A seasoned traveller

By Edward McLeish Students Sarah Nikolayson (25) and Liam Butler (32) are proud owners of Skadi – a two-year-old purebred red brindle whippet. The Greensborough couple take Skadi wherever she’s comfortable going, and this time, their journey passed through Southbank on the way to Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens. “She just comes with me wherever I go - on the trains and stuff like that,” Sarah said. “She’s not shy, she’s pretty bold.” Usually known as mild-mannered and friendly, whippets are polite with strangers, other dogs and noise from a young age, but Skadi picks and chooses whom she spends her time with. “If there’s anything she’s uncomfortable with, it’s cars and poodles,” Sarah said. But, when it comes to socialising, Liam said there is nobody better than his and Sarah’s young pup. “If there’s a new person [at our front doorstep], she’ll be there straight away,” Liam said. But, as all puppies do, Skadi has had her naughty moments. “She once stole an entire cutlet from the table and then left,” Sarah said. “The thing about her is that she knows when she’s doing something naughty.” “You can hear it in her steps because she’s kind of quick and when those steps speed up you can hear she’s excited about something.”