BARNEY HAS BEEN FOUND !! BARNEY HAS BEEN FOUND !!! BARNEY HAS BEEN FOUND !!! BARNEY HAS BEEN FOUND !!!
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE can everyone reading this keep an eye out for Barney (above) ? One of the most awful things that has ever happened to Poorpaws happened two weeks ago. Dear, very timid Barney, who was adopted from us a couple of years ago, was looking for a new home because his adoring owners have had to go to UK due to serious health problems and are not sure when/if they will come back. Barney then went to another lovely couple who, although they fell in love with him, felt he would never fit in to their busy lifestyle. They were very happy to take Barney everywhere with them but Barney would bolt at the slam of a door or any strange noise. So it was decided that he should go to Danielle at Castelnau Montratier in the Lot, where he spent two months at the beginning of the year and where he was happy. He certainly seemed very happy to see Danielle and was put into a large park with a lady friend as company. The moment Danielle’s back was turned, he jumped on to the roof of his kennel and was away over the fence. And that was it. Barney cannot simply have vanished into thin air but that is what he seems to have done. No-one has seen him (apart from one possible sighting at Vazerac) and all hopes of him trying to find his way back to the Dordogne are fast fading. So, please, please, if you live in the Lot, Tarn et Garonne, or anywhere around there, keep your eyes open. Barney is so timid you may not be able to catch him but one good thing about him is that he adores riding in a car and will quickly jump in if a door is open. Barney is quite a big dog, very frightened but absolutely non aggressive.
Oh, hallo by the way, hope you had a good October, at least I think it was October, could have been August ! It was a very busy month here, what with our Barn Book Sale which raised 1,000 euros – a little down on last year (I blame kindles !) but a very healthy total nonetheless. It was lovely to see so many usual suspects and funny to see people coming early to get to the cake stall before going in to the books ! Especially nice to see Doreen, a lady I am very fond of who tried to adopt Tiny the Terrible poodle a couple of years ago, then he was just called Tiny before we discovered the ‘terrible ‘ bit (“bit” being the operative word !) !! Then Doreen, her daughter and I went on a long journey to Angoulême to pick up another little oldie for her. The refuge would only hand Manou to us personally because of the special care given to their dogs. Hmm, Manou was in a lovely foster home with very kind Kate, but as for the special care given by the refuge, well, I won’t go in to that. Suffice to say that several visits to the vet were necessary for Manou before she blossomed into the lovely happy girl she is now.
Then we had the new and nearly new clothes sale, held as usual at La Sirene restaurant in Montaigu de Quercy (thank you Joyce for the usual yummy lunch) and huge thanks to the two Pats for organising it. 500 euros has gone in to the Poorpaws vet/food tin and the dogs are sure their tums will be full until well in to the New Year.
HOW MUCH ?!
The month of October saw the final closing of the donations website opened when Poorpaws No. 1 supporter Gaynor made the amazing Tour de France cycle ride. Here is the official handing over of the 3,000 euro cheque which will enable Danielle to improve kennels and parks for all her Poorpaws. Again I say, Gaynor you are a star !
Adoptions in October saw all the Brittany Spaniel pups being homed (one seems to have found his way to me, hmm, wonder how that happened ! Ernst still can’t understand why he (Jip the pup) hasn’t been adopted yet ….!). It also saw Gaby legging it the day before her new family came up from Toulouse to adopt her ! They found another needy soul at the refuge in Toulouse and Gaby was brought home a few days later by a family who asked if they could adopt her, so alls well that ends well. Lucky has gone back to his previous owners who found out that the hospital had mislead them and the gentleman wasn’t allergic to Lucky at all, but to dairy products ! That was a close thing as Lucky was to be going to a new home a few days later and this is where my faith in human nature was restored. His original owners said that if he had found a new home, although they were very sad, they would not stand in the way of the adoption. The future owners returned serve saying that there was no way they could take a dog from people who obviously felt deeply for him and who had given him such a good start in life. I was hoping that Joy would sidle into the vacant place left, but perhaps after Christmas. Christmas ? Yikes !
Right, this is not a rant but a gentle prod. Your dog’s identification paper. Do you know where it is ? If not, find it and put it with the health record booklet. A couple of times recently there have been difficulties rehoming dogs because the owners cannot find the identification paper from I-CAD. This is a real problem as copy papers have to be applied (and paid !) for, in the original owner’s name before the dog can be transferred legally to his/her new owners. It wastes a lot of time and should, god forbid, you wish to rehome your dog, you are responsible for all his/her actions whilst in your name. So if you give your dog away without changing the id paper, if he causes an accident or goes chasing chickens/sheep, whatever, you are responsible even if he no longer lives with you.
Ok, enough rambling !
Have a good month. It’s my birthday this month and friends keep asking what I am going to do to celebrate. Well it’s this. For a change I am going to stay at home all day and have a complete ‘me’ day. I won’t get up at seven to walk the dogs , they are going to have to have a lie in too, I won’t do any housework (not much change there then) but I will sit down and read for hours if I want to, have Cadbury’s chocolate for lunch and watch dvd’s all afternoon. Ernst will cook supper (he’s better at it than me anyway !) and in the evening we will go to the cinema (being a vegetarian, a visit to a posh restaurant is not much of a treat ).
Sue x
P.S.Had to share this with you, it made me laugh so much, sorry if it offends !