Bambi and Fred · Shoot the Dog, Volume Two
Bambi was delivered by Santa
Some dogs arrive by car. Some come home from a rescue, or a farm, or the back of a ute. Bambi arrived by Santa.
The family wrote it down for Shoot the Dog, Volume Two, and it is still one of our favourite opening lines in the book:
Bambi was delivered by Santa one December after being listed number 1 on the wish list.
Then came a problem nobody had put on the list. Bambi was lonely.
A boy, a pug and a lot of research
Bambi's human brother, Indy, made an offer most parents would remember for a long time. He would give up his video games, and his savings, for a pug.
It was not a whim. The family's page says that after hours of research, he found Fred.
From there, Bambi and Fred did what good friends do. Their page describes their days as play, mostly a good wrestle, and then lying down together to sleep. Human friends, the family admits, are not quite as popular as they used to be.
There is one habit the children of the house would rather not discuss. Bambi and Fred kiss, like a girlfriend and boyfriend, and the kids find it a bit gross. The two of them will also answer to each other's names, which tells you how close they have become.
On the beach and on the pier
In the book, Bambi and Fred share a page, running flat out across the sand, side by side. The family portrait above was made out on a pier: the whole family together, Fred in one pair of arms, Bambi in another, and the youngest at the end of the row, grinning.
That is what we love about this story. A dog arrives as a Christmas wish. A boy trades the things he loves most to find that dog a friend. And the two of them end up so close they answer to each other's names.
Find them in the book
Bambi and Fred are in Shoot the Dog, Volume Two, a big square hardcover of more than 250 dogs, each beside a few lines from the family who loves them. On the facing page is Kooper, a black and tan German Shepherd with a talent for getting through fences. His story is coming later this week.