Skip to main content

Not quite the last legs

We've had a slightly fraught weekend all told - with most of the focus being of the canine variety. Abi and I walked the dogs together on Saturday morning and just when it couldn't feel more relaxed - up early, dry despite the forecast, chatting away - Scooby had a funny turn. I'm not sure exactly what happened but he was running up the hill when suddenly he fell over. It looked from where we were like someone had shot him - he flipped up in the air and came down hard and then with only a single wag of his tail lay motionless. If this sounds dramatic then that's about right - it was - made more so by the fact that Abi was watching it all. I ran up to him and he was breathing hard and looking very distressed. I talked to him to calm him down and then got Abi to do the same - albeit she was in floods of tears. After a couple of minutes he got up and somewhat unsteadily walked off. Not nice to see and even worse when Abi said she just couldn't get the image of him dropping to the ground out of her head. He seemed fine for the rest of the day but it has cast a shadow over the weekend, leading to some interesting discussions and events.

We got home in one piece and told Glenn and Izzy what had happened. Glenn as ever is very matter of fact - we are all going to go sometime - not very helpful in the face of things - and of course Abi got upset again. After everyone calmed down I headed out for a swim only to come back to some parallel universe. Everybody was suddenly talking about Nigel. Who is Nigel? you might ask (as did I). Well Nigel is a dog at the Dogs Trust and somehow in my absence he had potentially become part of our happy home! It transpires that Abi's tears had led Glenn to think 'we'll need another dog to replace Scooby when he goes, but I'm not having a puppy', and so had gone looking for a rescue dog! Before I knew what was happening we'd eaten lunch and were getting in the car to visit Nigel!


We arrived at the dogs home and registered, explained our situation and were allowed into the kennels where a dozen expectant faces stared back at us from their kennels. Top tip - don't ever go to one of these places with your kids if you are 'only thinking about it' - it doesn't work that way. Despite the signs that read 'this dog is super excitable and needs significant attention' or 'this dog cannot be homed with other dogs, animals, kids etc.', all the dogs were on their very best behaviour and looked as though butter wouldn't melt in their mouths.


When we arrived Nigel was being viewed by another family which upped the ante even more - competition! Izzy immediately fell for Nigel who was supposed to be a Bulldog but looked more like a long legged Staffie. He sat docilely being stroked by her, every inch the perfect dog. Abi fell for a dog called Pippa who was being 'reassessed' - for this read she's trouble even if she looks cute... Luckily for us neither Nigel or Pippa turned out to be suitable and so we managed to get away dogless, with Izzy in tears and Abi making the point loudly that Scooby is still with us so we don't even need another dog! She's right - last Christmas I made her a canvas print full of photos of Scooby because he was on his last legs. The year before that we ended up with Bertie for the same reason. Scooby could be with us for years yet!


At least this moment of madness has allowed us all to agree we won't do anything until we need to. It also got me thinking about what is the best choice next time round. Glenn is adamant he doesn't want a puppy and I get that. I'd like something that has some innate desire to be trained and is calm when out and about as well as in the house. Boxers are basically puppies until about 5 minutes before they die. A thought occurred to me that maybe a part trained working dog might be the answer - something that has been trained, is a bit older when we get it so has been through the chewing stage and has already learnt some manners. Bertie came to us at 5 months but its clear that this wasn't because he could've made the show ring but they decided on the other one. There's no way he has the temperament for standing still like that! I also want a dog who will walk all day, or not if need be. I posed this as an option to Glenn and the girls and it was a definite hit... but not yet - we still have the dog who just keeps going, and long may that be the case.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome Albert James!

So this week has been full of new things - Jess and Chris have welcomed Albert James Wilkinson Rayner to the family, a tad early but all doing well apparently (and so cute!!), I started my new job, Abi has her new shed and Dad got sorted on a phone that wasn't invented before the kids were born!! I always knew this week was going to be full on and it certainly has been. The first thing I had to do was try and sort out my diary which had been filled from dawn to dusk by my predecessor with meetings. I decided to set out as I mean to go on and immediately took out those that started before 9am. While I can get into  the office for 8am , it's a pain and requires me to be on the 6:30am train which is just a bit much every day (stating the obvious). I then made it clear that we don't need to be joined at the hip for the next 4 weeks which is a sensitive process - even though he is retiring it's hard to let go and he is understandably keen that the team are looked after. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Diary management!

This part of the summer is definitely typified by me trying to remember who is supposed to be where and when. Abi likes to be off doing something with someone while Izzy is happier to know she's close to home and so for the last week they've gone their separate ways. Abi has been down in Somerset making the most of Ben and Laurie being about. From what I can tell she's having a lovely time. Apart from the covert phone call one evening to tell me she was 'starving'  (Mum was cooking for the hordes and so it had been delayed), I've barely heard from her. The few calls I have had have very quickly ended in "can I go now" like I'm making her speak to me! Today she switches from Mum and Dads to a night or two with Kerrie - not sure who is more excited! Izzy didn't want to be away for that long so she opted not to go. She's very conscious that Abi and Laurie are joined at the hip when together and Ben has his own things he wants to do so she ...
Post a Comment
Read more

All about Izzy

This weekend has mainly been about Izzy, mostly because Abi has been off riding again and so we've hardly seen her. This has its pros and cons - on the one hand Izzy gets lots of attention and the choice of what to do. On the other she misses Abi and when big sister arrives home we have the inevitable few hours of resettling which seems to involve tears as a matter of course. I did have a moment of despair this evening when I looked across to the table just before Sunday dinner - normally a happy time - to see both of them, heads on arms, holding back tears. Luckily a bit of food and a game of 20 questions to share what everybody had enjoyed about their weekend and we kind of managed to get back on track by dessert. When asked what she wanted to do, Izzy immediately shouted "Jo Jo" so my task was to sort out a visit with Jo, the boys and Ellie. No matter how much time passes they still love to see each other and the first task is always the same. Edward and Izzy have t...
Post a Comment
Read more