Cyril

katietrinder
Jan 14
4 min read

The 13th of January is a significant date in the Trinder calendar, it was the day that we bought Cyril home.

Cyril is our beagle and the second oldest of the Furry Ts and generally acknowledged as the naughtiest of all.

Let me take you back to the beginning. Me and my sister Lucy decided that the time was right for us to get a dog, dad already Barney and we decided we would get one between us and dad offered to help out when we had work committments or went away. It was dad who found the breeder selling Cyril, he had a litter of "puggles" - beagle / pug crosses. We made an appointment to go and look at them.

On a cold and frosty January Sunday we rocked up at a farm in Retford, to met by Janice, who told us "she couldn't shake our hands as she had eggs in her pocket and they weren't cooked" - Even 12 years on, I'm still not sure I understand her logic, but we are where we are.

We entered a beautiful, but very run down farmhouse, the Christmas tree was at halfmast, where a puppy had clearly sent it flying, the wallpaper was peeling from the walls and the dust sparkled in the sunlight as the puppies jumped on and off the sofa. I half expected Miss Havisham to limp in wearing her one shoe.

As puppies ran around causing general havoc, we both laid eyes on Cyril and that was that. Love at first sight. I'd always wanted a beagle ever since I was little and some friends of my mum and dads, Mr and Mrs Grice had adopted one who'd been tested on. I remember being horrified that people could do that to a dog.

I remember carrying him out to the car and dad saying "what's that?" to which we replied "a puppy" Dad said, "he's a bit big for a puppy."

Cyril was indeed a big puppy, which was more apparent when we introduced him to one year Barney.... they were the same size!

Beagle puppy and pugalier — Barney and Cyril's first meeting

That first night with Cyril, we put him to bed in his crate and off we went to bed. An hour later we woken by the a howling beagle puppy. Meeting in the hallway we both looked at each other. Going back into the kitchen, we took Cyril out for a wee and sat with him until he went back to sleep.

The next night, the same thing happened, only this time Cyril was wise to the fact that if he went to sleep, we would go back to bed. So he howled periodically throughout the night. It was the same story for the next 6 months. I began to think it would have been easier to have a baby, I'd probably have got more sleep.

Cyril was soon well known for causing shenanigans. He managed to avoid coming in from the garden for hours at a time, you'd be forgiven for thinking it was a big garden.... it wasn't, but he was better at avoiding capture than Lord Lucan! He would steal things and bury them in the garden, tea towels, dishcloths, mobile phones, remote controls, nothing was safe.

Cyril could swipe a plate of sandwiches off the table in under 5 seconds, he once ate some organic asparagus, which really annoyed my dad's girlfriend, I did warn her she was asking for trouble by leaving it unattended on the table.

"Dogs don't like asparagus" she proclaimed.

Cue Cyril with several spears of asparagus hanging out his gob proving he was indeed quite partial to it.

Cyril could open doors, he once opened my car window when I was stood by the car chatting to my friend.

The list of Cyril shenanigans is endless and firmly ensconced in Trinder family history.

BUT there is another side to Cyril, one that not many people have seen. In so many cases Cyril has been my saviour. Cyril is a very gentle and loving dog. He is amazing around children, once refusing to leave a little boy who was crying after he got his arm stuck up a drain pipe at Whitby Abbey. I know that sounds weird, but we were waiting to get on the open top bus, when this little boy got his arm stuck and start crying, Cyril was very distressed and refused to move until the little boy was OK.

He will sit very still whilst children stroke him. He is amazing with puppies, small dogs and cats. Flo-Flo and Beverley both hero worship Cyril. Flo-Flo is always taking him toys to play with and has even managed to mimic his beagle baroo. It makes me laugh every time seeing a chihuhua mimic it so perfectly. Beverley spends hours just sitting near him or watching him sleep. She also likes to groom him, very often going up to him when he's asleep and he's never once snapped at her.

With me, Cyril always knows when I'm upset or I'm having a panic attack. I go through phases where sometimes my panic attacks are quite frequent. When I'm having a bad spell, CVyril just seems to know. He will come and sit on my knee or by my side and just let me cuddle him until the feeling passes. Once he knows I'm fine he'll steal a tea towel just to reestablish order, or maybe to make me laugh.

Cyril is now 12 years old and an old boy, he's grey, a bit lumpy and bumpy in places and loves nothing more than a nap. Don't get me wrong he still loves his shenanigans, you can't leave food unattended anywhere he can reach it, he'll rifle through your handbag and is still prone to running around the garden with a dishcloth in his gob.

He seems to have an underground fan club of people who love tales of his shenanigans and I will always be the president of that fan club.

Happy 12th gotcha day Cyril, here's to many more years of shenanigans.