Author: Sue

A bit late this month, it has been so hectic here with friends visiting, fetes to go to, Vide Greniers to sell at and, of course, this incredible heat makes you just want to lie in a darkened room !

Anyway, to start off with I give you a tissue alert –  I hasten to add a happy tissue alert !Remember Oscar, the dog who was living off his wits in a village where the locals were feeding him ?  Oscar was adopted by a lovely family who were in the area on holiday and taken back to England.  Well, Oscar the ex village hobo won BEST  DOG  IN  THE  VILLAGE at his new village fete !!  Well done Oscar we all knew you were special and thank you also to his brilliant new family.

More good news, Oggy has gone to a great home where there is an older dog to play with and learn from.

I’ve just got back from the market and was so sad to see so many poor dogs being dragged around in this dreadful heat.  People may like to stroll in the sunshine and sit and have a drink with the sun on their backs, but believe me, dogs hate it.  Please, please, leave your dogs at home in the shade.

It was our village fete last weekend and I did the Vide Grenier all day then, with a crowd of friends, went straight on to the meal.  I thought I  would be exhausted but the adrenalin kicked in and we had a great evening.  The following day was a different story !

My friend Sue has been staying for a week, the first time since she had cancer, had the treatment and has been ‘cleared’, so there was a lot of celebrating to do.  Whenever Sue is here we always have a Silly Ladies Supper with a different theme each time.  This time it was Fabulous Nails so we all had highly decorated nails with a couple of Very Silly Ladies, one with builders nails attached to her fingers and another presenting a beautifully painted little bouquet of nails !

Puppies !  We have six female Newfoundland mix puppies to find homes for.  The mother is medium sized so we are homing they won’t all be huge, but put the word around a bit if you can.

At the end of August Poorpaws will be holding the usual second hand clothing stall and I am collecting as much as possible.  So if you have clothes you don’t wear any more (ladies’), bags, shoes and jewelry please do get in touch.  I can collect from any reasonable distance.

Enjoy the rest of the heatwave, stay hydrated and make sure your pets are too !

Sue x

Well apart from the first week of June when we were in/on the fabulous Il de Re, the month was fairly rotten for me.  I had to have my darling Piglet, not really a piglet but a Bichon Havanais, put to sleep.  Her name was Piglet because when I picked her up from a breeder who had gone bust (such a shame……..!) he had shaved her right to the skin, probably because the fur was in such a dreadful condition, and she looked just like Piglet from Winnie the Pooh.  She never knew it was a strange name !  She was adopted but brought back after a week because she “didn’t interact with other dogs” !  Poor little mite, she didn’t know how to, all she had known was a filthy cage.  Anyway, I kept her and for 16 years she was the sweetest, gentlest of dogs.  She wasn’t any bother at all, not demanding of affection, she was just ‘there’,  the tiniest little dog who has left a chasm of a space in our lives.  It was the dreaded cancer, a tumour appeared on her gum and before long had taken over most of her mouth and was closing her throat.  There was no discussion.

That was Monday;  on Tuesday I had the mother of all ghastly dental appointments which involved, bone, stitches, blood and tears, so many tears !!  To be fair, the poor chap didn’t actually hurt me, it was the noise and the vibration of metal on teeth. 

Wednesday I realised to my horror (in fact my friend Sue pointed it out) that a family reunion I had agreed to go to, booked flights and accommodation, was the same weekend as the Vide Grenier in Montcuq where we always have a hum dinger of a second hand clothes stall and which makes a lot of money for Poorpaws.  Panic !  How could I tell my family I couldn’t join them because of, well, a jumble sale ?!  To the rescue came the best pals a girl could have, a rota has been set up for the day – which starts at 6am and finishes at 6pm !  I will never be able to thank them enough.

Thursday, the guy who has been house/dog sitting for us for the last few years, decided he didn’t want to do it any more.  I can’t blame him, the pay is crap, but dear Jacky didn’t do it for the money, he did it for the love of the dogs.  Also we are a long way from his work.  I’m just so rateful he will do the dates he agreed to this year and that will give us time to, hopefully, find someone else.

Friday I was contacted and begged to take a beautiful Brittany Spaniel of eight years old, who has just given up at bergerac SPA.  It broke my heart to say no, well, no not yet, but as people keep pointing out to me, we cannot save them all.  I know, I know, but a Brittany !!

So that was my mess then perfect week !!

Better news, all the Springer puppies have been adopted, two going to work on an estate where their new owners are gamekeepers.  They are going to have a great life ……..so are th puppies, boom boom !

I’m surprised that Naomi hasn’t gone yet.  She has the scruffy look a lot of you love and she is a real love.  Danielle has had a lot more dogs in and hopefully photos will be on the adoptions page very soon.  She takes all our ‘adoptables’ as I am just overflowing with oldies who don’t take so much time …….. but a lot more money,  if I had a euro for every time I’ve been to the vet, I could afford to rent the Royal Box at Wimbledon !

