rebel without a cause?

Posted on September 9, 2018 by patinkingsheath

 

 

Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra bits in between.

 

Sunday September 9th 2018

 

Two lovely, damp, gloomy weekend days, with light showers on Saturday. Lovely Isis weather. So on both days we walk to the park.

Isis, somewhat deprived as she’s been, of street smells, proceeds very slowly and is soon only capable of gestural pees.

It takes us thirty five minutes to reach the park. I estimate that we’ll take about twenty five minutes on our return journey and decide that with walking both ways, Isis should be well exercised if she has about thirty five minutes off lead to play.

She runs around gleefully, after which I re-harness her as usual and off we set. Or, to be more accurate, off I set. I am immediately brought up short. Isis is sitting down with a distinctly uncooperative expression on her face.

Oh. This is very unusual. Refusing to walk to the park yes. Refusing to walk in the direction I’ve chosen, yes, but refusing to leave the park?

I allow her to choose which way to go. She makes it crystal (as our politicians appear impelled to say) clear that she doesn’t wish to move in any direction, thank you.

And she won’t.

I sign ‘walk on’. I pat her encouragingly. I stand still and wait. And wait. And wait. I examine her feet to see if there’s anything sticking in her pad or between her toes. Nothing. I feel her carefully all over. Nothing. I give gentle, then less gentle tugs on her lead.

Finally, I stride on, bearing her weight on the running belt around my waist.

She protests by digging her heels firmly into the ground.

I imagine the headlines in Dogs’ Daily: cruel human seen dragging innocent dog across Kings Heath Park………………further enquiries reveal that this poor little dog is not only much smaller than her aggressor, but is also deaf and blind ……….

We eventually leave the park. Isis twice sits down on the pavement, but then gives up and walks calmly home.

I am still concerned that I may have missed something, but a further careful examination reveals no obvious reason for her behaviour.

And, judging by the way she leaps ecstatically in the muddy garden later in the evening, there is no obvious reason.

Today, she walks eagerly to the park again. No hesitation at all.

I can only conclude that she wished to stay in the park yesterday, that thirty-five minutes didn’t feel enough time.

I am free this evening, so she can play off lead for her usual hour.

After she has run around joyfully for her hour, I walk carefully into the big shrubbery and tap her back. As usual, she makes her way out and stands still so that I can put her back into her harness.

Yes, she looks ready to go …………………………

 

 

 

 

…… sort of.

 

 

Oh.

I wait for a minute or too.

Perhaps she needs a rest.

 

 

 

Or not.

 

Dogs’ Daily, Sunday Edition: Once again, it has been reported that ………………

 

At least today the little  *^@  has the grace to walk properly once we approach the park gate.

Isis, Isis.

What more can I say?

 

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

 

Posted in a very naughty dog, deaf/blind dog plays, I'm off my lead!, Kings Heath Park, running running, strange behaviour, walking in the park, walking my deaf/blind dog | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

where’s the car?

Posted on September 5, 2018 by patinkingsheath

 

 

Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra bits in between.

 

Wednesday September 5th 2018

 

Thank you for all the lovely comments made on Hairy One’s gotcha day post, and apologies to Isabel whom I forgot was the volunteer who went to collect Isis.

I am very grateful for the dry weather which makes it possible for Isis to play in the garden. Although we have managed to walk to Kings Heath Park three times over the last ten days, it’s not been easy to persuade her that yes, it’s definitely what she most wants to do.

Even though we only attempt the walk on damp, cloudy days, on one of these  three outings she spends  almost all of her off the lead time sitting morosely under the fir tree in her favourite Colour Garden shrubbery.

Perhaps the light isn’t quite right.

On a bright day, of course, I’ve no chance of persuading her to move  more than a few yards from the  gate.

But even when it’s sunny, she’ll allow herself to be nudged out onto the pavement so that she can walk smartly to the space where the car used to be parked.

Once there, she sniffs around where the car doors should be and looks depressed. Then she tugs me urgently back towards the gate.

She loves going in the car. Poor Isis. Where has that car gone?

To the car’s graveyard, I’m afraid. I kept it running by filling up the coolant tank every other day – or every day if we we ventured further than a couple of miles away.

I managed to persuade it to take us to the R.S.P.C.A. for Hairy One’s anal glands to be dealt with and to collect two month’s supply of Daisy’s thyroid tablets, two days before my shoulder operation. But its head gasket was on its way out and would have cost £6oo.00 to replace as the engine would have had to be stripped down.

