Meet Mouse: The Reason This All Started

She has been sitting completely still for approximately twenty minutes, staring at a bit of wisteria. The wisteria has been growing slowly all season. It has not, at any point, done anything threatening. But today it has apparently crossed a line, and Mouse is not prepared to let that pass without surveillance.

This is Mouse. Twenty months old, a toy poodle, roughly the size of a decent loaf of bread, and the single reason The Dog Friendly Map exists. The wisteria, for what it is worth, has still not moved. Neither has she.

Who She Actually Is

Mouse is a very small toy poodle with a pale apricot-to-cream curly coat, floppy ears, large dark eyes and a soft brown nose. She is sensitive, clever, cautious, affectionate, playful and cheeky — all simultaneously, and without any apparent sense of contradiction.

She is also a complete mummy's girl. She follows me from room to room, nestles into the space behind my head on the sofa, and has never once pretended she is anything other than entirely devoted. She is also, when the mood takes her, absolutely looking for trouble. These two things coexist without difficulty.

The Daffodil Days

Mouse came home as a puppy soon after Jazz died. I needed a puppy to love, and the household has always felt complete with three dogs. She did not replace Jazz — that is not how it works — but she brought something new into the space Jazz had left: energy, chaos, a great deal of affection, and a spectacular level of anxiety about the outside world.

During her first year, she found walks overwhelming. She would sometimes turn around mid-walk and run back to the garden gate, which opens directly onto the field. For a long time, she would not walk beyond one particular daffodil. That daffodil marked the exact edge of the known and manageable world.

That is the detail that started everything. I needed to find places where she could genuinely come inside with me — not tied outside, not stuck in the garden, but actually beside me. Most places do not offer that. Finding the ones that do became the work.

The Dog Friendly Map exists because Mouse could not get past a daffodil, and I was not willing to leave her outside while I figured out the rest.

Twenty Months On: Looking For Trouble

She got past the daffodil eventually. The caution is still there — it always will be — but it now shares space with a confident and creative approach to household mischief. The make-up brushes go first. Then, if she is feeling ambitious, the underwear. Earbuds must not be left within reach.

She is also highly observant about routines. Exercise leggings are a warning sign; she has worked out that they usually mean she is being left at home, and she may disappear under the bed to avoid being settled before I leave. Dressed differently, she understands the calculation has changed, and she becomes very interested in proceedings.

When she does come, she travels in her own secured car seat with her tiny head near the open window and her ears blowing in the breeze. She looks extremely pleased with herself. At home, her favourite toy is Llama Llama LongLegs — a soft toy similar enough to her in size and colouring that I have, on more than one occasion, apologised to the toy for sitting on it. When a game is going well, she makes a small, distinctive snorting noise. It is one of the best things about her.

The Pack She Joined

On walks, Mouse follows Boodle. Boodle searches long grass for butterflies and Mouse has decided this is a perfectly reasonable approach to exploring uncertain territory. At home, Pepsi gets the full performance: Mouse throws herself at Pepsi's face, follows her on her back legs with tiny front paws waving, and generally attempts to restart games that Pepsi has not necessarily agreed to continue. Pepsi responds with remarkable patience.

She adores Andy and greets him at the door with energetic play-fighting whenever he comes home. She has a particularly lovely relationship with my granddaughter Murphy. And then there is me — her main person, the one she follows room to room and chooses every time. She has never tried to be subtle about it.

Why She Matters

Mouse is the reason The Dog Friendly Map exists. Not one reason among several — the reason. A nervous puppy who could not walk past a daffodil created a very specific practical problem, and solving it became the project. Everything on TDFM starts with Mouse standing at that daffodil.

She is twenty months old now and considerably braver. She still prefers to investigate unfamiliar people on her own terms, circling back once they have passed. She still files new threats carefully and monitors them over time. She is still, at this present moment, watching the wisteria.

The wisteria has not moved. Mouse has not moved. The Dog Friendly Map was built around exactly this kind of situation, and I would not have it any other way. Pepsi and Boodle have their own stories to tell, and they will get their turn — but Mouse goes first. She always does.

You can read more about her on her full profile page. She would probably like that, once she has finished with the wisteria.

She is still there, you know. Still watching it. The wisteria continues to exist in a thoroughly suspicious manner and Mouse is not prepared to drop her assessment on the basis of no new information. This is, all things considered, completely on brand.