I really wasn't looking for another dog when Agnes came along. The year before, I'd jokingly told Daria, “Oh, just need a tri and a brindle, and then I've got one of every colour.” I'd completely fallen in love with Daria's tri-colour girl Ellie, so I knew if she had a litter that'd I'd want one of her pups, “If there's a tri-colour girl, maybe, but if not, no, no, no. It's obviously not meant to be.” And then there was a litter of five. All tri-colours. And just one little girl. So she had to be mine, didn't she?
You just can't beat those early weeks with the little floppy ears!
Oh, she was just delicious. She's got these lovely symmetrical markings, a really nice separation of black and tan and a little bit of white on her face, and she was just a little bundle of chaos and mischief from the minute I saw her. Being raised with five boys, she was something else. When I actually went to meet her, my friend and I just sat in the pen with all the puppies. Agnes came over, had a little play, went off and did her own thing, came back and eventually had a little nap on me. She was confident and independent but interested in me, and already had that little Court Jester about her.
One of her brothers, though, was pure chaos. I remember looking at my friend, who has had dogs all her life, and we literally looked at each other and went, “Who's taking that one?” because, oh my God, he was a handful. Compared to him, Agnes seemed positively sensible!
Driving home snuggled in the back, and yup, already the needle teeth have made their mark on my arm!
The journey home was less successful. Lyra had been sick once on the journey home, but Agnes, bless her, was a total chunder pup and just kept throwing up. She was quite unsettled, although she didn't cry, and slept for a lot of the journey. Then she arrived home to three dogs: Max, Lyra and my foster dog Daisy, so there was a lot going on.
We did careful introductions in the garden, with Agnes in a pen and each dog coming over one at a time. Max was, unsurprisingly, very, very, very interested and had to be watched because he got a little too excited. Lyra was the one I was most worried about because she is very much in control of every situation, but she was an absolute babe. She loved Agnes immediately, almost as though she'd decided, “Oh, Mummy bought me a baby!”
Daisy was the one I was really cautious about. She's a Patterdale with a very high prey drive, and because of things that had happened with cats in the past, I was worried about bringing a tiny puppy into the house with her. For the first four or five weeks, Agnes and Daisy were never left alone together. Daisy stayed behind the baby gate when I wasn't there, because Agnes was tiny enough to literally walk underneath her and I just didn't want any accidents.
And then, somehow, they became the best of friends. They absolutely loved each other. It was beautiful watching them play and grow up together. At first Agnes could walk underneath Daisy, and within six months Daisy could walk underneath Agnes! But Agnes always loved her Daisy, and they got on so well.
Agnes with her Daisy
And Agnes herself? She has always been the silliest dog I have ever known. She is just so stupid, honestly, but she makes me laugh every single day. She doesn't take anything seriously. She's obstinate and headstrong and insists on doing everything her own way. She'll go months without an accident and then decide that it's raining and she'd rather just piss on the carpet. She's nearly two and still occasionally does it, despite my best efforts. My mum always says she has such a sweet face but there's a little demon inside, and honestly, she's not wrong.
Agnes being a beautiful sofa pretzel
But there's another side to her that I really love. When we're out, she's very focused on me. Her recall is still patchy, so I'm sensible about when she's off lead, but when it's just me and Agnes I'll often let her off. The other day she ran towards some dogs, then suddenly stopped and looked back because she'd realised how far away I was. When one of the dogs started bounding towards her, she came running back to me so fast. For all her independence and silliness, she does take a lot of confidence from me, and she does care where I am.
And then there are her noises. Agnes is a very chirrupy dog. Max is pretty much mute, Lyra has her little chirrup, but Agnes has a whole repertoire. My favourite is her yawn. She cannot yawn without making this tiny little chirrupy squeak as the yawn finishes. It's just the sweetest little peep, and it is so completely her.
Until recently, she also had one very special person she would baroo for. I was seeing someone for six months and Agnes absolutely adored him. When he arrived, she would get so excited, and if you said, “Do you love him? Do you love him, Agnes?” she'd start barooing, basically declaring her undying love for him. It was beautiful, although also a little sad because you can't explain to a dog why someone they love isn't coming around anymore. They don't understand that. They just know their favourite person isn't there.
Hopefully she's happy enough with her mummy still.
I'm still waiting for her to baroo for me. 😂
And honestly, that feels like a pretty good place to leave Agnes' story for now, because this is my little Court Jester we're talking about. Beautiful, silly, stubborn, slightly demonic, endlessly entertaining and completely, utterly Agnes. 🧡🐾
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