1st February

Hope you are snuggled up with your dogs, it's certainly a three dog night tonight!

My thanks to Val for yesterdays blog, extolling the virtues of Mitcham common and hearing about Poppy.
It is very good news about Poppy, Val is very skilled at 'home to homes,' having now successfully completed at least ten or more over the years.
A 'Home to Home,' is where someone needs their dog re-homed and contacts us, but the dog remains with them until a suitable home is found. I hate them, finding it hard to sort out all the logistics, it is certainly a help if the dog is local.
 Val is very thorough both in the assessing of the dog and in introducing the potential owner. It does need all parties to be committed and honest for it to work.
Although it uses less resources from the rescue, it is time consuming for the re-homer and I would like to thank Val for all the hard work she puts into this and congratulate her for her success rate, also wish her a speedy recovery from her chest infection, lets hope she is able to stay indoors during this bitter spell.

Val and Honey at Discover Dogs

I have heard from Sally that Saffy is much happier and back to her normal self, so they know that keeping her as the only dog was the right decision.
 Boycie has settled well, despite having less attention with us. He enjoys a game of ball and Sally and Simon bought us some very expensive tennis balls to keep him entertained. Now I know why. He destroys tennis balls faster than any other dog I have ever come across (excluding Lexus) that is.
I am taking him short journeys in the car followed by a walk to try and build up his tolerance in the car. We have had some success but today due to a longer return journey he threw before we made it home. He is getting keener to go in the car, just gets sick poor chap.

Angel's tail chasing is greatly improved. We attribute this to several things, the first is she is calmer without Jade, especially in the car when Jade would bark a lot. The Thundershirt has also helped and avoiding situations we know tend to stress or excite her.
She is always upset when a new dog comes but even with Boycie coming back she is better.
She fits quite well into life here and I am committed to keep her for as long as it takes until the perfect home comes along. She rarely meets another dog when out and she would need a similar situation in any new home.