What my dog means to me

Hi, my name is Happy and I'm 7 years old. I'm a retriever cross and my Mum says that I'm part dingo. I don't really know what that means but it's something to do with the fact that I don't bark and I don't bury my food. Who wants to eat food covered in sand anyway? Not me. My little brother Dusty does. But he's silly, and he's not my real brother anyway, he just lives with me.

But we look alike and some people think that I'm his Mum! Which is silly because I'm a boy. But we get on ok, and we play chasey in the afternoons.

Anyway, my Mum said that some people needed an article on what I mean to her, and she wanted me to write it. I said 'shouldn't you write that?' and she said that she wants to know what I think. So, what do I mean to my Mum? I know what she means to me... but that's not what this is about. I'll have to think very hard.

I know that when I was born I stayed with some other people until I was 6 weeks old. Then my Mum drove in a car and picked me up and said she wanted to take me home. She gave some money to a lady and the lady said I could go. So I was 6 weeks old but I don't think of it that way, I think that I was actually born on the day I went home with Mum.

I also know that my Mum was 16 when she took me home, and that she wasn't having a very good time. She was having trouble at school because she didn't fit in. She used to sit by herself at lunchtimes. But then she told me that she started to feel happy after I came to live with her. Maybe that's why she called me Happy, I don't know. I think it made her feel better at school because she knew she had a friend waiting for her at home. And that made her relax a bit and then all of a sudden she had friends at school! So that was a good thing.

And now I'm 7 and I know my Mum feels bad sometimes because she works very long hours and gets home pretty late. She gets up before 5am! That's even earlier than me. I like to sleep in. But my favourite part is when Mum comes outside and says good morning to me before she goes to work. She wakes me up and I get out of bed and stand at the gate and watch her. She says good morning and says she hopes I have a good day and she tells me when she'll be home. I like to know when she's coming home because then I don't have to think about it, I just know.

Sometimes I come inside the house and I get my favourite treats - ham and butter. Mum says I'm getting fat and that she can't even pick me up any more! But then she says I'm beautiful and I sometimes think maybe she should say I'm handsome instead of beautiful, and maybe that's why sometimes people think I'm a girl. But really I'm a boy.

So I guess what I'm getting at is that even though I don't see Mum all the time, I know she's thinking about me and I know I'm thinking about her, so it's ok. Why else would she come outside in the mornings when it's cold and the sun isn't even up and get me out of bed to say good morning?