A lovely collaboration and friendship was born on Twitter. In July 2016 I met wonderful and talented Australian author Susan Day.

Susan invited me to write a Guest Spot for her comprehensive blog Mypuppyclub  “all you need for a happy, healthy, well-trained dog!”

What started as one blog post soon turned into my Sunday Dog Tales column as I wrote a post each Sunday until the 29th of April! 86 posts 🙂

Starting with Sunday the 6th of May I will be moving over to Susan’s exciting blog Astro’s Adventures Book Club!

My very first post written for Mypuppyclub was Tara, From “Gone With the Wind” to “Happy Friends”. Here is my last post for Mypuppyclub:

Bailey the Sea Dog

(inspired by a bunch of dogs we saw during our holiday in Ballito, South Africa’s Kwazulu-Natal North Coast)

In the little house with a brown gate, by the sea,

Lives Bailey the dog, his two brothers and one sister, Rea.

And two distant cousins, Scraps and Flea;

Six dogs and their owner – not me.

And if you think a home with six dogs is filled with glee,

Then you are… wrong. I know. Bailey told me.

In the house with a brown gate, by the sea,

Where six dogs live with their owner and nannie, Calliope,

Happy patter or paws, cheerful barks and… sticks from two trees

Are often seen and heard; as well as… balls; one, two, three.

For where six dogs live there ought to be some balls,

Some sticks to chew on and the rhythm of happy feet on wooden floors.

All day long Bailey, his sister and brothers, all six

Snooze in the sun, crawl to shade, bark and, occasionally, sneeze;

All along waiting for the hands of the clock to move past three:

The time when “daddy” comes home and they all go to swim in the sea.

All – meaning Bailey, the sea dog; the rest walk with dad, enjoying the view,

Run on the soft sand, fetch the ball and might, just might, jump a wave or two.

But Bailey! Every day he tries to become one with the sea.

White as the foam he is, restless like the waves he flees;

In and out of the swells Bailey jumps, spring, skips,

Although most of the time our brave dog swims licking his lips.

The cool waves, the blue sea, the pungent breeze

Is all he’s been dreaming of while snoozing at 30 Celsius degrees!

Bailey is in love, in love with the sea, the waves, the foam, and the winds

And all Bailey wants, is to swim in the blue deep, to surf the tides.

In and out he jumps; his tail is a flag, a rudder, a mast;

While his brothers chase the ball on the shore, Bailey is having a blast.

Only his sister, Rae, tries every now and then to bring him out of the waves;

You try to ask the swells to obey, the ocean to stand still and behave.

Bailey is one with the sea now; he is the jubilant spray atop the waves!

Thank you for reading!

You can find more poems like this one in my poetry books about dogs Puppy, 12 Months of Rhymes and Smiles and As Good As Gold, a dog’s life in poems both available through Amazon.