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed my beloved old Citroen Picasso was making a ‘clonking’ noise when I turned sharp bends.  Ernst had a look and a listen then declared there was no noise and nothing wrong.  Fine.  Then it got worse and I remembered that Ernst’s hearing is failing !  I went to the garage to be told that one stabiliser was bent and the end had sheared off.  Hmm, just how good is Ernst’s hearing and why did he ask where our insurance policies are…………………?

Have a great month, it seems like Summer has arrived at last !

Sue xx

 

 

Well, can anyone tell me where May went ?!  I cannot believe that we have been home for five weeks already and I also cannot believe that we can now ‘cast a clout’  because ‘May is out’ !  Whatever has happened to our weather ?  Nothing really decent since last October, perhaps we are going to follow English weather and go straight from Spring to Autumn.  There are rumours of a heatwave July  August, but I’ll believe it when I see it.  I have just finished doing all my Summer pots but already the flowers are getting rusty and very sad looking.

I’m delighted to tell you that dear Barney has gone for a try out at a new home, fingers crossed it all works out for him.  He is such a lovely dog he deserves to be happy.  He just gets on with anybody, two legged or four legged …….well, actually he’s a bit of a devil with cats and needs to be well away from feathered friends but luckily his new home has none of the above.

Nestle was returned !  He tried to claw down a door and destroyed the boot of his prospective owner’s car !  Clearly he needs to be with other dogs for company and confidence.  he will get plenty of that in his new home which is …………….. right here !  Shhhh, don’t tell Ernst !  I just can’t bear to let him go now !

A precautionary tale.  If you think a dog is being mistreated, make sure you get your story right.  To cut a very long story short, I was recently approached by someone asking me to remove a dog from a guy who was treating him badly.  The owner had gone in to hospital leaving the dog in the care of a friend who, I was informed, was not very nice.  I started to make enquiries only to be told that yes, the guy was strict, but cruel not.  It then transpired that the lady who begged me to intervene on behalf of her neighbour had got the wrong dog and the wrong man !  Meantime the original guy ( are you with me so far ?!) had heard what was being said and declared that in that case he would no longer look after the dog !  I tried to find someone to take the dog in temporarily, neither Danielle nor I having any spare room, but to no avail.  I called the guy and threw myself on his mercy and he was perfectly civil – not the monster I had been led to believe.  He explained that the dog had had no education whatsoever, was very difficult, and would bite when excited, which was most of the time.  They guy tried to socialise him by taking him to work with him but Spook (the dog) ripped out the inside of his van.  Amazingly he has kindly agreed to keep Spook until another place can be found and I got on his good side by giving him a 20 kilo bag of dog food to help out.  The lady who stirred up the trouble has been stangely silent !

I hardly dare to say this as we have not long had a fantastic holiday, but we are off to the Ile de Ré for our usual week of cycling / reading / sleeping on Saturday.  Weather forecast is rotten but “am I bovered ?”

Love,

Sue x

 

 

 

First of all, Happy Birthday today to my ‘little’ brother Dennis !

Since we last ‘chatted’, Ernst and I have spent 12 days in Japan !  It all started a couple of years ago at a New Year’s Eve dinner when everyone around the table was asked if they could go anywhere in the world on holiday, where would they go ?  Ernst said Japan !  I was amazed, he had never mentioned Japan to me before, but said it was such a different culture, it would be very interesting.  So I thought “why not ?”, we are not getting any younger and no-one knows what is round the corner, let’s go for it.  However, we did not want to visit huge westernised cities, we wanted to see the ‘real’ Japan.  After doing quite a bit of research I came across a company called ‘Walk Japan’ which runs guided walks through non touristy areas, sleeping in local Japanese auberges and eating very country cooking.  Sounded great, so I booked us in for a five day walk followed by four days at an Airbnb on a nature reserve in Kyoto.  It was FABULOUS !  The ‘walk’ turned out to be more of a hike, but within our capabilities and the rest of our group were of a similar age.  Everything was arranged for us from A to Z, we just had to get to the meeting point and off we all went.  We walked for about 10/12 kms., per day, a lot of which was up hill, then ate and slept in family inns.  Our rooms were typically Japanese, futon beds, and we had ‘onsen’ hot baths in the evenings.  I was rather anxious about these communal baths at first (though men and ladies were separate) but soon got used to them and looked forward to the relaxing chat  with the other ladies.  So, so much I could bore you with, suffice to say the only downside for me was the very remote possibility of seeing a bear, though our guide had bee doing the tours for over 20 years and had never seen one, and the food, which, sadly, I could not get on with.  However that was personal and my loss.  The others in the group were not at all worried about bears and you can see from this photo why not, guess who is the idiot in the bright “dinner’s ready, come and get it” pink jacket !!