The car was over nineteen years old and, unsurprisingly, was becoming tired of life. The starter motor also needed replacing: the spring which returns the key to a neutral position had broken and unless I remembered to return the key manually, on starting, the engine emitted a ear piercing screech which could be heard well down the road. The sunroof was on its last legs and one of the windows wasn’t working. Its worst rust patch was kept in place with duct tape.

I’m hoping to replace it with a small vehicle not quite so old, as soon as I am able to drive again.

C. , the garage owner, asks me if there are any colours I really couldn’t stand. Not pink or purple, I tell him. And most certainly not lavender. I may be old, but I don’t want to look like the opening scene of ‘Miss Marple’s Last Case.’

Isis will not get into a car which she doesn’t know, unless I’m already sitting in it. If I’m on my own when she’s introduced to her little Hyundai i10, I’ll have to fill it with stuff which smells of us.

Then off we’ll go to Highbury again!

 

 

 

 

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

 

 

Posted in Isis and Daisy, strange behaviour, we don't like the dark | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

HAPPY GOTCHA DAY MY ISIS

Posted on September 2, 2018 by patinkingsheath

 

 

Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra bits in between.

 

Sunday September 2nd 2018

 

Isis’s gotcha day is August 27th 2014.

Below is a photo of her taken when she arrived at Aeza cat and dog rescue in Aljezur, Portugal, in June 2014.

 

 

 

She had been found wandering down the main road of a village, trailing rope and chain behind her. The man who found her was unable to take her to Aeza himself so tied her up outside an old church and rang Aeza.

Volunteer Isabel picked her up and took her to the rescue.

She was safe.

By the time I saw her, of course, she was considerably cleaner, better fed and less waif-like than in the photo. Goodness knows what her weight was when she was found, as she was still only just nine kilos when she was first weighed here. Up to fifteen kilos is her ideal weight.

Below is a copy of the post I wrote about her gotcha day.

 

Isis Cometh

Posted on August 27, 2014 by

Isis comes today. Gulp.

The courier phones. Isis will be the last dog delivered. She’ll be here this evening.

Keeping busy.

Might she trip over this?

Could she fall into that?

Might this stick into her?

She’ll be here in a few hours

Last few garden hazards dealt with.

She’ll be here in 30 minutes.

I feel sick with anticipation. I am sick with anticipation – several times.

I see (the) Europet van park opposite the house. I stagger across the road with Isis’s new blue spotty collar.

Isis is carried across the road by one of the gentle couriers. The other one hands me a passport and vaccination papers.

Isis is here.

She looks terrified. Stupidly, I pick her up and place her next to me  on the futon. She begins to tremble violently. I carry her into the garden.

She explores the garden until the light is almost gone. Then she falls asleep.

I carry her into the kitchen.

 

*******

 

Isis, if I had known then what I know now, Kerry might have received a very strangely shaped and very angry parcel at Aeza Rescue a few days later!

 

 

 

I jest, of course.

 

 

 

Isis. Taken today.

 

 

 

The naughty little creature is much loved.

 

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

 

 

 

Sunday September 2nd 2018

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

 

 

 

Posted in adopted dogs, deaf/blind dog arrives in new home, dear little Isis, dogs adopted via DogwatchUK, Isis at home | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

it gets worse …..

Posted on August 30, 2018 by patinkingsheath

 

 

Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra bits in between.

 

Thursday (should have been Wednesday) August 29th 2018

 

Isis: It should have been bloody Tuesday.

Human: Isis!

Isis: Well, I ask you. Tuesday was supposed to be my big day.

Human: Yes, I know, but ……

Isis: But nothing. It was my GOTCHA day.

Human: Yes, I know. I’m sorry but ……

Isis: Yes, you made a mistake. You thought my gotcha day was August 29th.

Human: Yes, I know, I’m sorry but ……

Isis: Yes, you didn’t check because you knew you were right.

Human: Yes, I know. I’m very sorry Isis.

Isis: And as if that wasn’t bad enough, you didn’t even celebrate my Very Important Day on the wrong day. You didn’t even celebrate it two days late, on the 29th.

Human: Have a heart, Isis. I was ill.

Isis: That was your fault. You were doing drugs. Daisy told me. You know they made you ill before.

Human: They were pain killers, Isis.

Isis: Daisy told me you were doing drugs.

Human: Cats get things wrong sometimes.

Isis: No they don’t. Cats know everything. Daisy told me.

She’s cross with you as well. Why did you do them?

Human: My shoulder hurt.

Isis: Was it bad?

Human: Very bad.

