Those camp dogs

Ah... those 9 dogs I listed yesterday

Ben and Nellie; black and white collie cross litter-mates, still fairly lively at 14, and we've known them for ever. All 5 of us (we three and these two) had to be tied up out of the way while Dad and B+N's humans tried to play "boules". I kept trying to stroll off with the small (wooden) jack-ball, and all 5 of us were milling around the Jack looking like we might try to catch the 720g stainless steel boules.

Later, when we were playing fetch with a matching pair of bright tennis balls, "we" just failed to swing the camera up to capture Ben and Nellie racing back to their Dad shoulder to shoulder, the bright balls and the paired dogs making a lovely picture. We then spent 20 minutes trying to re-create the close-running neck-and-neck effect but Nellie is much slower and showing her age, than Ben, so their Dad was trying to finely judge the two throws so that Nellie could make her slow out-run, and Ben chase off on his huge fetch, so that they then returned past the camera perfectly aligned. Never really worked, but we tried.

Murphy the Red Setter you'll remember from previous camps, when he took me "to the shops". This time he was enjoying rather too much the small lake that formed in one part of the site during the rain Thursday, and every time his owner took his eye off Murphy, he'd slope off and re-appear with obvious wet "skirts" and legs.

Socks the alsatian we've known for ever, but this time we owe him an apology. We were asked to demo our balloon-killer trick, and didn't realise quite how freaked out he'd be by the bangs. Sorry Socks. We stopped as soon as we realised, but the poor boy by then was cowering in the corner of the marquee, trembling. Luckily no permanent damage done.

Barney was a cracker - a Staffie cross Jack Russell, he actually looked like a twice-too-big red and white JR. Brilliant dog. Shouldn't have left his bone under their car though, so that we could all have a thieve of it when they drove off on a shopping trip. One of those times when Dad slowly realises he is not in sight of all of us and it's gone suspiciously quiet.

More soon
Deefer

A shining example

Everyone is completely amazed and delighted by the "revelation" that is Asbo (Rags) as a hospital visitor. Daimond's Dad, Denis is now pretty much confined to hospital and he misses the daily contact he used to have with Rags, so Diamond agreed with the staff of the section where Denis is currently living, to be allowed to bring Rags in on a visit.

Everyone involved was very trepidatious about this - he's not got his Asbo for no reason (all be it , lately the humans have rescinded it). There was no limit to the chaos he could have caused, racing about, doing um... presents, annoying patients, wrecking the place.

He was let in the first time under the strictest controls, on the lead and for a pre-arranged limited time, supervised by the nursing staff.

He was, as I said, a "revelation" ! The perfectly behaved dog! Delighted to see Denis (and vice versa) but in a restrained, non-mad way, and everyone's idea of the best behaved dog you'd want in a hospital wing. Now, a few visits down the line he is let off the lead. He makes a bee-line for Denis and a fuss of him, but then trots obediently towards any of the other patients who call him over, never fussing them too much, never out-staying his welcome, leaving alone the ones who don't want to talk to him, never ever leaving those "gifts".

Everyone's idea, in fact, of the perfect "PAT" (Pets as Therapy) dog. The boy has found his niche, and we're dead proud of him, Denis Healey eyebrows an' all !

Deefs