Paddy Takes A Tumble and Office Dogs on Film

Saturday:We said a fond goodbye to Bonnie and Bramble this morning, they have gone to live in Cardiff to a couple who have kept two labradors before and were thrilled to be able to adopt these two. I'm not sure the Saturday Staff are that unhappy about seeing them go after this mornings hour of unwanted exercise! As Rosie got the dogs out of her van when she arrived for work, they pulled away from her and raced down the track with Rosie and Harley(our dedicated volunteer)in hot pursuit.They chased them for over a mile until they finally caught up with the naughty pair. The new owners have been warned to keep them on extended leads otherwise they too will have enough training to enter the next London Marathon.I did take a photo of them with Bonnie and Bramble but it was not clear enough to print. If you read this Andrea and Richard, please send another of you all together.
I had thought it would not be too easy to find someone to take on both and especially as they are 9 years and 6 years but I was surprised to receive several enquiries. Another of Rosies foster dogs has also left us.Ty the staffordshire bull terrier cross pup who was admitted only last week has been found a home locally. He is a lovely little dog and a good advertisement for the wonderful nature of most of this breed.He ALMOST converted me!

Paddy and Patch have a new (temporary) pal in Jenny a Dog Pound lurcher.Another unclaimed stray.As I type this she will probably be in her favourite position, stretched out on the sofa in my living room. Like all lurchers I have 'met', she is affectionate and loving and is actually house trained (what a blessing). She is not in bad condition, nothing that defleaing and worming will not resolve and she does not even seem to be too bad with the cats, well at least she shows no interest and even backs away from them when they hiss at her.Of course I take no chances and she will be on a lead at all times, it would not be fair on the cats to have a potential aggressor at large.

It seems I have unwittingly upset some supporters in Anglesey through turning down a potential home for Jenny.Veronica Bookeeper had mentioned Jennys plight to several friends and acquaintences and subsequently one offered her a home(Jenny not Veronica)Unfortunately the person planned to keep her outdoors in a kennel and I turned the home down.The charity policy is that all adopted dogs should live indoors and not in an outside kennel, they are to be part of the family, and whoever heard of a member of the family living in a kennel? Anyhow that is the Charity Policy and most other animal welfare organisations adopt the same guidelines when homing dogs.Well because of this we appear to have lost supporters and fundraisers which is very upsetting when I am trying so hard to add to our supporter database,not reduce it. It is such a shame that the policy which was added for the protection and future welfare of the dogs we rehome has caused such a furore. My personal feeling is that no matter how comfortable the kennel is, dogs prefer to be inside the house with their owners and family and as a charity we have done the correct thing by making our adoption criteria with the dogs happiness and future wellbeing in mind. Due to the fact we have a non destruction policy we are not in a desperate race to find suitable homes,we can afford to wait if we feel the home being offered does not meet the Charity adoption Criteria. What more can I say about this? I suppose its a case of you can't please ALL of the people All of the time.It is still upsetting though for both me and Veronica who with the best will in the world was trying to find Jenny a home by spreading the word amongst her Dog Training contacts .Still we have to stick to our principles and policies and hope that those whom we have upset will realise that the only ones who will suffer from the charity receiving no more help from them, will be the Animals.

Early evening I took my dogs out whilst Mei popped home to let her own dogs out for a wee ( she has two chihuahuas)In my return Paddy was ambling along placidly with Jenny and Patch and then to my horror, he stumbled near the top of an embankment and before I could do anything he tumbled down to the bottom.It is only about 8 feet but enough to hurt his back. He was stuck at the bottom and could not get up. After 20 minutes of shouting for help Nia my next door neighbour (Nice Neighbour)who was walking her three dogs, heard my shouts for help which were echoing through the valley and ran to the village to get Mei. Between us we managed to get Paddy to his feet but then we were stuck, we could not get him up the bank for fear of hurting his back and the adjoining field had impenetrable wire fencing. Nia ran back to her house and within minutes her husband arrived with a saw to cut through the wire.(We could not find our bolt cutters!) After making a gap in the fence Paddy was able to walk through andthe field and back safely to the house. All in all it was a nightmare and all I could think of was whether Paddy had done more damage to his back.
Thankfully he appeared unhurt albeit a little stiff .What a Close Shave.I will not let him off his lead along that path ever again.
Sunday:
A very quiet day today with no visitors at all,It is a bright sunny day and I thought we would have loads of people here to look at the animals, maybe they are all enjoying their gardens or going for nice country walks!
Paddy is fine I am pleased to say. he seems to be showing no ill effects from yesterdays traumatic fall and was happy to go out for his daily walk this morning, though we steered clear of the path where the embankment starts.
We now have a Flickr account - see a sample of photos taken at the shelter on the right hand side of the blog so I will be uploading more photos to that so people can see more of the staff and animals over the weeks and months.
As it was quiet I took the opportunity to make another attempt at uploading a video and decided to use Office Dog Lucy and her pal Billy as guinea pigs.If this works I will be more adventurous next time.It takes me a long time to work out something new, I have only just got my head round the Flickr phenomenon! I promise the videos will become more of a regular feature and will hopefully improve in quality and content .Billy was a rescued dog from the Pound and is waiting for a nice home to come along.Lucy with the coat is of course a permanent resident here due to her habit of nipping anyone new she meets.When people come into the office, she has to go in her crate, when they leave she comes out again and I think this is how it will always be. With us she is wonderful but she is 11 years old and I cannot imagine anyone seeing beyond their initial impression of her which has to be said is never good. Maybe this video might help Billy but I'm afraid Lucy will be here forever. Mind yopu she is good company in the eveinings when I am on the computer, she sits behind me and keps me warm!
Roo the Siamese gave us a scare today, Sue came over to report that he had disappeared from his pen, we searched high and low for him but only his friend Eric was there .I was very upset and not in the best of humours thinking this poor old cat was lost somewhere in a strange environment never to be seen again.I had visions of his elderly companion pining away for him and then Sue came into the office to say that she had discovered the missing cat ! Roo, oblivious to our calls and the frantic search going on around him was fast asleep having curled up in the base of a cat scratching post! Panic over, cats all present and correct, equilibrium restored and the staff live to work another day!