One definition of madness is to do one thing over and once more, anticipating a special outcome. One other may be to search out your self in a busy division retailer on a Saturday morning, with two barely uncontrolled black labradors, sitting outdoors a Christmas grotto surrounded by “elves”, ready to see Father Christmas.
Or, as John Lewis name him, Santa Paws. But, lo, unto Oxford Avenue we did journey with our canine Dexter and Rocky, none of us realizing what awaited us in a nook of the third ground close to the sofas and residential furnishings part.
Eccentric doesn’t actually cowl it. The grotto is a festive characteristic of plenty of John Lewis’s shops, and this one opened for enterprise when a platoon of elves marched in direction of us chirping one thing Christmassy.
This refrain of cheerfulness would have charmed any youngsters ready to see the Massive Man. And more often than not, the singsong is aimed on the little folks with massive hopes for what would possibly seem of their stockings on 25 December.
However it seems that oldsters and youngsters aren’t the one ones who wish to have a nose to nose with Santa. Why ought to pets be disadvantaged of this particular expertise, requested (some) canine homeowners?
Why certainly. John Lewis began the Santa Paws Expertise final yr, and it’s again by fashionable demand in 9 of its outlets. Greater than 500 tickets have been bought up to now – up by a fifth from 2022.
On Saturday final week in central London, 20 canine had been booked in; Dexter, aged six, and Rocky, six months, have been first up.
Although the elves had made a fuss of them, our canine remained cautious as we dragged them into the grotto. To get to Santa, we needed to carry out sure easy duties on behalf of our pets. My nervousness ranges have been rising, even when theirs weren’t.
The elves did their greatest to maintain smiling as I fluffed a query most four-year-olds would have discovered simple. The canine checked out me with pitying eyes. Then, by the ultimate draped curtain we went.
And there he was! Truthful to say, Dexter and Rocky initially took a dim view of the bearded man within the crimson and white swimsuit sitting in entrance of them.
No quantity of “ho ho hos” would distract them from sniffing across the Christmas tree and sticking their noses within the goody baggage.
First makes an attempt to get them to sit down on his lap have been unsuccessful. A level of brute power and guarantees of treats lastly persuaded them to play alongside.
Dexter maintained the resigned look of somebody who had seen all of it earlier than (he actually hadn’t). Rocky, nevertheless, was all puppyish enthusiasm.
He had his eyes on Santa’s fluffy white beard, as his tail swatted plenty of baubles off the tree. In any other case the assembly between them handed off peacefully, with all of us questioning what on earth we had simply been by as we headed again into residence furnishings clutching two “doggie baggage” stuffed with presents.
There, we discovered an extended queue of individuals and pets ready to go in. One couple had a terrier in a Christmas jumper. One other man was wrestling with a canine in reindeer antlers. The elves have been ringing their bells.
Louise Black from John Lewis says clients “wish to get pleasure from festive traditions with all of the household”. She provides: “Properly behaved canine are welcome all yr spherical in John Lewis outlets and now they’ve an opportunity to inform Santa simply how good they’ve been.”