Isis: Was it as bad as when I got sticks stuck in my mouth?

Human: It hurt more than when you got sticks stuck in your mouth.

Isis: All right then. But Daisy’s cross with you for forgetting my Gotcha day. That’s why she pooed on the floor while you were being sick.

Human: I don’t think so. It was just malice.

Isis: Who’s Alice.

Human: Never mind. It doesn’t matter. On Sunday our blog will be all about you. I’ll say what a sweet, clever little dog you are and I’ll take a lovely photo of you looking beautiful.

Isis: (somewhat mollified): Oh. All right then.

Human: And before I take the photo, I’ll brush you and comb you so you’ll look really stunning.

Isis: €ζø*!   !℘!

Human: Isis!

 

 

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

 

Posted in adopted dogs, Isis and Daisy, Isis at home | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

a very boring day in the life of Isis Podengo

Posted on August 26, 2018 by patinkingsheath

 

 

Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra bits in between.

 

Sunday August 26th 2018

 

It’s Friday.

At 11.50 I open the back door and Isis flies out. Her dash turns into a crazy ‘released dog’ dance, not just a twirl or a leap, more like a highland fling.

Then she finds Snake, and, after mouthing a ‘Hello’ greeting or two, picks him up and trots round the garden.

 

 

 

12.05 She’s standing under the hazel tree, tail drawing cheerful circles in the air.

As I walk towards her, she jumps out and, head held high, completes what looks like a victory circuit before having an energetic trot round the garden.

12.20 She’s still trotting round the garden with snake. Sigh. This isn’t a very stimulating activity.

 

 

 

1.40 O.K. What’s Hairy doing now? Hmmm. Still under the hazel with Snake. She sashays out as I approach and comes up to greet me, tail wagging happy greetings. Then she retreats beneath her tree, shuffling well into the shadows as far as she can go.

 

 

 

I think she’s saying, “It was good to smell you, but I definitely don’t wish to come in yet, thank you.”

3.00 She’s  emerging again from the foliage around the tree. She still has her snake in her mouth. Her day seems very boring to a mere human.

 

 

 

I select a squishy ball and a rope tugger from her toy basket and take them down the garden

3.15  I wonder if she’d like a piece of cheese.

I cut her a small square and take it to her. Like most dogs she loves cheese.

I hold it out to her and she sniffs it.

I know she’d love to shoot out a pink tongue and lasso it, but there’s no way she’s going to let go of her snake.

4.45 The cheese has disappeared and she’s now holding the ball. Big deal.

 

 

 

6.45 I prepare her dinner and go to fetch her in. She’s still under her hazel tree.

Yawn.

At least she standing up this time – and she’s now holding the tugger.

 

 

 

I tap her under the chin and walk her in.

Another long day in the back garden.

She seems perfectly contented, but I feel sorry for her. She’s getting nowhere near the exercise or stimulation she needs.

I must take her out, for a road walk at least, so that she can enjoy some fresh scents.

 

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

 

 

 

 

 

got images try to collect more e.g. Isis in garden without toys

Posted in Isis and the snake, Isis at home | Tagged , | 4 Comments

my ♥ little ♥ Isis

Posted on August 22, 2018 by patinkingsheath

 

 

 

Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra bits in between.

 

Wednesday August 21st 2018

 

Yes, I really am writing about the same dog.

Isis, bless her grubby little cotton socks, has been amazing these past two weeks.

Her last walk was three weeks ago today but she has been contented to spend time in the garden with balls or snakes. She seems happy to come inside in the evening when I fetch her, and snoozes, quietly for the most part, after her dinner.

She has been very good at night, except when I’ve fallen asleep with her on the day bed and not woken until three or four in the morning: she’s fine with the bed sharing but not happy when I go to bed upstairs the following night!

Once or twice she’s become very excited and waggy when I’ve opened the front door. She’s anticipated a walk, but has been completely accepting when I’ve closed it again and she knows she’s not getting one.

She relinquishes my place on the day bed when I ‘ask’ for it, with not so much as a sotto voce growl, let alone the hysterical rage which used to ensue from such a request.

My shoulder has been much less painful yesterday and today and I’m planning to take her on a road walk tomorrow to give her something more interesting to sniff.

Thank you for being so good, little podengo.

 

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

Posted in dear little Isis, Isis and the snake, Isis at home, relationship building, sleeping, sleeping arrangements | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

wasps and hoses

Posted on August 19, 2018 by patinkingsheath

 

 

Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra bits in between.

