Doggy Friends :-D

Well since my last update i'm now back swimming every day :-D :-D :-D I went to the health centre last Monday and the nurse said yes i could swim and i could leave the wound without a dressing now :-D So i was there every day last week tuesday - friday, i did 64 lengths on tuesday, 40 on wednesday, 64 on thursday and 40 on friday :-D It was also really nice to see all my swimming mates and tell them all about why i hadn't been there.

This weekend i've had a really good time :-) Karen and Graham invited me to theirs cos Karen works in Dogs Trust and they were having their open day yesterday.

Karen and Graham were both working at the Dogs Trust on Saturday to set up for the open day so Graham had said to me to ring him when i got to theirs and one of them would come to meet me.

I set off at about 2.20pm and put my sat nav on ready for going to their house. I got to JUST before the M62 junction and the sat nav was packing itself away :-o At that point i didn't go onto the motorway, i went onto the road beside it cos i knew i could stop somewhere to sort it out. I found myself a bus stop to pull into and checked what was going on.

It turns out it wasn't getting any power from the lighter socket in the car :-( The other day the plug from my reversing sensor fell apart and the bits all fell into the socket - there was a spark so i think i've short-circuited the socket :-(

I found myself some paper and a pen and rang Graham for directions. What he didn't tell me (but i half-remembered anyway) is that the M62 turns into the M60 before turning back into the M62 8|

I surprised myself and actually got to their house on the first go without getting lost at all :-o :-D When i got there i rang Graham and he said he would come and get me. I chille out listening to my CDs until he got there then i got in his car and he took me back to Dogs Trust.

Graham's driving is mad!!! He doesn't stick to speed limits, he doesn't seem to slow down for
hazards (at least not until we're practically on top of them) and he goes round corners with his wheels squealing :-o I wasn't on duty so i just kept my mouth shut and squirmed inwardly.

When we got back to Dogs Trust Karen was helping to load things into a van then we went out to the field to set out the agility course, not that i actually did anything - i asked Karen what i should do and she told me to "stand there and look pretty" ;-D

Work finished at 5pm so just after that we went back to Karen and Graham's house for a short while so that the dogs could go out and K and G could get changed. They've got 2 dogs at the moment, one (Polo) is their own dog and the other one (Toppa) is a foster dog. He is looking for a new home but he's got a bad history and gets very stressed in kennels so he's being fostered by K & G on the "home from home" scheme. When we got there i was told to ignore him unless he came to me cos they didn't know what he'd be like with strangers but he was absolutely fine :-) Within a minute or two he was jumping all over me just the same as Polo was ;-D

I was sleeping in the spare room, which the cat generally regards as her bedroom ;-D We made my bed while we were home. Karen said they hadn't hoovered most of the house but they did hoover my room including my bed to get rid of most of the hair so that it didn't kick off my asthma. As it was G had said to me to remember to bring plenty of drugs cos of all the hair ;-D ;-D Luckily enough i'm not normally affected by animal hair :-)

We went out for tea to a really nice pub where K & G sometimes go. The waitress was really friendly, the menu choices were really good and the whole atmosphere was generally what you would expect of a typical country pub. I had exactly the same dinner as K - including the drink, we had Jacques Orchard Fruits cider and it was really nice, very refreshing :-) We even had a 2nd glass each :-)

When we went home we just sat round for a short time watching telly until K&G decided to go to bed at about 9.45pm - they'd had an early start and a long day (and they'd had a late night the night before ;-D ). I decided i wasn't going to bed yet so i stayed downstairs watching the telly and i got reading a puppy-rearing book that they had on the coffee table ;-D

I decided to go to bed at about 11.30ish. I discovered when i went to my room that the cat had already made herself comfortable on my bed ;-D Oh well, home from home ;-D When i'd got ready for bed i looked round but found i didn't have a bedside light :-( There was a light with a switch on the cord but no socket to plug it into 8| I read for a while before turning the light off to go to sleep.

I'd planned to get up at around 8.30 but i didn't sleep very well anyway :-( While i was lying there i realised the 2nd glass of cider probably wasn't a good idea cos alcohol has the opposite effect on me than it does on many people - it keeps me awake 8| Earlier in the day Graham had asked was i staying sunday night as well as saturday and originally i'd said no i was going home saturday evening. After K&G had gone to bed i was thinking and decided i would stay the extra nigt after all - it meant i could drive home in the daylight instead of the dark.

When i went downstairs Graham was already up but Karen was only just getting up. Originally i was going to take my car to the centre with Graham as a passenger so i could drive home from there but because i'd decided to stay again it meant Graham could set off early - he was on gate duty to stop unauthorised people getting in.

