Marne

Marne has officially landed, well he landed two weeks ago now, it has flown by! He was very good on the way home, I picked him up using Sparks' cat carrier so he could get used to her smell before he met her, I felt rather guilty taking him home as he was the last one to leave from the litter, he has been very loved and will be missed, not so much by Wysiwig (his mum) but definitely by Geraldine! He yodelled for 5 minutes once in the car and then settled down to the serious matter of sleeping.  I have never heard any dog yodel before, apparently it is a Border Terrier speciality!  It is absolutely hilarious, he has done it a few times since when I have shut him in the kitchen (stair gates are a must when you have a puppy in the house!) to do something and each time it just cracks me up, endless entertainment!

Sleepy Marne learning how to take over the sofa!

Jack has been an absolute star, possibly the best big brother in the world I think. He wasn't too sure what exactly I'd brought home when we first turned up, sniffed him and then jumped on my lap and turned the "What have I done wrong? Whatever it is I'm sorry and please take this smelly thing away!" eyes on me bless him.  48 hours later and the racey chasey games and the wrestling started ... they haven't stopped since!

Marne sleeps in a crate (in our bedroom) and Jack sleeps wherever he wants, generally on the bed but sometimes under it, depends on the temperature, now we are up North he is mostly on the bed bang smack in the middle!  Jack likes having us to himself at night, Marne wakes up earlier than he is used to (6 rather than 7) and he refuses to go outside with him & the hubby, and has an extra hour of cuddles with me instead.  I am trying to give him a lot of time with just him and me but it is more difficult to turn it around and let Marne have the attention he needs/deserves as Jack doesn't need half the amount of sleep and tries to join in whenever I'm training/playing with Marne bless him.

Talking of training, puppy classes begin on the 6th September! I cannot wait to start, Caroline has been recommended to me through a rescue friend of mine, Mogs, she is a bit further away than the local classes ... the last time I did local classes I ended up in a rather large argument with the "trainer" because he was an idiot ... so this time I am going with recommendations! I can't wait to start, Jack is 6 in September so I have completely forgotten what a puppy needs to know! Marne already responds to his name (recall is iffy but there are far more interesting things than me in his world still at the moment - I must make more tuna cake!) and sits like a star.  Luckily he appears to be like Jack and an absolute foodie so he should be rather easy to train ... although he is a terrier so we'll see!

Foster dogs & rescue bits and bobs

I have had a few foster dogs in the past.  My first was Smudge, who is now called Marni, a collie x spaniel (sprollie).  She was roughly 9 months old when her then owners posted an advert on the Gloucestershire Freecycle that they didn't want her anymore and she was free to the first person who wanted her.  Yes people do this.

Luckily a lady who worked for Teckels (an animal charity in Gloucestershire) and I spotted this advert, managed to get in contact with each other, and arrange that she would get Smudge out and I would then foster her, anything to make sure that she wasn't in a home with people who didn't want her or that some horrible person would take her and use her as a bait dog or something horrific.

Smudge came home with me and stayed for almost 2 months, I fell utterly in love with this wiggly, utterly adorable ball of fluff, she was twice the size of Jack (legs wise in any case, width wise she was tiny!) and a mad bundle of energy who could not corner! Jack and her had mad playing times and lots of cuddles, Teckles managed to find a fantastic home with a lovely lady called Anne who still stays in contact with me after all these years (5 years now!) and after a few tears (ok bucket loads of tears!) off she went with her new mum and collie siblings.

Since then an adorable black lab x called Sunny had a few weeks bed and breakfast with me via the Irish Retriever Rescue (IRR) before being homed to friends of mine (he is now called Guinness and is their much loved, rather large and clumsy baby!  Then two adorable little Lhasa Apso ex puppy farm bitches came to stay for a couple of months, they were little cuddle monsters who jumped onto my lap as soon as I sat down and spent the rest of the time peeing everywhere (poor girls didn't know any better having been confined to cages and used as breeding machines for their first years) or trying to chase Sparks! Sadly I didn't have them until they found their new home, I couldn't cure their desire to chase Sparks and didn't feel it was fair to her to not be able to relax in her own home so they went to another fosterer and soon found a new home with a lovely couple who adore them.

