Sausage dog

27th April 2025

Easter Monday and a bank holiday, the first of two this past week, and more than a few of the locals, and not so locals, celebrated it amongst the vines over the valley at Bastianelli. These events are becoming quite a thing, with cars filling not only the cantina’s limited car park but also the one for Mancini pasta next door to it, as well as lining the roads round about and, a new entry this year, filling an adjacent field. We, as usual, enjoyed the happening vicariously as the organisers were their usual generous selves in sharing the music with us – both DJ and live bands – as we spent the day at home doing odd bits and pieces and ordering a new door mat for Peggy.

There was a bit of a change to the weekly routine during the rest of the week, too. Stephen was told he could work at home on Wednesday, so he got on with the ironing in the morning and cut the grass in the afternoon. Thursday became Friday as the following day was the second bank holiday, La Festa della Liberazione and both supermarkets were closed all day, as was Rocco, so shopping and haircuts were moved up twenty-four hours. As for the afternoon, I had a new student, another one from Prosilas. Alessandro was as pleasant as all the others, but his English will need a lot of work.

It's just as well Bastianelli had their event on Monday as Friday would have been a washout with rain most of the day, not heavy but persistent. Yesterday we had one of our mini shopping tours in the afternoon, hitting eight different outlets, from the Chinese in Monte Urano to L’Erbolario in Girasole, for various bits and pieces followed, of course, by the all-you-can-eat dinner menu at YaYa Sushi. As for today, it has been a Sunday of varied fortunes. The weather turning sunny was a good thing; the iron giving up the ghost was a bad thing; Peggy’s initial training was a mixed thing.

Now she is settled in, and looks to be blooming, we thought it time to start getting some basic controls established, starting with “Sit!” The favoured method as given by various online sites is to take a treat, hold it near the dog’s nose then move your hand backwards. The theory is that the dog will lift its head and in following the goodie with its nose will automatically lower its haunches into a sitting position. Unfortunately, Peggy doesn’t seem to have got that note; instead of moving into a sitting position she just kept backing away on all four legs.

Stephen’s efforts in the morning weren’t helped by Harry hanging around, and though he set an example by sitting at the mere whiff of a bit of hotdog sausage, his presence was particularly unhelpful in grabbing Peggy’s full attention. When Stephen had another go in the afternoon he left Harry upstairs, where he cried and whined the whole time, loud enough for me to hear in the downstairs office. As for the training, there was some success. During the fifteen-minute session Stephen was able to entice Peggy to sit twice, leaving an awful lot of bits of sausage going spare. Let’s hope we get there whilst it’s still fresh.