For the last four days our Airbnb was amazing.  A truly Japanese house set by a river, with delicate paper walls, sliding doors and a ‘squat’ loo.  Our host was so kind and organised trips for us each days with explicit directions so we couldn’t get lost ……..we did, but not often and in Japan you only have to stand looking puzzled for a second before someone comes and offers to help.  Japan is so, so clean, no litter anywhere and no graffiti.  However menial your job, you have a uniform to be proud of and white gloves.  As for the loos, well I will miss them !  Apart from the ‘squatters’ most are western in shape, but have heated seats (!) and a row of buttons.  You can press one to create the sound of a waterfall to hide any ‘noises’ you may inadvertently make, after you have flushed you can press other buttons to spray wash your nether regions, another to blow dry them and finally a deodorising button !!

I’ve not come down from my Japanese cloud yet !

Adoptions went crazy whilst I was away !  Dear Toby finally went to a great home, as did Nestor and Nelson.  Don’t worry, the adoptions page looks a bit bare at the moment but more have come in and I am waiting for them to be assessed before putting them on the website.

Regular readers will recognise the lovely Nick in this photo, he went to the best of homes and owner on the Cote d’Azur last year.  Here he is on his first day of work – where he helps out his owner, he’ll be running the joint soon !

I have started collecting second hand clothes in preparation for our usual stall at the Montcuq Vide Grenier in August, so as you sort through your wardrobes getting ready for Summer (that’s the period which is supposed to be between Spring and Autumn), please let me have anything you don’t want/need anymore.  Handbags and shoes taken also.  As for men’s things, casual wear is ok, no suits please.  Thank you so much !

Sue x

 

 

 

 

I am more than happy to bring Animal Rescue 46 to your attention.  A group of fabulous people who spend their time raising money and making donations to various animal rescue groups in the area.  They regularly  help out Danielle and myself with the most amazing donations of dog and cat food which they collect by standing outside supermarkets in all weathers.  They are in need of volunteers to help them insthe great work they do, plus donations of suitable articles to sell at Vide Greniers.  If you have any spare time, don’t worry you won’t be asked to give up your life, do get in touch with them. 

The above photos show one of the worst case of dog neglect I have ever seen, in fact when I picked up the poor little chap I had difficulty keeping tears at bay.  The poor dog was in such a matted, filthy condition he could see barely out of one eye, the felting of his fur was so bad he had to walk with his legs outstretched and there was months of pee in his fur at the back.  Believe it or not the dog belonged to a lady who never went out because she “loved her dog so much”.  Luckily for the dog she was taken in to hospital and I was asked if I could take him.  Take him I did, non stop to the vet where he had to be put to sleep so that he could get a haircut.  In the picture underneath you can see what a handsome lad he is.  Sadly when he came to us he was very aggressive, not surprisingly he must have been so sore and uncomfortable for years, and I couldn’t get near him.  So I started stroking him with a fleecy cobweb remover I have.  At first he was gobsmacked and didn’t move, the second time he killed it !!!  However, now he is much calmer and I can stroke his back but keep my hands well away from his mouth !  He is fine with all our other dogs except for an ancient Pinscher we have – a bit of testerone competition there.  What I cannot understand is that his owner (who is clearly a sandwich short of a picnic) has a carer going in and general council social help.  So, why oh why, have none of these people done anything about the care of the poor dog and brought his plight to the attention of someone ….. anyone ?  We just know that the person who went in to feed the dog at the beginning just kicked it to one side, put the food down and left.  If I get my way the dog will never go back.

A happier story now.  Here we have Oscar who is just one lucky bunny.  The Stoner family came to the area on holiday last year and Oscar kept turning up to visit.  They couldn’t forget him and got in touch to ask me if I could find out anything about him.  Turned out he was a stray being cared for by various people in the village.  We tried to catch him but to no avail, however the SPA were cleverer and after months and months Oscar was taken to the refuge.  When I heard I immediately got in touch with the Stoners and, to cut a long story short, Oscar is now living – in luxury it looks like – over in England.  I wonder if he thinks he has died and gone to heaven !  Hunting dogs are notoriously difficult to home which is sad as they are usually fabulous dogs, so Oscar really had a lucky star over him.

Just time to thank everyone who came to our Book Sale.  We made 2,500 wonderful euros every cent of which will go towards helping dogs and people who have difficulties arising from cancer.  The next sale is 20th October so put the date in your diary and start putting books you have read to one side for us.  I will collect as from now.

Happy Easter to you all and don’t hit the chocolate too much – yeah right !

Sue xx

R.I.P. Rita.  Last month I told you about my sweet little Rita our ‘special needs’ Brittany.   Well, she has left us to go and join the ever growing doggie family of dear Tricia who died last year.  Rita had some sort of brain ‘attack’ then after sleeping for 24 hours was unable to stand up without falling over and had a heartbreaking panic look in her eyes.  I raced to the vet with her and he said we could either help her on her way there and then in warm peaceful atmosphere or I could take her home where she would certainly die within the next day or so when I might not be with her.  Of course there was no contest so I held her, talked cheerfully to her and sent her on her way to Auntie Tricia.  Then got the tissues out.

Spookily the next day someone sent me a poem about rescue dogs entitled “I adopted your dog today”, I sent it on to several people  and quickly realised I was about the only person in the world who hadn’t seen it before !  I added my own verse:-

I adopted your dog last week./  You had thrown her out in to the cold/ You didn’t care that she was ill, and oh so very old. / She had a lovely time with me/ was so loved she could tell./ Last night she went to doggy heaven/ and may you rot in hell.

