Chapter 10: Meet Eddie

It’s time for the main man in my life to get a post of his own.

The man who has made the move from Hertfordshire to Dorset with me.

The reliable, loving and charismatic man, who knows exactly what he wants.

Eddie.

Eddie - a miniature wire-haired dachshund - has been in my life since 2012, which makes him roughly 84 years old in human years (1 dog year is 7 human years I’ve been told).

He’s a rather crotchety old man now, and not a fan of people - except yours truly. He’s very protective of me… only the other day did he take umbrage with the plumber for daring to enter our new home; he grabbed his shoelace and swiftly tried to guide him back to the door from whence he came.

It is mainly men that draw his wrath. While curmudgeonely, he will sometimes allow women to pet him (‘If you must,’ he would be saying while eyerolling), and has been known to accept being pushed in his pram by female friends. He wasn’t, for instance, going to turn down a lift courtesy of Emma up Colmer’s Hill.

‘Come on, woman!’ ‘Get me to the top pronto!’

You’ve now seen two pictures of Eddie’s pram… so I guess we should address it properly. I too used to be part of the contingent who found the whole premise of a dog in a pram ridiculous. That was until the move here. You see, Eddie used to live with my parents in Hertfordshire (whilst I was living and working in London), his life was mainly spent in front of the AGA and, aside from when to his dismay he was taken on walks (‘Mud! Wet! Dear Lord woman, what is this torture?!’), he did not get out and about much.

However, now he’s relocated, Eddie is a man about town… well, seaside village. He loves the beach, he loves the cliffs. When exploring with me during the day, he’s got a real joie de vivre.

‘Joie de what now, Alice?’

Probably not the best shot to illustrate his new lust for life, but trust me - he’s very happy! However, he is getting on now, his hearing and eyesight are not what they were, and he does get anxious. He doesn’t like being separated from me, but he also doesn’t like busy places or being on the floor. Under the table at a pub, no thank you!

After I broke my leg and had got through the crutches stage, I was still not overly stable whilst walking in the boot. I needed something to balance on… and Eddie needed something to make him feel more secure. Whilst on a call to my friend Bex, discussing the above, she suggested purchasing a dog pram. Agreeing that this was probably a good solution, I headed over to Amazon and dropped £60 on one.

And I - we - have not looked back. Sure, there are the laughs, and a few of the ‘I think there’s something wrong with your baby’ comments, but it’s a small price to pay for the difference it has made to Eddie’s life. He LOVES it.

I wheel him up the road to the cliffs, or wheel him down to the beach, he runs around, tires himself out, and then - through some pawing - requests to be put back in. I can put shopping in the bottom, there’s a coffee holder, it has a hood that you can zip up, it’s really light and collapsable - making it easy to fit in the car boot. It’s just brilliant.

The biggest difference it has made is for going out. Now, we can go to the pub and he is happy as larry in his safe haven. Rather than pawing at my leg trying to get on my lap, he happily snores next to the table in the pram.

So if you’re thinking about investing in a dog pram, I highly recommend them.

Here’s the one I bought. (Not an #ad).

Right, enough about the pram, back to the main man. While Eddie isn’t keen on socialising (I think he sees himself as more human than dog), he has been a real door opener to socialising. I get stopped all the time by people keen to know more about him (more eyerolling from him), and while I haven’t yet become actual friends with any of the people who have stopped me, it has been nice to have a range of interactions with new people.

Just yesterday a man called Tom stopped me to learn a bit more about Eddie. We ended up having a chat for 10 minutes - he now lived in what he called the ‘Terminal Dwelling Units’ (bungalows by the seaside), but had lived in Dorset since 1969 and before that had spent time living in the South West of France. He told me about various things going on in the village and that the library was looking for volunteers.

I had big plans on joining the running club when I moved, which - for obvious reasons - has had to be delayed. Then work and the Awards really took over, but now I’m back and settling in properly to Dorset life, I think joining some clubs is going to be on the agenda.

I shall let you know how I get on.

See you next time.

Alice + Eddie