Jangles The Dog...To hear the sound click the green arrow on the control above...

Hello everyone. Todays story is about Jangle the Dog. Jangle has a passion for collecting keys. In fact that's how he got his name. You see he loves the sound of jingle jangle when he carries a set of keys in his mouth as he walks down the road. (It all started when he was a baby. His owner, Janet, grew so tired of trying to find her keys that she treated Jangle to his own special set of plastic Mothercare keys. How he loved those keys).

He even carries them up to bed at night, although quite often he has to pop them under the duvet, so that he can nip downstairs to collect his bowl of food. Naturally Jangle would never go to bed without remembering to take his food bowl as well. After all you never know when you might like a little snack in the middle of the night! Jangle hides his sets of keys in the strangest of places, under cushions, on the settee, or chairs, inside the pillowcase covers, which
can be very uncomfortable when you lay your head upon the pillow, and even in the flower bed amongst the roses in the freshly dug earth.
Well, Janet, who owns the house where Jangle lives has been extremly fed up of late, because Jangle
has refused to have a hair cut for so long that all he ever seems to do is itch. His hair has become so long that he cannot see clearly , nor indeed can he eat without making a complete mess of his face. There is nothing worse than a dog whose food gets stuck all over his whiskers, as well as in his hair, and Janet has had more than enough.
"Either you go the barber today, Jangle, or you'll be in my bathtub having a complete bath and I'll cut your hair myself, and put baby powder on you to make you smell better", she threatened him.That's why we come upon Jangle carrying his jingle jangle keys down the hill towards the barber shop. "No self respecting dog is going to let their owner put him in the bathtub with all those bubbles and baby powder", he mutters as he trots along. As he opens the door to the barber shop the bell above the door
rings twice. Once upon opening and once again when the door closes. Jangle just loves that sound, so he opens and closes the door again just for the fun of it. " That will be enough bell ringing thank you Jangle", calls Mr. Clips from the rear of the shop where he is just finishing combing out Mrs. Sheepdogs' perm. "Pop yourself onto the chair by the mirror, and I'll be with you in a minute, please Jangle", Mr. Clips says, as he pokes his head round the corner to make sure that Jangle hasn't sneaked back out of the shop again. Jangle throws himself into the cutting chair, muttering all the while and shaking his keys in a most nervous fashion, causing them to make a lot more noise than usual.
He won't let them go, no matter what, he has decided, because it is somehow very reassurring to hear their jingle jangle when you are most concerned about losing all your hair! Jangle positively hates having a hair cut. So, he has now begun to shake whilst sitting in the chair. The shaking of course causing the keys to make even more noise than before.

With his voice as soft and gentle as can be Mr. Clips starts chatting to Jangle about anything he thinks might take the frightened dogs' mind off his hair cut. " Did you see the new library when they opened it yesterday ", he asked Jangle whose eyes were shut, and who said not a word in response. " I'm told it was packed with people by 4 p.m.", he continued, but Jangle was too busy shaking to pay any attention. Mr. Clips was beginning to get annoyed with noone to talk to so he switched the radio on to his favourite station which meant that the sound of loud "Rock" music filled the air. As the music played , so Jamgle began to calm down. His feet started tapping to the rhythm, and he crossed his legs , relaxing back into the chair. The keys jangled in time with the music, and Jangles' eyes opened and closed , until he gradualy began to doze off. Poor Mr. Clips tried to clip away at the mass of hair , but it became harder and harder to get at it with Jangle sliding increasingly lower into the chair.

With his right leg crossed over his left, Jangle dangled his keys over the arm of the chair and fell fast asleep. "Right", said Mr. Clips, " If I have to listen to all this snoring, I'll clip away to its sound". So, he snipped, snipped to the rhythm of Jangles' snores , and he threw the cut hair onto the floor with each fourth beat of the pop music! What a sight it was, but an even more amazing sight was Jangle, who began to look very smart indeed with his hair now short and tidy. Giving a flourish of his scissors Mr. Clips tidied round Jangles' feet where the hair had grown at least four inches longer than the claws, which often caused jangle to trip, ( A bit like you when you forget to tie your shoe laces).

:Laying his scissors on the tools tray beside him, Mr. Clips brushed the hair from Jangles' shoulders. "Wakey, wakey, mate," he spoke into Jangles' ear. Jangle shot awake, looked instantly into the mirror in front of him, and screeched, " Who's that? Oh, no, it can't be me, Mr. Clips. I'll lose my reputation looking as neat as this." "No, you won't Jangle, " replied Mr. Clips, "Why all the ladies will be most impressed , and the fellows will run in fear from a handsome dog like you are now".

Taking a second look, Jangle smiled, "Mmm, they will be surprised, especially when I growl ferociously", and he gave a low , deep growl just to prove his point. "Right then, Mr. Clips, I'd better pay you hadn't I". He handed over the money which Janet had given him, rose from the chair, then with a very theatrical flourish, he donned his coat and scarf. Before he strode through the shop door he took another peek at himself and smiled , then he gave the door two swings just to hear the bell ringing, a quick shake of his keys, and called " Ta, ta, Mr. Clips, thanks for everything. I've had a great time", and with that he left the shop.

I do hope you have enjoyed this story. It is available as an E-Book on my download page.