Clearly I am struggling with 2018 being my year of tolerance !!

Moving on to happier news – Dino has gone to a fantastic new home.  Dino was very loved by his previous owner but due to his love of self service chicken dinners, complete with feathers, he had to be chained up and this caused his owner too much distress.  As soon as the Archer family ( not the dum dee dum dee dum dee dum BBC kind) turned up I just knew they were the ones and photos received of Dash (new home new name) with his new little buddies confirmed my faith.  Have a great life now Dino you couldn’t have gone to a better family !

Quite often I receive calls from people on holiday here who see dogs who they think are in unsuitable conditions and ask for help in  changing said conditions.  Such was the case with a really lovely lady here on a skiing trip worried about a dog over the road.  The dog was in a small dirty enclosure with a kennel that appeared too small for the dog, with water iced over morning and evening.  The lady sent me photos and I had to tell her that although the conditions were not ideal, the dog had shelter (she could in fact get in to the kennel and was probably warmer in a very small one than she would have been in a larger one), she was fed, she had water and, most importantly in my view, was not chained up.  These were better conditions than many dogs have to suffer.  However I agreed to call the owner and chat to him.  He was totally bemused, we were talking about a dog !  A dog did not need affection, his dog was not suffering and English tourists could just mind their own business !  I did ask if he could at least clean the enclosure up “to avoid an official visit” but he just said “bring it on” (in French – je les attends) !!   Dog lovers like us, would love to see all dogs have the great happy life that we give our dogs but sadly for working dogs this does not happen a lot of the time.  Don’t get me started on a programme I saw about working Border Collies in Scotland !  The lady I mentioned earlier did throw a blanket and toy in to the dog before she left, but we’ll never know if the dog was allowed to keep these little luxuries.

Adoptions have been going well this month, the Shar Pei cross pups have all gone to homes but we are desperate to home the three black and white brothers.  New on to the site are Nancy and Nestlé, two four month pups who are fantastic !  They are here with me here at Poorpaws, they sleep in my bedroom and are as good as gold. As soon as the light goes out they curl up and go to sleep.  When the light goes on, four little paws come up and two gorgeous little noses appear over the bed with their tails wagging for France.  No better way to start a day, boy will I miss them but they have to go soon !!!!!  Anyone wanting an adult dog should consider Toby, poor boy has been waiting sooooooo long.

Just time to remind you about the St. Patrick’s Day Book Sale, 17th March, St. Pantaleon (Lot) Salle de Fetes, 10 am.  Ample parking at one minute’s walk.  Books/dvds at one euro each plus the usual fab home made cakes and lunches.  A really good cosy atmosphere – Doreen are you coming this time ? I haven’t met your new babe yet !

Sue x 

 

 

 

Well, wouldn’t you know it,  I had lots of photos to add to this newsletter and the computer has very suddenly refused to download – or is it upload ?! – photographs !!  I particularly wanted you to see the photo taken at our Book Sale committee meeting last week;  it was held at Colin’s house (Colin being the husband of our dear friend Amanda who died last year).  Colin always does us proud as you would have seen from the plates of white chocolate millionaire’s shortbread and billionaire’s shortbread chocolate tarts – all home made by himself.  Come along to the next Book Sale to see for yourself how delicious they are !  You would also have seen a bottle (or two) of fizz on the table as it was Colin’s birthday.  We may not have had virginal white notepads or freshly sharpened pencils but the important stuff was there !!

Book Sale (March 17th), can I say now how much I hate (oops, 2018 my ‘Tolerance Year’), how much I dislike celebrity chefs and their huge tomes ?  I think they design their books to be as big and cumbersome as their egos, they don’t think about the poor sods who have to lug them about and anyway they are so big as to be totally useless on a kitchen worktop unless you have a three ton weight handy to keep the pages open.  St. Delia, of course I do not include you in this criticism, your books are a sensible size and the only ones who contain recipes you can actually rely on.  I may have said this before but in my opinion any recipe that contains more than six ingredients, includes gelatine and/or a bain-marie should be illegal !

That said, we are now actively collecting books ready for the St. Patrick’s Day sale so please do contact me if you have books/dvds to donate.  Again, please keep in mind that books should be clean and in good condition.  Thank you in advance.

Last week it actually stopped raining for one day and Ernst suddenly went crazy in the garden, cleaning drains and gutters and cutting back ‘stuff’.  We have a very tall dead tree in front of our kitchen which he has been saying he will cut down for quite a few years now.  Well we got closer to that day, he actually cut out all the dead Box surrounding the tree (with me helpfully shouting “not that bit that’s lilac” as he went round.  I did suggest that he gets mates round to help take the tree down but he assures me he can do it himself.  Hmm, I replied that I had no desire to move back in to the mobile home because the tree had fallen through the kitchen roof but if he did kill himself in the process (I know of too many people ending their days by falling out of trees) at least I’d have enough wood to build the coffin !  Watch this space !!

