Champ goes to School

I have been away In Liverpool for a trustee meeting and returned last night.I always stay overnight because it is too tiring doing it all in one day.

I returned to find that everything is ok at the shelter(always worry that something major will go wrong when I am not here) and Bud the beautiful Golden Retriever which was admitted on Tuesday and is being fostered by retriever lover Gail has already been homed. In fact my mailbox was full of enquiries and Mei says the telephone has never stopped with people wanting him. He was brought in by people who said he had been dumped on them by their sons girlfriend who had an asthmatic child.As soon as I advertised him the phone started ringing and my mailbox was full of enquiries.Within 48 hrs we had done a homecheck on prospective adopters which passed and he was out almost as quickly as he came in! It is wonderful for Bud but I do wish there would be as good a response to other NON pedigree dogs I advertise. It seems that the pedigrees still are on the most wanted list with the exception of the bull breeds of course.

Tracie , the lady who has come down from Derbyshire to see the horse William has just had a fright and we are all very upset. As soon as she climbed on him, his back legs collapsed and he was clearly in pain. He obviously has a back problem and it needs to be addressed as soon as possible.The only reason we considered sending him to a home where he could be lightly ridden was because his owner said he was completely fine and even I as a novice could ride him! This is clearly not the case and the next step is to call out Gillian the chiropractor who has worked with our horses previously .In the future one of the girls will try the seemingly fit horses before we allow anyone to ride them.In retrospect we should have done that anyway but we will not make that mistake again. Poor William.

Today we or rather the dogs ,had their first training session with Vicky, an animal behaviourist who is going to work with them to try and sort out their problems.Vicky Small runs a very well named business called' Small Steps' and works with all sorts of problem animals. Her first client here will be office terrier Champ who shares his space with Lucy, neither are totally trustworthy with strangers or even some of the staff so I am hoping Vicky will be able to work wonders with them.If the results of the first hour she has spent with them are anything to go by, I have high hopes - she is pictured here with her first client Champ .We all thought she was far too young to have any experience but she is in fact 27, married and has been doing this work since she was in her teens. Lucky girl to look so youthful though she tells me that she is often turned away when she tries to buy a bottle of wine in her local supermarket! Well you cant have everything Vicky!  I will ask her about Paddy who has developed such a territorial streak nowadays , only Mei dares to enter the house which is a problem when I am away.I want the staff to have the confidence to at least be able to let him in the garden when I am not there to do so and right now there is no chance. It is not as if he is a small dog, the sheer size of him is intimidating and I want him to behave well around strangers at all times. see Vickys website http://www.smallstepstraining.co.uk/

One of the two young cats which were admitted as strays from Machynlleth is quite poorly, he has been diagnosed with collici virus which is a very debilitating infection and he is in isolation being treated for this at the moment.He looks so sorry for himself. From not so good news to great news -elderly white cat(the one which had ear cancer) Eric and Roo his Siamese friend failed to find a home through our advertising pleas but eventually supporter Netta and her husband, from Shropshire , who have big hearts and are great cat lovers have offered them a home for the time they have left which may or may not be that long at all. It truly is wonderful news, I was beginning to think they would end their lives here and that is not what any of us want for any animal.Incidentally the other white cat which was brought in has also had to have her ears amputated for the same reason.This is so common and with both of these cats , the owners had either failed to notice or did not want the expense of veterinary fees? My own cat Holly has been fit and healthy ever since she had an operation to remove her ears though admittedly nobody seemed to want her after that and maybe that is why these cats have not caught anyones eye?

The rain has finally stopped so I am going to venture out of the office to have lunch.The fields badly need rain but without much sun the grass is still not flourishing. It is late in the year for us to be still subsidising the horses feed with hay and hard feeds, by June we usually have half the horses out in their summer homes and enough grass here to satisfy the remainder. We have held back moving some because of the change in weather but they will be going in the next week or so and then maybe, just maybe the grass will shoot up here and we can stop feeding expensive hay to our resident equines.Fingers crossed.