By Ashleigh Fielding | posted on August 15, 2020
WE ALL talk to our pets – dogs, cats, rabbits, even fish.
Albany author Michael Lloyd recently put pen to paper to share his chats with his border collie Fergus, from when they lived on a farm in Lake Biddy and later retired to Albany.
Conversations with Fergus: A Memoir is available now and spans most of Fergus’s life, from when he was a pup first picked up by the Lloyd family in Perth, to when he was put to sleep three years ago after suffering illness.
Lloyd said Fergus was one-of-a-kind.
“He was such an exceptional dog,” he said.
“He thought for himself and would make up his own mind about what needed to be done.
“I thought he was a story that needed to be told.”
The creative non-fiction book highlights the ups, downs, drama and fun Lloyd and Fergus had together, including Fergus’s avoidance of riding on the ‘scary’ motorbike, meeting new friends and his ‘whinge’ about moving away from the countryside and into Albany.
Lloyd said Fergus was the best dog he had ever owned.
“Our connection startled me,” he said.
“He’d do things I didn’t think a dog would do; one time he’d obviously heard us talking about needing to get the sheep in early, so he went and got the sheep in by himself!
“He always had his own ideas.”
Conversations with Fergus: A Memoir is available now in the Local Stories section of Paperbark Merchants or by request at [email protected]