Dog News:  So sorry to say we were unable to help Archibald in time and he is now barking with the angels.  Our ‘special needs’ dog Rita – have I told you about her before ? – continues to keep us on our toes.  She is a very elderly Brittany Spaniel adopted from Cahors, who is like a mentally and physically backward child.  I have yet to find out what she actually likes to eat as she tips over her dish then tries to eat that !  If I open the oven she will try to jump in and trying to get at the plates in the dishwasher is another pleasure.  She is totally deaf and will cross her paws whilst outside preferring to come and pee/poo in the kitchen.  But I love her.

Last week a couple turned up asking me if I would take their parent’s seven year old Pinscher as the old folk had gone in to a retirement home and no-one in the family wanted the poor little dog.  Seven years I thought, ok should be able to rehome him to a lovely elderly lady.  They brought Kiki round on Sunday and when I looked at the paperwork I discovered he is in fact 13 years old !  As it was the daughter-in-law who had bought the dog for the parents I fail to see how she could have thought it was just seven years ago !  Anyway, now poor little Kiki – a feisty little beggar – has taken poor Lulu’s place in my bedroom.

Finally a tale to warm the heart.  There has been a skinny hunting dog roaming in a local village for over a year now, being sort of cared for by the villagers.  An English family made friends with him whilst they were here on holiday and asked me if it was possible for them to adopt him.  Oscar used to come and go to the village and an friend of mine who lives there made friends with him and invited him in for ‘playdates’ with her dog, but would Oscar be caught ?  Not likely !  However, to cut a long story short, the refuge at Cahors managed to catch him and in just a few weeks he will be on his way to a very excited Stoner family !

As for us, we have PUPPIES !  Just as soon as my computer sorts itself out I’ll get photos on for you, but do ask if you would like one.  The most friendly is a little brown and white chap with ears the colour of Dairy Milk, hmm wonder if that is why I am drawn to him …….!

Sue  xxx

 

It was Joe ! (Strictly winner)  How did I know that ?  Hmm, I’ve been working so long with Danielle now that I think some of her ‘witchiness’ has rubbed off on to me !  We had a great Strictly Finals night, I had stuck with the Glitterball contest and there were some fabulous ones.  If I can get the computer to behave I’ll attach a photo of the winners. (The one in the middle with the dog attached is my pathetic effort and only included in the photo because I wanted my friend’s grandchildren who made the dog for me to see his starring role !)Hey, it worked !!

Nick is coming on leaps and bounds (literally).  I have to trick him to get hold of him but the collar was changed without any loss of limb and I took pity on him spending all day every day in his park so I took off the lead that was attached at all times and let him run round the garden.  Well at first I left the lead on but all the time he was running the chain lead was smacking at his back legs which made it difficult, plus, with all the best will in the world, accidents can happen and if (St. Cadbury forbid) he should somehow get out of the garden, it would have been very dangerous with the lead attached.  He could get trapped somewhere and never be found or the lead could get entangled in the wheels of a car.  He is totally devoted to our old Lab, Ben, and follows him everywhere, even to the point of leaving his own kennel and park to move in with Ben.  Ben is a dear and very tolerant, the only time I need to separate them is at mealtimes as Nick will dive in to any bowl and Ben will just not stand bad manners of that kind !  Nick is gradually losing his fear of people and, if trapped, will accept a cuddle but he still has the scared stiff look in his eye.  We will get there.

It was a ‘parson’s egg’ sort of Christmas.  We went to a lovely concert on the 23rd which would have been even better if I would cease to underestimate how bally cold churches are !  We froze and from the way the musicians romped through the programme, I guess they were pretty chilly too !  Christmas Eve was nice and lazy, then on Christmas Day we had our usual Fizz from 12 to 2 for friends which was great …….. in the main !  Friends Rachel and Pascal came and went off with Nanette !  They had been wanting to adopt her for a couple of years now but were in rented accommodation where only one dog was allowed, or, indeed, only room for.  Now they are living in their own property with a large garden and Rachel asked if they could take Nanette there and then.  Wow, what a shock, I had never thought it would happen.  Nanette is a darling (if a tad dominant) and the most obedient.  She is the only one who will always stay with me on a walk even when the other monsters run off and come home hours later !  Naturally I  was happy she would be going to such a good home but she has been with us for three years and, of course it was like giving up your child (not ever having had children I cannot state that from experience but I can imagine that is what it would be like…. or worse !).  As she was taken down the drive Nanette kept pulling at the lead trying to get back to me and looking at me with eyes saying “you traitor”.  I was in pieces and had to go in and shut the door, where I found my lovely pal Gaynor also in floods.  What a pair we were !  However it was better that way I had no time to think about things.  Nanette ?  Huh, within an hour of arriving at her new home, her paws were well and truly under the table and she had ousted poor Rouky from his own basket !