 

Sunday August 19th 2018

 

Since I’ve had the second shoulder operation I’ve not, of course, been able to take Isis for a walk. I’ve not yet felt strong enough to take her out into the lane at the bottom of the garden either, so she’s having to make do with the garden.

She spends hours happily playing in the garden, dancing, hunting in the extensive undergrowth for old toys, tracking whoever has visited since the day before and tossing around whatever she’s found to play with.

I often wonder how long she would stay out if I didn’t fetch her in.

When I pop next door, it’s safe to leave her outside for a few minutes. My neighbours are away for a week and I am doing  daily drips, leaks and floods patrols.

The first few days are uneventful. No drips, leaks or floods, just a few dead wasps on the windowsill of E’s bedroom.

Sad. I’m very fond of wasps.

Then, one day, there are ten wasps dead on the windowsill and one still flying around but struggling. I pick him up and let him fly out of the window, collect the corpses and put them in a plant pot outside.

The following day there are several little black and yellow striped jerseys with dangly legs and droopy wings, dazed but alive, and many more who lie on the window sill on their backs, wings stiff and legs rigid.

As I let the survivors out of the window, I look over into my garden to check on Isis.

Eeeeeek!

There she is with my smart blue hose pipe between her clenched teeth, all four legs seriously braced for tugging.

Jerk! Jerk! Jerk!

She heaves at the pipe which is firmly wedged in the undergrowth, brambles and teasels.

JERK! JERK! JERK!

She scrambles backwards, increasing her purchase, then stiffens her legs again and drops her rear end close to the ground.

CHOMP! CHOMP! CHOMP!

She reorganises her teeth for better grip.

H – E – A – V – E

Oh My Dog!

I close the window and hobble off down the stairs as fast as I can safely go.

Once in the garden, I tap her head gently and, thankfully, she lets go of the hose pipe. She’d not let go if it was a toy so I assume that she knows it’s not hers. Or perhaps she smells the waves of frantic human I’m giving off.

I’m lucky, there are rows of little tooth marks but no breaks.

When I tell Polymath, she says, “Oh, dear little thing. She’d love a big snake like that. You must get her one.”

I wonder if anyone sells hose piping by the metre. Must check it out.

By the way, Isis stayed out in the garden for seven hours today before coming in and pointing out that it was dog’s tea time.

 

 

 

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

 

Posted in deaf/blind dog plays, dear little Isis, Isis at home, scenting | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

Wilda falls from grace

Posted on August 16, 2018 by patinkingsheath

 

And whose fault was it that the images of Wilda were not appearing on gmail last night? Yes, mine, of course. Today I discover my phone won’t send messages either. I’ve accidentally switched it to flight mode.

Must be the anaesthetic.

 

 

Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra bits in between.

 

Thursday August 16th 2018 (Just pretend it’s Wednesday.)

 

Remember the lovely Wilda? She with the two inch long eyelashes? She who was the ring bearer at J. and L.’s wedding?

If you do, then you will be as aghast as I am when I meet the disgraced one in Kings Heath Park.

I am just congratulating Isis on how beautifully she is walking on her lead, and there they are by the cafe area: J, baby M, just over a year old, and little Wilda who is wagging her tail off at my feet in expectation of a gravy bone.

But dear, oh dear, oh dear, what’s this?

 

 

 

 

Poor little Wilda. What has she done to deserve such barbarism?

Since baby M. became mobile, explains J., Wilda has turned into a terrible scavenger. After much practice following M. around the house and gobbling up bits of dropped biscuit, she graduates to picking up nasty things in the park and up-chucking them at home.

Dogs have such endearing habits.

On this particular day, J. reaches the end of her tether. Naughty Wilda, having enjoyed some unspeakable snacks in the park, comes into the house and promptly vomits all over the carpet.

Scarcely has poor J. cleaned up after Wilda when baby M. poos copiously close by and also, naturally, on the carpet

During her pregnancy, J. had looked forward to the joys of motherhood and spending halcyon days at home with baby and Wilda.

“But it’s not the glamorous life I imagined”, she sighs.

Like Popeye the Sailor Man, this is all she can stand and she can’t stand no more.

Next day she stops off at the pet shop and buys a muzzle.

But J is too kind-hearted to deprive Wilda of her gravy bone, and removes the muzzle so that the naughty little creature can eat her treat.

 

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

 

Posted in a very naughty dog, Kings Heath Park, park dogs, the dogs of King's Heath Park, walking in the park | Tagged , | 2 Comments

oh Isis, Isis!