Karen and i left at about 9.30ish in her car, we took both dogs with us and it was decided i was looking after Toppa for the day :-D

We parked the car and then went to find where everyone was. Karen took me into the staff room - with the dogs, which apparently you're not supposed to do ;-D Many of the staff were in the staff room and there were lots of goodies on the table ;-D

When we went out onto the field the agility circuit wasn't complete so Karen helped with that (she was there even though it was her weekend off!! ) and i got both dogs to look after. Because Karen works there she knows all the staff so we kept chatting to people :-D There was a man on the mobile advertising vehicle and Karen borrowed a jacket off him for Toppa - it says "I need a home" and i think it suited Toppa :-D

We spent most of the day wandering roubd talking to various people and it was really nice for Karen cos a lot of people had brought their dogs back that they'd rehomed from Dogs Trust with them for the day and she was able to chat to the new owners and see how well her dogs were doing :-) :-)

Karen was taking Polo round the agility course cos the Dogs Trust amateur agility team were doing a display which was going to be followed by the professionals doing a display as well. The Dogs Trust agility was supposed to be happening at 12.30 but it wasn't on the programme and the man on the PA system was being a jerk (generally!) and although a couple of the staff asked him to announce it he got all arsey and refusing to do it until HE was ready :-@ Eventually someone persuaded him to announce it and he gave one little comment before carrying on with his games and competitions 8|

Polo went first on the agility and was ok, though not as good as when they were practsing earlier in the day - he got too excited ;-D One lady (i think she's a manager or something) her dog was doing the agility too but he ran off - completely :-o ;-D He ended up down the other end of the field :-o ;-D She was NOT impressed!!! While she was trying to hunt him down all the other Dogs Trust team had another go on the agility circuit ;-D

Once the agility was over we went to get some lunch. They were selling burgers and things but we went and got some goodies from the staff room again, we took a plate of stuff out to the picnic benches.

It wasn't a very hot day so straight after lunch we went and put the dogs back in the car for a while cos Karen wanted to show me round the kennels and obviously you're not allowed to take your own dogs past the kennels. At the end of the kennel block is the kitchen where they prepare the dogs' food so Karen took me in there and there was a gorgeous dog with a broken leg in there.

After we'd been round the kennels we went and got the dogs back out of the car and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering round. Karen decided to enter Polo into the prettiest eyes competition but he didn't win, he didn't even get short-listed :-( Karen reckons it was a fix cos there was another dog in the class with the most gorgeous blue eyes and he didn't get short-listed either :-o

While we were wandering round quite a few people were asking about Toppa but unfortunately i didn't know that much to tell people - i had to keep getting Karen to answer their questions. Many people were asking if he was ok with other dogs, cats, birds, horses, children and sadly for them and him the answer is generally 'no'. Apprently he's been given back to the centre 3 times for biting but K&G have had him 2 monthswith no problems and they found out this weekend he's fine with strangers cos he only met me on saturday and by the sunday he loved me :-D

Once the open day was over and most of the peole had left we briefly helped to tidy up the field then it was party time for the staff (and visitors) ;-D A couple of people wanted drinks bought so K & G and I all went out to the shop. When we got back we were all congregating in the big room. One of the staff was in charge of the barbecue but he disappeared for a short time and then obviously the barbecue takes time to heat up properly so we were all enjoying the staff room goodies while we waited ;-D

Because most of the animals had gone the only ones that were left were dogs that belonged to staff so they were all let off their leads :-) One of the dogs i'd seen on the field seemed quite aggressive and noisy while she was on her lead and i didn't like the look of her :-( When she was in the room, even with all the other dogs and people, she was lovely :-)

We stayed there till about 10.45 i think, Polo was already shattered and had gone to sleep under the table ;-D

When we got home we all went straight to bed - Karen was due in work the next day and Graham had left his car there cos he was drinking at the party so they were both going in for 8am then Graham was coming back cos he'd booked the day off work. Because i wasn't going to see Karen in the morning i said goodbye to her as we went to bed.

I slept better last night than the night before which i was glad of as i knew i had to drive home. I heard Karen getting up for work and was awake so Polo came in to see me and say good morning ;-D I was planning on getting up around 8ish cos i figured Graham would be back at about 8.30 but he was actually back at 8 :-o I was really surprised :-o

I got up anyway and went downstairs to be greeted by both dogs. I sat watching telly with Graham for a while and at one point i had Polo on my knee and Toppa next to me leaning on me :-) :-) They are both gorgeous :-)

I left there at about 9.30 cos i'd arranged to see another friend at 11 so that gave me an hour and a half - and i got there bang on time :-D On the way home from there i went and photograhed another 4 lambananas ;-D ;-D