On top of the fosters there have been long drives after a day in work (after taking Jack for a run, don't panic!) the first to Abergavenny to rescue a 9 week old black lab x husky bitch (so sweet, all black but with one blue and one brown eye!) whose owners had decided they didn't actually want another dog ... when I got there the owner asked me if I'd take their 6 month old golden retriever too ... obviously I couldn't leave him there so in the car he jumped ... cue some mad phone calls on route back to Cheltenham trying to find a rescue who would take him, IRR stepped up (which is how I met Pauline and how Sunny came to stay for a few weeks) and I met Pauline outside of Oxfordshire, dropped the gorgeous boy off with her and headed home with the pup who then went up to Wiccaweys with Jack and I the next day and was homed very quickly.  An apparently aggressive german shepherd was my next rescue, I had to plead with the owners to let me help instead of having her PTS, thankfully they agreed and again Teckles stepped up and took her on, I picked her up and set off down the M5 with her in the boot, halfway there the dog guard fell down on her, quick stop on the hard shoulder and I dismantled it from the back seat around her head, she didn't flinch or move a muscle, just gave me a kiss once I'd move it all away.  She now lives on a boat in Bristol harbour and goes swimming most days!

Basically I love animals, particularly dogs and sometimes, well if I'm honest most of the time, I love them more than people, other than my family and friends obviously!  They never do anything out of hate, malice etc and despite some of the horrific things people do to them they always want to forgive, reconnect and love.  I think we're all better off when we have animals in our lives.

Once we're properly settled up here (realistically this probably means after the husband is back from building sandcastles) I would love to have another foster dog/s.  It absolutely breaks your heart when they go off to their new home, but if they don't go you don't have the space for another foster which in turn frees up a space within the rescue for them to save the life of another dog.  I couldn't run a rescue, I don't have the patience to deal with some of the cruelty they come across or some of the excuses people come up with to dump their previously loved pet, the most horrific one was (honestly someone said this whilst giving up their dog) that the dog no longer matched the carpet ... but by doing the odd bit of fostering or a home check now and again I can do my (very) small bit to help dogs out.

The Big Move Up North

Well I am now officially up North! The move itself wasn't too bad, I managed to pack up quite a lot of our old home in Kent whilst hubby was away working and we then did the remainder together, we have SO much stuff! Seriously, I have no idea how it all fitted into our old place!  We moved up in convoy, our Bongo (a fab people carrier/van thing) filled with kitchen stuff and my car with Jack, Sparks and their various bits & bobs. The drive wasn't too bad, about 6 hours all in with a coffee break/leg stretch for Jack dog and pretty much collapsed into bed when we got here.

Had a fab first week, lots of sunshine and sorting out, the kitchen had a new floor fitted which meant I couldn't unpack or do anything for the first 3 days, we camped out in what will be the study/snug with a tiny fridge which fitted a pint of milk, the kettle and two camping chairs, oddly I rather enjoyed it! Finally got access to my kitchen (which is twice the size of our old one but laid out in such an awkward way that it has half the work surfaces, very strange!) and set about cleaning it as it was covered in dust from the new floor being put down.  I had to use oven cleaner on the top of the wall mounted units they were so disgusting! Unpacked and then set off back to Kent together to pick up our hired luton van and do the first 'proper' move ... the luton managed about 40/50 mph up any sort of incline on the way back up North ... it was a rather long drive for my poor hubby!

The big unpack then began and my hubby had to drive back to Kent for the next load whilst his lovely parents drove up from Exeter to help him and I stayed up North to start sorting things out, basically the move took a while! Poor hubby has driven about 3000 miles over the last 3 weeks and is rather blinking tired as a result!

House is still in the process of getting sorted, piles of stuff everywhere and 101 things to do .. including chasing our wedding list people as we have only just unpacked the gifts and an awful lot of things still haven't been sent out, absolutely fuming!

Will write another post soon about the newest addition to our family, yup Marne is here! He is utterly gorgeous and flat out as I write this, I'd forgotten how much puppies need to sleep!