Goner and the tinsel

When I was 22 I went to Chicago to spend Christmas with a friend who was staying at the house of a veterinary nurse. She had a dog called Goner, because if you let it out of the door it ran away as fast as it possibly could. I took it for a walk one evening ; it was minus 27 and it was so icy I fell over as soon as I walked out of the door and couldn't stand up to go back inside again. Goner was so excited he pulled me over every time I tried to stand up and I ended up just lying there laughing until I managed to inch my way towards the door to get inside. We all went out on Christmas eve to the Grandma and Grandpa's, and when we got back, all of the decorations were missing from the Christmas tree- not only the stripy peppermint candy-canes, but all the baubles, everything. There was a massive dog poo in the middle of the figure-of-8 electric train track, and just one strand of tinsel hanging from Goner's bum.