On Boxing Day I had to finally make the decision to take my Lulu to be pts.  He had suddenly gone very downhill two days before and could no longer even stand up.  Having been blind, deaf  and incontinent for a long while his quality of life was limited but he loved his food and the vet had said that whilst he was eating happily he wasn’t suffering.  However, then not being able to stand was distressing him hugely and he was crying.  He wasn’t the only one.  Since starting Poorpaws I have had to make pts decisions many times and it NEVER EVER gets easier, I am a total mess.  I know, know, know, it was the right thing to do but it doesn’t help much.Having said goodbye to Lulu, in the afternoon, I took myself off to see Paddington 2, a lovely film, but I managed to cry at that too !

Let’s have some happier news !  Minty has been adopted,  It was lovely to see the Stewards again who took Minty to be a pal to Filly an ex Poorpaws and one of my absolute favourites.  Jazz the ShihTzu and both her pups have gone, or will soon be going, to great homes.  The Khortal has gone to a couple who run a restaurant near St. Antonin,  hmm I see fabulous food for him there !

We’ll be saying farewell to 2017, which hasn’t been a great year, with friends.  We all have to provide some sort of entertainment so Ernst and I will be singing our own version of the Twelve Days of Christmas – you won’t be surprised that, according to our version, on the 12th day of Christmas my true love brought to me ………….. 12 abandoned puppies !!

Have a great New Year,

Sue x

I cannot believe that it is December already and, therefore, nearly a year since Ernst and I hosted the Strictly Finals Night for our sweepstake group.  Even less can I believe that the glitterball has rolled right to our gate again and we’ll be welcoming everyone for the finals again this year.  Luckily our mates are great and don’t seem to mind being squashed into our kitchen, round the table and watching on a borrowed television as our own is only slightly larger than a postage stamp.  It will be chaotic but fun squeezing about 20 people in and no doubt sides will be taken as to who should win.  It will be Joe but don’t tell anyone !!  We always have a Finals competition, last year was ‘shoes to sparkle on the dance floor ‘ and this year I thought of asking everyone to make their own glitterball, but it has been pointed out that probably it will be difficult to make different glitterballs, so it’s back to the drawing board.

In November I went to England for a week to be with my pal Susie when she had her postponed mastectomy.  That girl is  amazing, full of Geordie grit.  She went in to hospital at 7am and came home at 4.30pm the same day.  I expected her to just crawl up to bed to rest, but none of that, it was straight in to the lounge for tea, sandwiches, chocolates and supper !!!  I look more tired than she did after  her op when I’ve been shopping at Lidl !!  The next day I took her in a cup of tea as soon as I heard her about then went in to the shower.  By the time I came out she was already up and about and pottering around downstairs !  We are all waiting for the relapse but it doesn’t seem to have happened yet.

As for dog news, well Jip and Janneke went off to a new home in Holland, organised by their owner, then came home 24 hours later as the home was found to be unsuitable.  Luckily everything worked out as the ex wife of the owner heard about the problems and took them to live with her.  Phew !  Little Norbury is now with me here at Poorpaws and renamed Nick after the really fabulous pup we had at the beginning of the year.  That Nick has turned out to be the most fabulous dog ever and I am desperately hoping that Norbury Nick can rid himself of his demons and realise that I am there only to love him to pieces and not to do him any harm.  At the moment he is still running around the park totally scared out of his life and I can only catch him by grabbing hold of the lead that is always attached to him.  I would give him more time but his collar is now getting too tight and I need to get it off him and a larger one put on.  This is where my great pal and dog lover Gaynor comes in.  She is going to come over next week and we will go in with gloves on to protect us whilst we change the collar.  If there is no News Page next month it may be because I have no fingers left !

Danielle is away for a week and a friend is looking after all the dogs except for a gorgeous ShihTzu Mum and her pups who I am delighted to say are snuggly, cuddly buggly in my bedroom.  So lovely to have pups around again, makes a change from all my oldies.

19 year old Lulu is still going…… well, if not strong, he is still going and dear blind little Poodle Tanya is coping well with living with us in a completely new environment.

Have any of you discovered the television programme Animal Cops on the Quest channel ?  I’m addicted to it and watch it because the poor ill-treated animals have happy endings whereas the bastard owners get their come-uppance.  However this morning was just too hard to watch.  A guy spotted pulling a shetland pony along behind a car, poor, poor beast so injured down one side; and the discovery of a dog fighting farm with many dogs on chains, fighting pits, motorised exercise running machines to make the dogs more muscly and even a deep sort of small swimming pond where the dogs were forced to swim for ages.  I was a complete mess and just had to stop watching in the end.  The dogs had to be PTS because they were bred for fighting and could not have made pets but luckily the puppies were taken into care.  All the people involved in these two cases were taken to court and ended up in prison.  Sadly none of them were strung up by their balls and covered in honey to ensure them being attacked by ants and wasps or covered in mince then having their own dogs set on them.  They really need me as an animal cruelty judge over there.

Countdown to Christmas has begun and I have to admit to being one of those who love it !  Not the presents, so difficult to choose now that we are all so old (!) that we don’t really want anything, but just the atmosphere and the lovely smelly Christmas candles.  Don’t bother going to buy any at Ikea as Gaynor and I were there last week and bought them all !!!

