More sad news

Our darling, glorious, cantankerous old bat Tally-Tots left us for the Rainbow Bridge sometime during the night in her sleep. I found her this morning, curled up in her bed. She just went to sleep and didn't wake up. Paul and I are devastated. She was so much better and even yesterday was demanding her attention and very special breakfast and dinner in her own indominatable way.

We are happy for Tally that left us on her own terms, peacefully and naturally - but for us, we are just devastated. We are so grateful for Mary choosing us to care for Tally when she no longer cope with her eccentric ways, to share Tally's life, her spirit and her soul. It was an honour to love you Tally. Run free at the bridge special girl.
Composure. It's been a busy day again today, but I think Paul & I have been able to keep our composure and be professional. Now though, its a different story.

Another busy night...

The alarm went off at 2am, so with just 2 hours on/off sleep we got into the van and headed off to meet the transport. 6 dogs arrived today from Ireland. 3 from Tom, and 3 from Eila. On the drive down, Donal the transporter texted to say he was running half an hour behind. We got to the meeting point just after 4am, and I went and got Paul a coffee. He struggles with the overnight runs - sleepyhead! Donal arrived about 4.45am and we sorted all the dogs out, they had wee breaks and then we popped them in the van for the journey home. There were a couple of other folks picking up dogs too, and one little Pointer girl caught my eye. She was very scared indeed. I went over to talk to her, and the folks she was with. I did a little bit of T-Touch on her, and in a few minutes she was pressing into me. I gave her a kiss good luck and walked back to the van. Bless her, she tried to follow me. *cry* She is a total sweetie, I'm sure she will find her new family soon. We got back about 6.30 and sorted everyone out. All the new arrivals are happily settled in and eating well! There are some good doggy racing games going on at the moment! Looking forward to my bed tonight! BRIG. Brig seems a bit brighter again, thank goodness! He is certainly shovelling in his special gourmet breakfasts and teas! Not a bit left at the bottom of the bowl - much to the disgust of the lurkers! I know his age is catching him up fast - but it doesn't make it any easier.

Good Thoughts Needed

Please can folks spare some good thoughts and healing wishes for Brig. He's not doing well again at the moment and has us both very worried. Also another Wiccs dog, Orson, is not well at the moment and has his folks and Wiccs friends worried too.

WoooHooo!!!

Busy day on the road for me today. I met AnnaB at Corley services to collect an incoming dog at 10.30am. Anna had kindly transported Fudge up from Bristol for us. After meeting Anna it was supposed to be on to Laughing Dog to collect the latest batch of food. I was supposed to be going first thing, but yesterday they had a massive power cut and everything went off. They kindly called me to let me know and said come from 12.30 onward and your order should be ready for you. PUPPIES! So, as I had an hour or so to kill, I'd emailed Pauline and asked if I could pop over while I was waiting as she isn't too far from the Laughing Dog factory. I took Little Floss with me, and Pauline and I did some puppy training. Me with Little Floss, and Pauline with Pixie. Little Floss & Pixie are obviously suffering from Competitive Puppy Syndrome and can't decide if they want to be friends, or not! They are already eyeing each other up in the bossy collie girl stakes! The 'I can sit better and faster than you' was quite amusing! By the time we were finished Little Floss couldn't possibly fit any more cheese or sausage in her fat little tummy! She enjoyed it though. Poor Welly, who also came along for a ride, wasn't so sure when she left a large message in the crate next to him on the way to collect the food! We were all gasping for air as I stopped the van and removed the offending object - by which I mean the pooh, not Little Floss! :) WooooHoooo!!! It was lovely that we still have money in the kitty at Laughing Dog thanks to the Christmas Dinners appeal, and we finished that up today with the 20 sacks I collected. So thanks once again to all that contributed to that. The food was still being bagged up when I arrived, so I stopped for a chat with the gang there. Once the food was packaged, we loaded it up. Floss', Welly's and Fudge's noses were going like mad. The food was only cooked an hour or so beforehand, and it smelt wonderful - the doggy version of freshly baked bread! It smelt so good it mad me feel quite hungry! I've just got home, so it's about time to start sorting the gang for bedtimes and then I can catch up with the days emails etc.

Just a Quickie

Hi All, Just a quickie to report in. Paul has rebuilt my pc for me as it was keeling over from the amount of stuff on it. Dog photos mainly being the culprits! LOL! He's added a new hard drive, memory and other technical stuff. It's much faster and not breathing quite so heavily anymore, but I am having to reload stuff and find my way around things again. NEW YEAR. Same old, same old really. Usual stuff carrying on as normal. We have 6 dogs arriving this week. 1 rather scrumptious boy today, a girl tomorrow, and 4 girls on Saturday. Harvey was neutered today, and I've never known a dog play on it so much in my life! He is a HUGE baby at the best of times, but he was really going for a BAFTA and an OSCAR this afternoon. He had Danni the vet nurse billing and cooing all over him, and the way he was reclining looking pathetic will she pampered him! He wanted his 'baby cuddle' - this consists of him being carried around like a baby, front paws wrapped around my neck, head on my shoulder and me holding his bottom with his legs round my waist. I didn't think that was a good idea so soon after his op. Harvey doesn't agree and is sulking with me! At least it will give my back a break for a couple of days! He is a heavyweight!

Floss' Story

Floss gave me the huge pleasure of climbing on my knee for a cuddle today - a massive achievement for her, so I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you all her story as she isn't on the website yet. CRUELTY CASE. Floss was rescued in Ireland, by a lady who came across her owner in the act of tying Floss to a large rock with the intention of throwing her in the river to drown. The woman knew the owner and how he had treated and kept Floss. Floss was kept tethered on a 2ft long chain in a pitchblack coalhouse, and her owner constantly kicked and beat her. The lady convinced the owner to hand Floss over to her and she handed her into an Irish rescue. TERROR. Floss arrived at the Irish Rescue in a state of absolute terror. The Irish rescuer put a kennel under her kitchen table so Floss would have a safe place to go, but still be part of things. For 2 weeks Floss stayed in the kennel and the rescuer never saw her. Floss would creep out at night when they had gone to bed, and ate, drank and did her business, but during the day she was invisible. The Irish rescuer had a litter of collie puppies come in, and she put Floss in with them to give her some company. She would play with the pups, but ignore Floss. After a week of watching the pups, Floss started to come closer, but as soon as the lady looked at her she would run away, with her tail between her legs, expecting a beating. Eventually she let the lady stroke her, and carry her outside for the toilet as she was terrifed of a lead. NOW. Floss arrived at Wiccs very scared, and we have taken things very slowly and gently. Floss adores other dogs, so doggie chums who love people are helping her a lot. Her best friends are Harvey & Munch. Men are extremely frightening for her still, but she does now trust me. She comes for fusses and will follow me about. She now walks very nicely on a lead, and we have lovely little walks together. She has even been for walks with some of our lady volunteers. Today Harvey & Munch were playing around while Paul was mending the gate. Floss was sitting with me watching. Harvey ran over to have a hug, put his front paws on my knee and gave me a kiss. Floss decided she would do the same. I couldn't believe it when she climbed up on my knee and gave me a big kiss. I was over the moon! Absolutely wonderful.
A nice start to 2008.