Gypsies tend to wander and keep to themselves, but not this one.
He ran, chased, and leapt in unconfined joy, unless he was sitting quietly while the rest of us lunched or sunned ourselves through a spring afternoon.
Gypsy was great at communing with humans, even by canine standards of companionability. He walked, ran and climbed and, as a Golden Retriever, would fetch a ball if he felt like it. Which he usually did.
I first saw “the Gyps” more than 12 years ago, when he arrived – a gorgeous pup – to live with our friends who live in a rural district an hour’s drive inland from Perth. This sort of debut is rather like the arrival of baby, except it’s more “outdoorsy” and the likely school fees are less frightening.
Gypsy was indeed fortunate to have a hectare of bush to run around in safely. Even if he had ever got over the fence he would have been a long way from traffic. However, as I say, a wanderer he was not. He was also lucky in having kind and attentive owners.