Next News will be in 2018 !  Last year my resolution was not to speak badly of anyone.  Failed, but if you got some of the emails I get from people giving ridiculous reasons for wanting to rehome their dogs, you would fail too.  So,  this year I am vowing to be more tolerant !  Such a wonderful quality to have, if only everyone was tolerant of every other person this world would be such a happier place.  My Dad’s favourite saying was  “I don’t agree with what you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it”.  Got that Mr. Trump ???!!!

Have a great Festive Season !

Sue xx

 

From the top ‘Men with Marigolds’, Sale in Flow, Scary Witches and lastly, Before the Off !  Yes, of course the photos should have been in reverse order but who knows how to do that ??!!  Again, we have to thank all of you who supported us and it was lovely to hear lots of people say how much they like to make a day of it, coffee, cake and browsing in the morning then lunch and back to make sure they haven’t missed any great books in the afternoon.  We all enjoy the day immensely and the fantastic result of 3,100 euros at the end of it, made it so worthwhile.  We donated 100 euros to ‘Donkey Jan’ for her amazing donkey refuge, plus Jan comes along at the end of the day to take books to sell at her refuge.  The rest of the money was split between Dog Rescue and Cancer Support France.  You can be sure that every euro goes to help dogs and people with difficulties related to cancer.

We are now planning the next sale for March 17th 2018 which I am reliably informed is St. Patrick’s Day, so be prepared for an Irish influence to the sale.  We are already collecting books as our storage facility will not be needed until after the sale, so please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to donate.  What I suggest to people is to have  a ‘Poorpaws Book Box’ where you can put books as you finish them (unless of course you want to keep them) then they are ready to go when the box is full.  Same for dvds.

Again, and again I say THANK  YOU !!!

You will see on the website three little dogs, Coco and her children are  going t Germany to be rehomed.   Little Norbury has had no luck so far so will be leaving Danielle to come here to me.  He is such a frightened little chap, heaven knows what happened to him before he was rescued, but if he is not adopted he will stay here at Poorpaws with the others who either have problems who have just never been chosen.  I put in a plea here for Dino and Toby, both great energetic dogs who just need a chance.

November already !  Mind you we had such a great October I feel I’m ready for Winter now.  I’ve been preparing my Autumn/Winter pots for our terrace but it is taking time as the Summer flowers just aren’t dying due to the lovely weather.  Before I came to France I loved Chrysanthemums but because French people use them as flowers for the deceased it has rather put me off.  However, I am determined to plant some this year, at least they won’t have the fate of just dying on a tombstone as most of the others here will !

I had planned to go to England on the 16th November to be with my pal Sue following her mastectomy and I have booked my ticket, however apparently there is a general strike planed for France that day so I fear my flight may be cancelled.  Also Sue has had bronchitis so hasn’t yet had her op, so all in the balance.

Have a great November,

Sue xx

 

Starting off this month with photos of Wellesley.  I was delighted to receive an up to date photo of this handsome guy and looked back to how he was when he left us at four months.  He is now seven years old and looks just as handsome, perhaps a tad more pensive !

Since the last newsletter we have been down to Cap d’Ail for our usual week and this time spent most of the time playing Bridge which our friends taught us.  We love it and I’m only sorry that my Mum and Dad are no longer here as they were great Bridge players and were disappointed that none of us four kids got in to the game.  My Dad was priceless, he tried so hard to be a good loser but never quite managed it, blaming bad cards on the god he didn’t believe in !

After a week of glorious sunshine down south, we came back to full pelting rain here and it had clearly been raining all week.  However after a couple of days the sun came back and luckily held in time for our End of Summer apero evening.  I prefer to do apero evenings, you just have to keep the nibbles and drink coming and there is much less chance of a culinary disaster !

Since we have been back I have been full steam ahead preparing for our Autumn Book Sale.  The books are coming in from all directions and I haven’t yet got to the “never want to see another book in my life” time yet.  We’ll have another great selection of books, dvds and, yes, don’t panic, cakes, for you so do come along and make a day of it if you can.  21st October at the Salle de Fetes, St. Pantaleon her in the Lot just five minutes from Montcuq.  There will be lunches on offer including a veggie option.

We’re a bit sad here at Poorpaws at the moment.  As you know I can no longer take in dogs, having 18 older dogs who are a selection of dogs who were never chosen for adoption or oldies who have come in having nowhere else to go.  ‘Adoptables’ go to Danielle of la Mere aux Betes.  Inevitably therefore we go through a period where we have to say goodbye to a dog who is either in too much pain or just cannot cope with life any more.  At the moment we have dear Robbie who will be leaving us shortly.  Robbie came to us about 12 years ago having been found with just a bit of string round his neck.  He was a stocky little fellow rather in the shape of a corgi with, what I call a Maddie eye, one eye being white.  I’ll never know why he was never adopted, a great little chap whose only problem was barking at the birds in the trees.  Nothing wrong with that, I feel like doing it myself sometimes.  I would love to make contact with the lady who brought him to us but paperwork has been lost, so if by any chance anyone knows who it was please do ask her to get in touch.  Robbie is loved by everyone, especially our Brittany Isabelle who looks at him anxiously now.

