Feels more like April or May than July. It’s okay with me. I prefer mild to stinking hot. Just could do without the storms and the rain.
Storms are lovely for me, for Tilly and for Heston. We don’t mind ’em. Amigo, on the other hand, well, he is terrified. He is a quivering, shivering wreck during the storms. Poor boy. And we have been having so many of them!
This week marks the first time since his arrival that I have been able to walk all three dogs together – that, in itself is an achievement. Amigo, it seems, is not used to other dogs. He tolerates Tilly, but was most alarmed when she licked him on the nose. Sometimes, Tilly and Heston play – I say ‘play’ and I mean Tilly gives him a feeble little slap with her paw and Heston pretends to bite her legs – and that was upsetting to Amigo as well. No, Amigo has been in a one-dog home and he has been a loved and treasured pet. He walks to heel, never fusses, doesn’t mind being left, likes to sleep at the foot of the bed, loves cuddles, watches me constantly, loves treats and got so excited when I got my wellies out that I’m very certain he knows that wellies mean a walk or some time outside.
So to be able to walk all three, well, that is progress. Plus, it saves me a walk a day. Amigo and Tilly trot next to me. Heston runs in big circles on a long lead, unless he is in a field and I let him off.
It just makes me sad that a dog that is so lovely and so sweet, so well-trained and so good-natured, should have found himself at the refuge. What can have possibly happened in his life that led to him being abandoned? Poor guy.
Anyway, from having to sit and keep him and Heston separate, managing every situation that was stressful, from food and being in the garden, now there is only playing that they cannot do together. Balls are worth fighting for, even if there are two hundred lying around my garden.
I’ve been finishing off my marking as the farmers have been out harvesting the winter wheat. Although, the end is never really the end. Once the initial marking is over, all the remaining scripts go into a big pot and it becomes a free-for-all. Sometimes, it takes weeks to finish marking them all. Sometimes, they are gone in days.
Although most of my lessons finished on Friday, I still have ten or so clients who are putting themselves or their children through a little extra over the break. A holiday of sorts, then, for me!
And the rest of the time, I am busy trying to capture the refuge dogs at their most photogenic. I don’t know if it helps them find homes. I hope it does. It’s nice to have the time to spend there – the staff and volunteers are amazing and we have a really great time walking the dogs or helping out. I just hope I get to put in a few more hours over the school break.
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