“Those of you who read last month’s Poorpaws news will remember that I told you that our dear Bella had died (she’s the one with floppy ears in the photo with me). I had her cremated seperately and collected her ashes a couple of days ago. During a quiet moment yesterday I decided to sprinkle her around the garden at the back of the house (which is in fact the part that fronts on to the road) where she loved to laze and keep an eye on what was going on on the hill opposite as well as going totally loopy whenever anyone arrived to visit. I walked around shaking her ashes out and talking to her saying how we would always remember and love her and all the other slushy stuff one comes out with at times like that. I was getting quite tearful until I turned round. Unbeknown to me, Tiny the Terrible poodle had been following close behind and was covered head to paw in grey ashes !! I couldn’t help laughing, Bella was not Tiny’s best friend (to put it mildly !) and it just seemed as though she was getting the last laugh.
I still have the ashes of the lovely Carrie who was cremated many months ago and keep promising myself that I WILL take her up to the hill where she spent so many happy hours running around (and I spent so many less happy hours looking for her !) but I just can’t seem to leave her up there on her own. At home she was always in a large park, not running in the garden as she was a danger to cats and in fact did kill a kitten, so the garden doesn’t seem right either. Mind you I suppose it would give the cats a chance to get their own back, they could pee on her! So Carrie languishes in her urn until I make a decision.
June was not a ‘nul points’ month thank goodness. Special Delphine has gone to a new home and news is that she is proving herself to be every bit as lovely as I said she is. Be happy Delphine and let’s hope that this is, finally, a permanent happy home.
Greta is also off to a new home where she will have to learn Dutch. A lovely couple came round to look at several dogs but Greta stole the show. I just know she will be happy, Dutch people are great dog owners, not caring what a dog looks like (although Greta is, of course, a great beauty !), they just seem to look into the eyes to see the character. They are also very responsible owners and I have never had a Dutch person wanting to abandon a dog. (Oops, perhaps I shouldn’t tempt fate !)
Duffy, aaah Duffy, you with the eyes to break hearts at a blink ! It’s funny how things turn out sometimes. Good friend Tiffany who did great stuff for dogs in France, has gone back to the UK and is setting up a network to rehome French hunting dogs in England. Hunting dogs – especially older ones – are not easy to home here and in the six months that she has been here I have not had a single enquiry for Duffy. So Duffy is set to cross the channel in July. Then a couple of weeks ago a very nice English couple saw Duffy’s photo on my stand at Montaigu market and were charmed. They said they would love to give her a home but were only on holiday and due to return to England two days later. Hah ! No problem says I, Duffy will be going there too. And (I’m sure I was always told you shouldn’t start sentence with “and” !) it turns out that the people live in Dorset and Duffy would be going to Cornwall. When I explained all this to Duffy, she immediately packed her bags and enrolled in a crash course in English – ‘food’ and ‘walk’ seems to be all she has learned so far. I just know she’s going to leave without looking back and I’ll be the one soaking tissues. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Duffy was also a star a couple of weeks ago. Our vets rang to see if we had a largish dog we could take to Prayssac immediately to give blood to help another very sick dog. Ernst rushed her up there and she took it all in her stride. she can now add ’Life Saver’ to her cv.
If you didn’t come to our Piggy Roast evening, kick yourselves all round the room ! It was a great night. Thanks to Amanda and Pat the meal was delicious – with such a fantastic veggie option that we had to stop people taking that too as portions were limited. Blues Train were their usual great selves making it impossible to sit still, you just had to get up there and dance. Some people wouldn’t come because of having poor piggy roasting on the spit. As a vegetarian myself I have to admit to having reservations, but had we advertised a roast pork meal, cooked in the more conventional way, no-one would have complained. If you can’t bear to see the animal cooking, you shouldn’t eat the meat anyway. Just because you don’t normally see the animal cooking, doesn’t mean it just came by magic wrapped up ready to cook. Had we advertised a vegetarian meal, I fear we wouldn’t have sold many tickets !! The money hasn’t been counted yet but I know we’ll be making good donations to dog rescue associations and cancer research. Thank you to everyone who contributed to making the evening a success.
Thanks also to Joyce at la Sirene in Montaigu. They had a Jubilee Street Party and Poorpaws benefited from raffle takings. I know several people who were at the party and apparently it was a great event. My 92 year old friend Lynne was quite miffed that one table won several raffle prizes. Wouldn’t have happened “in my day” “people were more thoughtful and if they’d already won one prize they’d put the second back” !!
Whilst I’m typing this I’m also watching Murray on court – he seems to have hit a sticky patch so I’d better give him some encouragement. Wimbledon is great this year, the kings are having a tough time hanging on to their crowns !!
Have a great July !
Sue x
PS. Don’t forget that if you don’t see the dog of your dreams here on our adoption page, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE go to the Cahors Refuge website – refugecaninlotois – and to the Carcassone Refuge site – dogrescuecarcassonne – where so very many dogs are looking for homes. In fact both refuges are faced with having to make very sad decisions if the numbers don’t go down.