We had a birthday party for Lulu, a Bichon mix who came to us when he was 13 and who I never expected to last another year.  Well he was 19 in September and friends Gaynor and Louise came to celebrate.  Gaynor made a lovely cake, which unfortunately the dogs stole off the kitchen worktop when our backs were turned !  Still, I suppose it was right that the dogs should celebrate too !!!

Do hope you make it to the Book Sale, all money goes to dogs in distress and Cancer support groups.

With love,

Sue xx

 

Ist September already !   This summer just seems to be flying by and it has been a hot one.  Too hot for some people but I just love it.  I’m not a sunbather and we don’t have a swimming pool, but I love it when you go outside at 7 am and it is already warm and I just love the long evenings when you can sit outside until late still feeling the heat of the sun on the walls of the house.  All the watering of plants is a bit of a pain though !!  I find it is better to water first thing in the morning rather than the evening, the flowers suffer less snail damage that way.

We had a long weekend in Germany to celebrate Ernst’s brother’s birthday in August.  We drove up to Annecy to stay the night with his sister and brother-in-law then the four of us set off for Germany the following day.  The drive to Annecy was ghastly !  All went well until we got to Lyon where the ring road was closed.  We got hopelessly lost, driving round for an hour looking for a road to Geneva but they all seemed to lead to Paris or Marseille.  Hmm, I thought, time for a crash course in getting the satnav working.  Big mistake !  I got it working but it just kept wanting us to go back to St. Pantaleon.  Then we couldn’t turned the flipping thing off, so we were driving around looking for road signs with the satnav yacking on in the back ground “turn around, turn around” !!  Finally we got on to the right motorway and off we set ……… in the wrong direction !!!  In all I led Ernst up and down three wrong motorways before  throwing the map in the air and bursting in to tears !  Ernst was amazing, lots of friends have said that their husbands would have gone mad but Ernst just calmly said not to worry we would get there.  Later, I heard him say to a friend that at that stage there was only room for one crazy person in the car !!!  The journey from Annecy to Germany was no better, torrential rain and traffic jams after traffic jams, it took us ten hours to do a seven hour journey.  Then to cap it all, it was freezing in Germany !  The party, which was held in the garden, was great but there was no way I was going to wear the intended outfit, instead it was jeans, long sleeved shirt and a fleece borrowed from my sister-in-law.  Some people were in ski jackets !!  Naturally the next day was hot and sunny and the good weather continued.  The drives home were peaceful and trouble free !

Last Sunday Danielle and I held our now almost infamous second hand clothes stall at the Montcuq Vide Grenier .  I was very anxious as one weather forecast was saying thunder storms all day.  However, we were blessed with overcast in the morning and flaming hot in the afternoon.  As usual, thanks to the incredible generosity of friends and folk we had a great selection of clothes and took two pitches this year to accommodate all the boxes, bags and rails of clothes.  We had to be on site at 6 am (!) and when we arrived dear Sophie Bacou was there to help with the unloading.  Lesley was there at 7 and kept the crowds entertained by trying on most of the clothes available.  We were very busy all day, not surprisingly as we were selling everything at just one euro.  Very many return customers who were very happy to see us and said so.  Some young couples – and indeed, not so young –  are finding it very difficult to make ends meet and spend any spare cash on the children so it was lovely to see them getting some great clothes and being so happy to be able to do so.  We made a fantastic 785 euros ………. plus a Carrefour shopping trolley token !  The money will be split  50/50 between Poorpaws and La Mere aux Betes (Danielle’s refuge in Castelnau Montratier) and I can assure you that every single cent goes to making abandoned and unwanted dogs’  lives happier.  At the end of a very exhausting day we went down to the Cafe du Centre for an early supper and my thoughts of the previous day when we spent all day loading up, ” I am NEVER EVER going to do this again” were banished and we were already planning for next time.  So please, don’t throw any clothes away, save them for us for next time !!

Lucky dogs this month were the griffon pup, the Spitz, Falco and …………………….Egan !!!  Remember he was let down at the very last minute ?  Well happily the gentleman who was going to take him has made a great recovery, is feeling very well and I took Egan to meet him and his dog Babouschka (adopted from us some ten years ago) at Limoges.  He had driven down from the Vienne and I up from the Lot and we arrived within seconds of each other !  The dogs seemed very happy to meet each other, so fingers crossed for a great new life for Egan.

We’re off for our usual week at Cap d’Ail with friends in ten days for our usual week of cards, reading and general relaxation.  Can’t wait !!

Love,

Sue

 

 

Here we go, what can I tell you about Brittany Spaniels that I haven’t already told you.  they are FABULOUS !  Quick to learn, great companions and just 100% love.  Mousse here is just one year old and I’m praying someone adopts her quickly before she is added to my ‘collection’ !!