Will Dingo Prove Me Wrong?

Saturday:

What a lovely day with the sun shining and the cats sunning themselves, even the pigs were enjoying the day and they have scarcely shown themselves during the cold weather.It was nice to see them pottering about in their typical laid back way.I am saving tomatoes and bananas for them to enjoy, they adore bananas complete with skin and go mad over tomatoes. They must be pretty old by now, I have lived here 9 years and they were a few years old then, they may be around 12 - 13 years now. They originally were part of a litter of piglets born at a pony rescue in Liverpool(they had thought the two adults to be same sex!) I was living on Merseyside then and had no room for them so Darrin and Karen the people who lived here previously took them on for me, and of course over the years seven have died leaving these two stalwarts named very unimaginatively Pink Piggy and Black Piggy.Each winter being colder than the last I think they will not survive but once again they have happily proved me wrong. Dear Old Pigwigs.

There are more dogs gathering in the Dog Pound, a couple of collies and a German Shepherd.I had no idea what to do with the GSD and by chance a couple turned up here today offering to foster dogs and guess what breed of dog they have - German Shepherds.I almost jumped on them,I am arranging for someone to pay them a house visit and if all goes well they will foster the Dog Pound GSD for me. I have a few more days to find somewhere for the collies but that should be time enough to sort them out.

Little Molly Jack Russell has gone to a home on a 7 day trial(my idea)Nobody has ever shown the slightest interest in her and she is not the easiest dog which is why I suggested the weeks trial.In that time she will show her more difficult traits and then we will know if her new person can cope with her or not.I never hide the animals problems because that does not help at all and would only result in more pets being returned but occasionally it happens that my fears are pushed to one side by an eager prospective adopter.Its not that they don't listen but prefer to think all will be different in a private home and of course sometimes it is and sometimes the problems get even worse.I hope so much that Molly will stay out but time will tell. So far overnight she has behaved beautifully and is very fond already of the 10 years old child in the home.So far so good!

Sunday:

Dingo, the dog admitted via the Social Services has someone interested in him but I need to have him checked over by a vet tomorrow to make sure there is nothing wrong with his back legs which appear a bit weak. I am hoping it will just be because of his recent castration(enough to make anything weak!) and he will be given the All clear.His prospective owner leads a very active life so wants a dog which can keep up with her on long walks and Dingo really appeals to her. When he was admitted my first thought was"Oh no, this dog will not be easy to home" so it would be wonderful if he proves me wrong .The only reason I thought he would not be easy is because he looks as though he has some staffordshire bull terrier in him and that is offputting to so many people.I was told he was a collie crossed with a whippet.See photo here- does he look like either of those breeds?He is a nice dog though shy of strangers which the social services lady told me is probably due to the reclusive life his owner led.Other than that he has many good qualities.

I had a horrible afternoon today which was entirely my own fault. We had space for a couple more cats off the waiting list so I rang someone who had been on the list since before Christmas and sure enough she did still want to part with her two cats.I told her to bring them in and she and a friend arrived with only one as she said she could not find the older cat.Whilst she was completing the disclaimer form signing over her cat she mentioned that she had a 6 months old Mastiff at home.- I tried to tell her how sensible it would be to have the dog spayed and not breed from her as she was planning but it was all to no avail. She already had two cats she was ridding herself of, one of which was unspayed(and pregnant).I should have known better, she gave all the usual answers - "All my mates want a pup from her", "my family told me it was good to let a dog have puppies" etc etc. I told her about Pyrometra being a killer of unspayed bitches and that unwanted mastiffs were nowadays filling up rescue shelters but she didnt believe that or chose not to and she started smirking at me and told me basically to mind my own business. I asked her to leave at that point because I could see where the conversation was going - NOWHERE! and for her friend to bring in the other cat tomorrow when it turned up but now I am worried about that not happening so I will give it another 24 hours and if the friend does not turn up with Mitzi the cat I will then send someone over to her address to collect her.The conversation upset me for the day, why do I allow myself to let unaware people like her get to me? I know why I get upset though, its because I know there is nothing I can do to stop her carrying on acquiring pets and getting rid of them when she loses interest., I would stake my life on the fact the poor dog will not have a home for life with her either. Nevertheless I should know better than to engage in such a conversation - I suppose I feel that there is always hope that someone will"see the light". Clearly not this time though!