Level Two. Lana the Pampered Pooch.

Level Two – Lana the Pampered Pooch.

By Michelle Lloyd.

Lana was a dog who had known hardship.  She had not always had a loving family to call her own.  Looking lovingly at the pals she had now in life, she hardly ever thought back to those distant memories of what life had been like before.  She knew each of their scents, each of their voices and she felt safe and secure with them, her humane family.

Having known what a life on the streets was like Lana was not too keen on being separated from her new-found family and this was why, any trip, with her had become a bit of an intriguing event in itself!  A walk with Lana meant fun, frolics and often a bit of a full on, full out fret about what and rather where the walking would lead.

Out on Walkies, there was no negotiation at all because Lana led everyone!  This was a family recognised fact, if Lana was going for Walkies then she meant it.  She took New One and Dad or Mum, depending on whose turn it was, on the walk, rather than they take her and that was how Lana could ensure that they stayed within her scent and sight.

On one occasion Lana had been a little too excited for a walk and it had taken New One, his Dad, his Mum and his Grandma all to pull her out of the next door’s flower bed and back on to, where she should have been, which was the pavement.  The problem was that Lana loved her walks so much that she felt everyone should be a part of it and so if she decided that the flowers looked particularly fragrant at that particular time then she would take everyone along with her to smell, the aforesaid, roses.

Lana and her walks were legendary.  It did not matter if she would get muddy because it was what Lana did on her walks that would become later focuses of discussion for the family.  Muddy Lana had become a bit of a talking point and it had been decided that she needed a bit of a pampering perk in her existence.

Muddy, water disliking Lana, was not the most agreeable when it came to bath time and so the professionals had to be called in.  That was how the Pampered Pooch patrol landed at the door and Lana was swept up into their experienced and rather eager arms.  Lana was pulled, it had to be said, quite reluctantly into their supervision and for once she did not seem at all up for that particular Walkies.  This walk took her into the land of pampering, for it was there that thoughts of Lana were taken to tufted towels, scented shampoos and all manner of gadgets and dog cleaning gismos.

Lana was not at all used to what was she heard several times referred to as pampering, about it she was not at all sure and understand it she did not.  Off went her extra and much loved lengthy lock of hair or rather fur, on went the peculiar smelling gels and in she went into a contraption that she did not like at all.

Prodded, patted and pestered was Lana and each minute to her felt like an absolute age.  So far she had been got at with rather horrendous fur taming treatments, submerged in one of her pet hate’s of water and finally left for a second or two under the dryer and Lana decided enough was enough.  Where was her dignity?  It was in her oversized pooch towel that she decided to protest about her pampering and pull she did from under the dryer…only unbeknown to her pull she did rather a lot of equipment with her and as she slid out of the sight of the two pamperer pests that had been inflicting her with all that pampering she made for an exit with the towels, cap and dryer in tow.

All Lana could think about was getting back to her family and to New One.  It was her aim, her focus and as she went she hardly even felt all the pampering equipment that she was taking with her.  Up the street went Lana, the towels, the rather attractive I’m Having A Doggy Pampering Session logo cap and the dryer.  On they went across the lawn, the side bushes did catch the towel but Lana was not one to be stopped and so she kept up and on towards the door of her house.  Not to be side-tracked by those tempting flowers of Mr Next Door was she, not this time, because Lana had been through trauma and the only people who could make it ok again were her family.

Quite a sight, it has to be said, was there on the street with a determined dog running up to the door, stray towels strewn over bushes, and in pursuit of her were the now rather harassed looking Pampered Pooch people.  Lana kept going and only when she was nose to door did she finally flop flat out in a greeting to Mum, who had appeared in time to see her collapsing at the front of the house.  Panting Lana with tongue slightly lolling to one side, a tired expression in situ and a part of what used to be a dryer and a I’m Having a Doggy Pampering Session cap sat tilted on her head.  Not at all sure that the session had left her any cleaner than before as her hurried escape had meant that her muddy paws were evident for everyone to see, the Pampered Pooch people hurriedly popped an enormous bow on top of the put out Lana and while Mum could see the funny side of it, Lana was not at all one to see the fun side of pampering.