Bella. Jean Ure

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      In the evening, Bella sat on Mrs Jessop’s lap while she watched television, and at night she slept in Mrs Jessop’s bed, under the duvet.

      She only ever had the best to eat. Breast of chicken and fillet steak. Steamed fish or a poached egg. She never had bones, or common dog biscuits.

      “Only the best for Booboos!” That is what Mrs Jessop used to say.

      “Only the best, because Booboos is special. Aren’t you, my little sweetykins? My little Honeybun? A very special girly! And kissy, kissy, kissy! How her mummy loves her!”

      I’m afraid I have to say that Bella was a very spoilt little dog.

      Mrs Jessop had a daughter, whose name was Sophie. Miss Sophie is what Bella calls her. Sometimes Bella and Mrs Jessop would get into Mrs Jessop’s car and drive across town to visit her. Miss Sophie didn’t really like Mrs Jessop bringing Bella, because she had two dogs of her own. Bella and Miss Sophie’s dogs didn’t get on too well.

      The truth was, Miss Sophie’s dogs couldn’t stand the way that Bella kept boasting, and looking at herself in the mirror.

      “Of course, I’m a pedigree,” she would say, splaying out a paw to show her little pink nails, all polished and pearly. “You’re not pedigrees, are you?”

      She knew very well that they weren’t!

      “They were just ordinary mongrels,” she says. And then she remembers her manners, and claps a paw to her mouth.

      “There is nothing ordinary about a mongrel,” I tell her.

      At that, Bella looks ashamed of herself and assures me that she didn’t mean to be rude.

      I tell her that she really must stop saying these things. She hangs her head and admits that in the old days she said them all the time. No wonder Miss Sophie’s dogs didn’t like her.

      Miss Sophie’s dogs were called Millie and Kim. Kim was tall and scruffy, like a greyhound with long hair. Millie was small and spotted, with ears that stuck out sideways.