Season 1, Ep. 11

Mattie Mattie Mattie 

(Ref: Abba's 'Money Money Money')

Mattie. There has to be an entire week's post dedicated to this particular dog. You'll understand.
Cat lovers Vs Dog lovers. It's a never ending debate. Cat lovers will say that dogs are too needy and constantly seeking attention and exercise etc, dog lovers will argue by saying that cats are boring, only good for catching mice and too into themselves. Sure, both opinions are pretty factual, each to their own, we all have an opinion about everything in life (almost) anyway. If everybody on this planet agreed on everything in life we wouldn't have ended up with situations like, I don't know, um, WWI, WWII, Civil wars, all other kinds of wars, terrorism, 9/11 and the list goes on and on and on. Hashtag, I lost the point. Hashtag that escalated quickly. 
ANYWAY, Mattie. As an apparent dog lover, I say, what is wrong with dogs being needy? What is more wonderful than someone being in such need of you and only you. You are the only person that this dog is counting on to feel happy. I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure that half of you here are looking for something like the above in a person, well, a dog could be a good start to make you realise how great it is to feel needed. Love yourselves before you love someone else. Hashtag reminder. 
So I'm working as a dog carer and dealing with heaps and heaps of different dogs, clients, breeds, sizes, colours, personalities, ages, puppies, way too old ones...and then there was Mattie. A toy poodle, apricot colour as she was described at our client's file, with short curly hair and the cutest little nose. She was pretty much everyone's general favourite. She was just an example of a great dog. She listened, she always followed you around, so she was awesome off leash, she was always, ALWAYS in a good mood and if she grew fond of you, boy was she protective. By luck she ended up on my walks quite so often so we did grow fond of each other quickly but it was definitely the car rides home, as I would favour her a bit and have her on my lap, that strengthened the bond. No, I wasn't the driver, that would be risky now wouldn't it. Passenger seat, dogs at the back, Mattie on my lap. Simple.
One day I am given a new puppy with my pack and I am double checking that she behaves well off leash and that it would be safe to let her free in the park. Yes? Yes. Okay, so I did and next thing I know she is sprinting back, towards the exit of the park. Yes, SHMESH. Someone was probably giving me the wrong info about the wrong puppy. I try to entice the puppy back to me with treats, cute calls etc, as sprinting behind it will make it run even faster, unless you are Usain Bolt. Nothing. She kept running and running and as I am ready to let myself panic a bit, Mattie SOMEHOW, sensed what was going on and did the biggest sprint of her life, overtook the puppy and did a massive tackle so the puppy stopped. Puppy freaked out and decided to run back to me who was waiting with arms wide and LOADS of treats. To this day I don't know if it was just a game for her and it was pure luck, or she indeed sensed the tension and what was going on and indeed decided to help out. I like to think the latter. In my experience and I believe in everyone else's who loves and deals with dogs, we can agree on how intuitive they are. 
That was it. Since that day Mattie was my hero and even though she was the legend, I was a hero to her eyes too. On those notorious car rides where we dropped the dogs off home, if I had to be dropped off earlier to do other jobs, before she was dropped off home, I was told that she would cry non stop for 10 minutes about it. One day I received a snapchat of Mattie winging because I had to go. NOW ISN'T THAT ADORABLE?
So that's it. My top dog, whom I have left behind in good hands since I quit that job, and it was without a doubt the suckiest part about quitting, but as we said last week, it was long overdue.
The best part about Mattie. She twirled. Whenever she was happy about seeing me, she would get on her back legs and twirl. Twirly whirly Mattie Marques. 
You can witness this yourself here http://iconosquare.com/viewer.php#/detail/851606307067727547_178144162 (or on my Instagram page www.instagram.com/katerinageorgiou). Ta.