Well phew, that’s all over for another year ! I absolutely love the Festive Season and there is no-one keener than me to get the decs up and get the Christmas jumper out and on, so usually I feel rather deflated after all the fun, but this year I am quite happy to say yes, it was great, now let’s get on with the New Year; could it be that I am getting old ? It was great though, my pal Sue came over for ten days – should have been 14 but she was a victim of ‘dronegate’ so we had to cram everything in to a shorter space of time. We did !
New Year new beginnings ……….. and new endings ! There are changes afoot. Poorpaws has been going since 2003 and has given me great joy …… and great sadness too. Now it is time to rethink things, I will be 70 this year – eek ! – and no-one knows what is round the corner; we have at times had up to 25 dogs and now we are ‘down’ to 15. These dogs are not ‘adoptable’ due to age or behaviour problems so will stay with us until they die. The last thing I want is for, heaven forbid, me to die and leave anyone with 15 dogs to sort out. Regulars will know that I work very closely with Danielle of La Mere aux Betes in Castelnau Montratier, and this will intensify, gradually Poorpaws transferring over to La Mere aux Betes. Poorpaws will no longer take in any dogs but I will always be on hand to help out with problems and to give ideas. Dogs on the Poorpaws adoption page will be dogs who are at Danielle’s refuge, I will arrange visits and, if necessary accompany prospective adopters if there are language problems. Our fund raisers, the twice yearly Book Sales and yearly clothes sale will continue under my direction – with help from my lovely team – and Poorpaws will donate a larger sum to Danielle, keeping only what is needed for the welfare of the dogs still in my care.
Now for my first rant of the year ! Danielle does kenneling as well as running her refuge and dishing out help and advice to any and every one for every and any animal. The kenneling helps to fund the ever continuing and growing expenses of the refuge. Therefore it is not only rude, inconsiderate and downright unkind to book an animal in to be cared for whilst the owners are on holiday then a couple of days before say that ‘someone’ has been found to feed said animals during the holiday period, it is despicable. Danielle has a limited amount of kennels and space and this Christmas all were booked up for the holiday season. A week before there were cancellations. I was spitting mad on her behalf and am encouraging her to take deposits for peek time reservations. If you are one of those people, shame on you.
My New Year’s resolution is to be more considerate, hmm.
A happy – and considerate – New Year to everyone and for those of you with dogs, the motto is sterilisation, sterilisation, sterilisation !!
Anyone watching Luther ? I am but only peeking through closed fingers !
Sue xx