Way earlier on this year we foolishly told Norman and Julie that if they wanted to head to the USA and Canada during November, we would move into their house and look after the dogs for them, At the time there were two labs and the newish Jack Russell pup Stanley to tend to and amuse. Sadly, Roxy the "mum" labrador had to be put to sleep so we were due to become surrogate minders for Indie and Stan only. As if having a hyperactive young Jack Russell could ever be described as "only".
The small challenge was the crew's back which was still not happy sitting for longer periods. Basically, 25 minutes was plenty. That makes the drive from Penarth to Wadebridge in Cornwall a lengthy one. First of all you chop it up into 25 minute segments, then you add another "boundary condition" - no more than about 90 minutes driving in a day. So, the drive that normally takes about three and a half hours took 3 days.
The delightful first stop was a Travelodge in Weston-super-Mare. It was cheap. The shower curtain had been mounted so high that there was a huge gap between it and the shower tray. The floor was duly flooded after showering. Oh, and the soap dispenser thing was broken - amazing how the cleaner had topped up the soap knowing that it would not come out! This meant that getting clean was harder than it should be. Not an auspicious start.
Things looked up when we made it to Wadebridge though. Stan was in a favourite position on the back of the sofa looking almost angelic and most cute:
Looks can deceive of course. He is massively cute and has a lovely nature - he also is totally obsessed with chasing tennis balls. Indie on the other hand is equally lovely, older and has the usual labrador obsessions (cuddles, sleeping and food, just not in that order):
Norman and Julie duly headed off to the excesses of the USA / Canada and we settled down to some serious dog sitting, or dog laying for the crew with her dodgy back. All was well until Stan's ball obsession caused some trouble. He was manically chasing a ball in the garden, came back inside and left a trail of bloody paw prints across the (luckily tiled) kitchen / diner area.
With great help from some neighbours who were dog owners and medically trained, we borrowed a boot, collar of shame and cleaned up his claw area which was the source of the blood. Nothing to stitch, just blood round the claw itself. So, despite a wriggling strong little Stanley we managed to dress it and then administer the borrowed boot too so he didn't remove the dressing:
Stan played the wounded soldier / hard done by pup thing so well but was really good each time we re-dressed it. He did manage to trash the borrowed collar which he needed from time to time to protect the boot from his tongue and teeth though:
Despite the protection, he managed to wear out the ends of two borrowed boots so we had to replace those and the collar for the kind neighbours. The most important bit was that he recovered and was once again an unguided ball obsessed missile.
Indie had been enjoying time away from the house without him but the weather just deteriorated to daily gales and heavy showers. No more beach time:
For the non boating folks, a "very high" sea state means waves of 9 to 14 metres high. Enough said. The accompanying rain kind of restricted the hounds to more local walks and the woods:
Back in the house, Indie decided that she could join the horizontal crew for cuddles by jumping up on top of her when Stan's play fights got a little over-enthusiastic and then cuddling into the spare space on the sofa. We can assure you that 32 kilos of labrador makes quite an impact, one that is not forgotten quickly. However, Indie looked very happy with the whole arrangement:
Walks along the Camel Trail during gaps in the deluges were amusing. To have a little bit of a boaty theme in this post, the captain admired a little fishing vessel that had been gently parked on a drying slipway. On the first day, they didn't quite get it right and the boat was leaning over at about 30 degrees. After the next tide it was better and on day 4 they finally cracked it:
After just over two weeks of canine fun (and a bit of stress), the travellers returned and Stan wanted to show them who was boss:
By then, we had figured that out anyway. The trip back to Penarth was lengthy thanks to the pesky back trouble and a bit foggy too. The worst bit of being afloat again was the layer of green goo that was covering the decks of the boat. All that rain, no sun, bad juju. A little scrubbing and washing off job is in the captain's future it seems.
