Sky, our beloved Black Labrador, went missing on 1st December 2008. We have been trying very hard to find him, and have been overwhelmed by the number of neighbours, friends and complete strangers who have been offering help and support. With so many people helping we cannot make calls in person to keep everyone up to date with the search, so this blog is our way of letting everyone know what is happening. CONTACT NUMBERS FOR US ARE 07951-722747 (PREFERABLE) OR 07921-545615

Thursday 25 February 2010

no.10

Yesterday morning was quite eventful - and had a happy ending. A lost dog was spotted by Tim as he headed up our lane to catch a train to London at 7am. He phoned me once he'd persuaded this very frightened, beautiful, pointer bitch to come to him and get a lead around her (collarless) neck - using some old Sky biscuits. I ran up the land and took over so he didn't miss his train, and spent a good half an hour persuading this poor trembling, muddy dog to come back to our house. It took a dog bowl full of tinned ravioli to get her inside - she was starving.
After an hour of drying her off, giving her water, a slice of bread, lots of love and a bit of peace and quiet while I dived in the shower (having to leave at 9am to do some high level interviewing), she settled on one of Sky's blankets, even gave me a wag, and looked exhausted.
Stupid me didn't think to take a picture to show you all - doh!!!
I rang the farm nextdoor - Lynn said the hunt had been through the previous day.
I rang the dog warden's office and they contacted Ann, our fabulous dog warden, who came on her way to work.
She stepped through the door and like Cesar Milan (the Dog Whisperer) this dog sniffed her, looked happy, and was later seen trotting off with her to the car with a totally different body posture than 2 hours previously.
She took one look and said "she's not a pointer, she's a fox-hound" (have a look on the internet dear bloggers - not much in it!). Oh, it's Wednesday - the Atherstone hunt came through here yesterday. She picked up an ear and found a tattoo saying "10", and said she'd have her back home in no time!
Tim's very proud of himself as she says fox hounds are notoriously hard to get to come to you - they are outside, pack animals, who get very frightened when separated from the pack and will only respond to very familiar people.
So a happy ending all round - I checked this morning and the dog was returned to its owner.
Yes you can guess the next bit. Ffion had spent 2 hours thinking this was an omen from God and if the dog was unclaimed on our return from Mexico in 2 weeks' time (going in 40 mins' time and need to stop prattling on on this blog) - then this beautiful creature was destined to be ours.......
I felt strangely unsettled all day yesterday.
Anyway, today is different - off to do sea kayaking and camping in a nature reserve in the Sea of Cortez with (hopefully) close encounters with whales and dolphins and sea lions. I am like a kid at Christmas!
Wonderful Pat will be hen, duck and house-sitting for us.
Got to go!

Monday 1 February 2010

Targetting Syston just in case

Spurred on by John, Jasper's dad (of the December scar on back labrador at the Syston end of Watermead Park) and the general encouragement of a number of you, we're hitting that locality a bit.
A big THANKS to Val from Barlestone, who has blasted companies in that area with posters, and given me info which has resulted in postings on Leicestershirevillages.com, the Leicester Mercury blog which is locality based, and a mention in next month's Syston Town News publication. Val, your persistence encourages us so much.
I went to Birstall (next to Syston) last Friday and the large Borrajo's vet practice had put our poster up by the front door, after I posted it to them. They were really friendly and said they always scan new animals, and just recently had reunited a cat with its owner. The "new owner" brought it there with an abscess, but the chip went ping, and the real owner said he'd been search ever since the cat went missing. So I left there feeling "in safe hands". Their sister practice does the same.
I then went to the small practice in Syston itself. John is right about the slightly eccentric vet, who operates out of a Victorian terraced. He didn't recognise Sky, but they now have a poster up, and hopefully it will stick in his memory.
So that's the end of the little flurry for now.
I suppose Sky's so healthy that he's unlikely to need to go to a vet much till he's older. Hopefully, though, he could tell his new "owners" how much he enjoyed his trip to France and persuade them to take him. Then he'll have to get a new pet passport and that's when his existing chip will ping................