so I don't need telling twice.... Mum says that as long as I ask and don't take it for granted then it's ok. Anyway I suppose I had better get on and do.... Cool runnings Gryff