True story number thirty

Now I've told you about The Rat before.
You remember,Maggie, the SO's Norwich Terrier that thinks it's a Rotweiler.
The Rat has seen it all, done it all and if dogs bought Tee shirts he have a
dozen.
In Winter the Rat has a choice at outdoor antique markets. He can sit in the
relative warmth of the car or he can stand in inch-thick snow ready and willing
to launch into devcon five if Maggie gives the command (she hasn't yet, but he
lives in hopes).
When it rains he just stands there looking far wetter than he is and soaks up
the water and the fussing of every passing customer. When the coat becomes over
waterlogged he shakes and (I promise you he wasn't specially trained) always
seems to do so in close proximity to a French tourist. That's my boy!
So there we have it. A rough, tough dog with a capital D.
Then came the Dutch Tourist.
It was May, temperature in the 50s and surprisingly, not actually raining.
Maggie was doing her best to  convince a Canadian that of course he could take 
a
treadle sewing machine back as hand baggage, when she was tapped on the 
shoulder
by the Dutch Tourist.
"Have you been seeing your dog please"? said the DT.
"Huh?" Replied Maggie in her best London Tourist Office mode.
The DT expanded a little. "Your dog is being too small for colder weather. You
must take him in hot room now or he die"
Pausing only to rapidly work out the conversion rate from Canadian dollars to
pounds sterling, Maggie explained to DT that Dizzy was built to survive the
bleak Norfolk moors and was bred from stock that hunted in all weathers.
DT was not impressed. "You take home and give hot bathing now or I call many
polices"
Maggie has a breaking point. This was it.
She didn't tell me the words she used but I've had reports from other dealers
who were there, who tell me that many were fairly short and truely
international.
That night in one of her long e-mails to ISMACS representative Brenda Dean in
Australia, Maggie told the story of her run in with the ISACPL (International,
Self Appointed, Canine Protection League).
Brenda, sensing that Maggie was going to be fuming for days, defused the
situation with a little Internet humour
She sent the following poem:

Escuse me, Madame. Don't get in a tizzy,
I'm a well-loved dog and my name is Dizzy.
I have a fur coat to keep out the rain--
So just "bugger off: you're becoming a pain.

To any of you visiting London this year don't miss Portabello Road Antique
market. Call and see Maggie and say hello to the Rat -- he'll be there, rain or
shine.