It was good to be back catching up with some of the million jobs to do, after my course at the beginning of the week.
It seems I never told you about the weekend at the end of last year when one of the Spaniels from the farm went missing.
They are mother and daughter and cannot be allowed out loose together else they take off, sometimes rapidly and go hunting in the woods together, eventually returning, muddy and exhausted after a few hours. The problem is avoided by keeping one on the lead whilst they are out and being careful not to leave the door open.
This has rarely, if ever, occurred when the lady of the house was in charge, but a fairly frequent occurrence when responsibility lies with the governor. We have been used to keeping an eye out for the wayward Gals and covering, on occasions, to protect the Gov from an ear bashing.
This happened when the lady of the house was away for the weekend.
I had walked the dogs on the Friday evening but it wasn't until the Saturday, when we were in the middle of lessons that we learnt they had taken off soon after the walk and only the younger one returned.
By the time we heard they were already beside themselves with worry and had been searching all morning.
Jessie and I looked when we had a break and it coloured the whole Saturday, but by the time we went home in the dark, there was still no sign.
Still nothing by Sunday afternoon, hope of a happy ending was fading.
Apparently she was caught in a fence by her fur! Someone found her and rang the number on her tag.
Here, as people used to Staffords, we did struggle a little and lose some respect. To be out for two nights when you were only caught by your fur! Can you imagine any self respecting Staffie doing that?
However, the joy and relief that she was safe and unharmed was what really mattered.
As a result they invested in GPS tracking collars. Which have been a huge success and on a couple of occasions when they have escaped they have been tracked in no time with someone on the laptop and another on a mobile following directions.
Until last week when Bo-Bo returned, without her collar and it could not be tracked. That was an expensive collar to lose.
Spending as much time there as I do I kept an eye out.
Then, this morning, I was told although they could not track it they had located the last place they had a signal for it. This indicated it was somewhere just through the gate, on the left, in the top field.
Rosie and I set out.
This was roughly where the last signal was, it must be near a fence or a thicket. I checked the stock fence at the side, there were lots of rabbit runs under thick cover, a good place to lose a collar. Rosie had charged up the hill and was the other side of the fence in the woods. I walked up to her, how had she got through? There was a space under the stock fence and lying there one GPS tracking collar! Undone but otherwise intact.
I had been feeling fed up but it is amazing how immensely satisfying something so seemingly small can be.
No comments:
Post a Comment