Posted on August 12, 2018 by patinkingsheath

 

 

Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra bits in between.

 

Sunday August 12th 2018

 

I have no idea whether you’ll be able to access this post as Facebook no longer allows Publicise connections to Facebook profiles, only to Facebook pages.

I, of course, don’t know a page from a profile.

I’ve read the information about how to allow publication via a different set-up. In fact, I’ve read it x times. I’ve made notes too, but I’m none the wiser, just a hell of a lot more irritated, so let’s get on with the post and see what happens. When I’m feeling less malevolent I’ll consult the WordPress Gurus. They’re very patient.

In the meantime, thanks a million Facebook. I love you too.

I came home after my second shoulder operation on Friday August 3rd. My School friend M picked me up the following Sunday as she and her partner G had invited me to stay with them in Uppingham to be ‘looked after’. And looked after I was – brilliantly.

I stayed until Thursday, leaving Isis and Daisy in the capable hands of animal sitting friend A.

Both Isis and Daisy know A. well so I was confident that they would both be excellent clients.

Daisy was.

Looking back, I should have been more alert to the fact that A.’s texts contained glowing accounts of how sweet and companionable Daisy was but very little about Isis other than a request for advice about how to deal with her worrying her feet, gnawing her leg and harbouring vast amounts of seeds and burrs about her face and ears.

Kindly A. did not alert me to the hassle she was putting up with. When I returned home I discovered that Isis had been very difficult indeed.

She’d barked throughout the night and much of the morning, worried her feet continuously, barbered her front right leg and raised merry hell at mealtimes.

She’d refused to allow A. to remove her burgeoning collection of seeds and burrs or clean the mud off her muzzle.

Worst off all she’d uttered growly threats and snapped when A. attempted to groom her, sometimes just when she approached her. A. described Hairy One’s behaviour as very grumpy and unpredictable.

I was mortified. Fortunately A. and I know each other very well and she believes that I’d not have left Isis with her if I’d even suspected that there might be problems.

A., quite understandably, would not want to look after Isis again.

If Isis was unable to settle with A., she’d certainly not cope with any other sitter, so, sadly, when I need to leave her in the future, it’ll have to be kennels.

When I had the first operation, A. looked after the three of us and Isis was perfectly calm.

It seems that things feel very different to her when her human leaves home. As soon as I return, she sleeps through the night, is calm during the day and reverts to ‘normal’ mode.

I think that now she has bonded, I am her security and she can’t cope with this security being taken away.

It will need someone with Ray and his staff’s extensive experience with damaged animals to look after her in my absence.

Poor A.

Poor little Isis.

 

 

 

 

 

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

 

Posted in a very naughty dog, food rage, Isis and Daisy, Isis at home, Isis is no angel, nightmares, self-damaging, self-harming, strange behaviour | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

an ecstasy of rain

Posted on August 2, 2018 by patinkingsheath

 

 

Posting days: Sunday and Wednesday and, sometimes, maybe, extra bits in between.

 

There will not be a post on Sunday August 5th or Wednesday August 8th as Human is having an operation on her shoulder (left one this time) this Friday.

Hopefully, normal service will be resumed on Sunday 12th, although posts may be shorter for a while!

 

 

Wednesday August 1st 2018

 

Our heatwave breaks at the weekend. By Sunday the weather is absolutely perfect for my hairy podengo.

Isis and I go to Kings Heath Park.

We see only three other dogs in over an hour and a half. As we virtually have the park to ourselves, I set Isis free once we’ve passed the car park and off she goes.

Oh, the wonder of it! The ecstasy when she feels rain on her face! Her tail flies up like a kite and her long, pink tongue licks at the rain drops on her nose.

It’s wild and she loves it. The wind whistles through the trees, makes twigs and leaves trundle over the grass, flicks drops of rain from the hedges and spreads out her ears like damp streamers.

 

 

 

 

Rain drops bounce off her nose and turn her tail into strings. She twists and twirls and leaps and spins and she runs and runs and runs.

 

 

 

 

Technically, this phone video isn’t great, but it is full of wind and wetness, so  try not to go cross-eyed, turn up your speakers, and just think of it as an animated Monet!

 

Isis came from the Aeza cat and dog rescue and adoption centre in Aljezur, Portugal. For information about adopting an animal from the centre, contact kerry@aeza.org or  www.dogwatchuk.co.uk

 

Posted in deaf/blind dog plays, dear little Isis, I'm off my lead!, Kings Heath Park, running running, twirling, walking in the park, walking my deaf/blind dog | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments