Happy New Year 2012 - with a Bang!

I can hardly believe that we actually have a New Year's adventure to share already! We rang the New Year in with new friends from St. Mark's church. We'd been very touched to be welcomed in so readily and had enjoyed good food, good conversation, party games, party poppers and had sung merrily together and hugged everyone in the room as the clock struck midnight before a firework display reminded us of our petrified pooch cowering in her crate back at home. We said our thank yous and farewells and headed for the homestead, leaving the revellers to dance the night away. That's when our New Year began! On our return our thoughts tuned more and more into Sally and we wanted to let her sit by our feet for a while as we savoured a little Bower family time around the fire with hot drinks and hugs all round. First things first. I put the kettle on and cut slabs of Christmas cake, Joseph set up the room, lights on, fire in, Tony let Sally out in the garden before we all gathered together to unwind. The unwinding didn't happen! Tony went out in the garden with Sally to keep an eye on her but just as they were returning down the garden path - BANG BANG BANG! Fireworks set off in almost every direction. Sally went berserk! She also bolted. Somehow she found a slim gap between the six foot high fencing posts and she was gone. We could hear her shrill barks for a good 15 minutes (as I am sure could all our neighbours half a mile around)! We called her, Tony walked round the streets but we could not find her. Meanwhile I sat in our cozy lounge concentrating on keeping my stress levels down - not easy. Finally and freakily Sally's barking suddenly stopped followed by the banging of a car door! Only one thing for it... Phone the police... again! Tony circumnavigated the streets one last time before giving up and coming to bed at around 2am, thoughts violently tumbling around our minds of Sally's almost definite abduction and horrific demise. Finally we got some restless and fitful sleep - not a good start to a year for a woman recovering from a heart attack! It was around 3 am that Tony sat bolt upright and woke me saying he'd heard 3 barks. He shot out of bed and ran downstairs. He opened the back door, shouted 'Sally' and sure enough she came trotting straight back in and headed directly for her bed as if the last few hours had been a figment of our New Year's imaginations! Bless her. Happy New Year. God bless you richly in 2012. I wonder what adventures lay ahead?

York Police Station Please

'Let's have a quick walk along the Ings and give Sally a run off before we go out.' suggested Tony just as the light outside was starting to fade. What a good suggestion. We wrapped up - hats - check, coats - check, scarves, gloves - check. It was the day after Boxing Day and Tony's new chair person from work had very kindly invited us round for an evening of festive fun. A lovely gesture, a hand of kindness stretched towards us that meant so much to us especially at this time, having recently relocated to York earlier in the year. We decided, for speed to bundle Sally into the car and we headed off to the nearby 'Park and Ride' car park which has footpaths leading onto the Ings (pasture land along the verge of the River Ouse meandering for miles in either direction). The perfect place for a game of fetch and back to the car again in under half an hour. That was our plan. Not Sally's! By now, having read any of my previous blogs you won't be surprised to hear that. The rest could write itself. You may wonder why I bother... until you read the event that ensued! After watching Sally run rings around us with no intention of returning to us for around half an hour and after calling her name and finally lose sight of her, in light of my weakened heart, we made a conscious decision not to let the stress levels rise and not to be late for our hosts. We left Sally hiding in the bushes and lifted heartfelt and hopeful prayers before picking up our son and heading off for an evening of charades and nibbles. Life is sometimes a little bizarre to say the least! It was 8 pm when we finally returned to the Ings, a torch in hand, 3 silhouettes linking arms, eyes desperately trying to scan the distant darkness, ears alert to any Sally sounds. Nothing, only absolute silence! Our hearts sank. Only one thing for it. We headed home without Sally. Tony thumbed through the phone book failing to find the number for York police station. I tried to stay calm, I really did. I made a cup of tea but then lost it. 'Please just phone directory enquiries and phone the police now!' The stress was getting to us all by this point. In the time we'd moved here we'd already needed to phone the fire brigade and ambulance services, now here we were, unbelievably on the verge of phoning the police too: hat trick! 'Excuse me officer we've lost our dog, a border collie, what, oh no, her name tag fell off a week or so ago but we are about to move house so we let if, yes officer we know it would have been helpful. She has a purple collar with daisies on it though. Oh you have Sally! That's great! Oh you don't have her any more? At Haxby boarding kennels, right. Please can you give me the number? Thanks, got it. I'll phone them now, thanks again, good bye'. It was great news, Sally had finally got bored and ran up to kind people who had taken her to a nearby police station. She had spent a couple of hours there and then paperwork had to be done and she'd been taken to a boarding kennels a few miles away in the sticks on a rural farm. It took a little time to reach the place as there were no street lights and the sign for the kennels had recently blown down! Never mind the story has a happy end - we found Sally once again. But that's not all... ...To our horror we found that we had phoned the police only 5 minutes before they'd done the paperwork and before Sally had been transported to the kennels therefore there was a cost of 50 British pounds that we needed to pay on the spot for the return of our precious pooch - arghhh! Happy Christmas to you Sally!!!!!

Sally on the Move

What a year, what an event packed year! In the summer Tony got a new job and we uprooted from the beautiful North West and opened a new chapter of our lives in the spectacular city of York. Funny how such a momentous and life changing move can be neatly fitted into one insignificant sentence. To compound matters in November, one day as I was preparing to visit a school where a teaching post had come up that I was going to apply for I suddenly suffered a heart attack. Life changed quite dramatically at that point! We all found it hard to adjust in different ways and Sally has been exception. Thankfully I'm on the mend now but it's been difficult for me to give Sally the attention and exercise that she needs. Never fear, there's a hero living down the road, our new friend and local curate Daniel. Amazingly he offered to look after Sally for us for a whole month. She has had a ball getting to know Daniel and Riley (a very handsome and playful Golden Retriever). I think it's been Daniel's aim to reform our delinquent pooch. She came home Christmas week as if a magic wand had been waved over her head and it lasted ... For a full 3 days but alas Daniel is far away visiting family in America for the holidays and his magic is fading. In truth Sally was no angel on Daniel's watch. I may yet persuade him to contribute a post of his own. He's got a cracker! So as you can probably tell the year has more story's to yield. My next blog is an adventure that happened just this week - Christmas week!

York meets Sally

We moved to York! In a whirl wind experience we found ourselves packing up home and lifestyle in the North West and moving back to our glorious home county of Yorkshire when a new job landed on Tony's lap just before the end of the summer term in the splendid city of York. Its been a little crazy - having to find somewhere to live, trying and failing to sell our house in a dead housing market and finding a new school for Joseph to go to as he starts his GCSE years. Nerves have jangled along the way but its all good stuff and there have already been lots of encouragements. We look forward to what this new chapter in our lives will bring. And now to Sally.

We were a little concerned about how our new surroundings would turn out for our dear dog as we have been spoiled for countryside in the North West and now we find ourselves in a city - a beautiful city - but still a city! We needn't have worried. Within a week of landing in York we had been blown away by the variety of walks, countryside and dog friendly areas at our door step, phew!!

For a couple of weeks it even seemed that Sally had become a more tame creature as she readily came back after being thrown a ball. I naively thought that maybe by the lack of distractions (woolly and feathery things) in our new environment we may have banished our perpetual problem of a run away pooch - dream on!!

We have a beautiful recreation area close to a park and ride bus station just a few minutes away from our new rented home which is frequented by all the local dog owners. Its actually quite an attractive place as it has wooded walk ways, a little pond area with seating and is connected to a nature reserve area, grazing land and to the picturesque riverside walk which runs through the city and beyond. Its there that I have met some of the friendly residents of the neighbourhood and have already made some good friends. Sally loves this place and pulls on her lead with all her might whenever we walk in that direction. It was all going so well - too well really - I should have seen it coming!!

I had noticed that Sally had become more confident, had got to know every section of the park and that it was taking her longer and longer to come back to me. I should have seen the signs, I should have heard the warning bell, I should have, I should have! One morning I had been waiting for Sally to return to the bench from where I had been throwing her a ball when I noticed her fly into the wooded area. It took her around 10 minutes to return before she ran off again. I was just happy in the knowledge that where-ever she was I knew it was definitely somewhere in the fenced park area. That's when I just happened to look over my shoulder and glance beyond the fenced area into the bus station. Guess what I saw - you guessed it. It was Sally just about to catch a bus into York!!

I jumped from the bench and shouted for her to stop. Like a child caught in the headlights she stopped stock still then decided her course of action. She chose not to catch the bus after all but to bolt for the car park andaimed to take cover in a thicket in there. A game of hide and seek took place before I cornered her - once again and took the scoundrel back in hand.

Maybe we still have work to do. The lesson I learned that day: You can take the dog out of the wilderness but you can't take the wilderness wonderlust out of the dog like Sally!

Sally at the Motorway Service Station

Its been a while. The adventures have not abated but life has been so full on that there's been little time to get out the traffic to share our real life Sally stories. I have some time now so here's a new Sally instalment. This all happened a couple of months ago just at the end of the summer holidays.

We just came back from a visit to see my brother and his family in sunny Milton Keynes. Had a fab time, wonderful warm company and delicious food,a walk in the woods and Nerf gun fights (don't ask but no one was hurt!)- thanks guys.

As you may imagine we managed an escapade on our way back home. We called in at Stafford service station where there is a lovely lake to walk and sit by. We thought we'd be kind to Sally and give her a walk around the lake. Thats where we came unstuck - or should I say Sally came unleashed! She slipped out of her halti which I had obviously not put on properly, and jumped straight in the lake and chased ducks and geese managing to bite the bottom of one goose while lots of people came to watch! There was no way she was listening to us so in the end out of desperation both Joseph and Tony waded in after her and managed to catch her only after trawling backwards and forwards across the lake to a crowd's horror/delight and me cringing behind a bush! Tony lost his sandals such was the thickness of the mud and they were up to their necks in the water. Tony was fuming with Sally and I had to keep her away from him once she was out of the water. Both Joseph and Tony had to strip off to get in the car and as we'd only stayed over night they'd decided only to take the clothes they had on. Both of them had to travel back in nothing but undies - I'm still laughing at the thought!! Tony is still murmuring.

All three have had good showers since we returned! I think they'll live.

Sorry I was too stunned, shamed and embarrassed to take a photo at the time - we have to live with these regrets in life!

A Dog's Life

Happy New Year to You Too!

New Year was fast approaching, Christmas fast disappearing. We'd had family round, we'd met up with others in Yorkshire and we were now making our way up country to Scotland to see New Year in with good friends at Barcaple, Dumfries and Galloway.

After spending a 2 hour long journey in the car we thought it a wise move to stop off at home, freshen up, repack our cases and take Sally for a walk before reaching our destination. Tony opted to do the things that needed doing at home while I took Sally round the woods. I thought about keeping her on her lead but just one look into those amber eyes and I didn't have the heart. After all she had over 2 more hours to go before reaching Barcaple.

Everything went well for a while, that is until I called her and showed her the lead. At that sight she took 2 seconds to decide 'game on'. She ran towards me, I thought I had her but then she turned sharp left away from me and jumped over an old stone wall. She was gone! After calling, looking for her and waiting for around 15 minutes I ran back home to get Tony's help in finding her. I knew time was ticking away and Tony had to be on time as he was the guest speaker at Barcaple's New Year House Party. We both ventured into the woods sure we would find Sally frantic to see us but it soon dawned on us that she was not coming back. What could we do? In the end Tony had to set off, with our son Joseph to celebrate New Year without me; leaving me to find our wandering adventurer, our marauding chicken, rabbit, pheasant, & sometime guinea pig terroriser!

I didn't want to have to go tell the neighbours that Sally was on the loose but I couldn't face the consequences of not telling them and waking up the next morning to find half the pets and hens in the village missing or worse! I had to tell them. Thankfully our neighbours took the news the best they could and even advised me to phone the police and dog warden in their concern for our little stray!

I did phone the police, which is a central city police station, only to find that they had closed at 4pm on the eve of New Year's Eve! I left my pathetic little message on their answer phone and then called the dog warden. No news is good news and thankfully no news I got from them.

At about 8pm my faithful long suffering sister turned up to help armed with head torches, whistles and good cheer. We set off into the icy night and once again up into the woods. I was sure that by now I would hear the frantic howls of a very sorry and familiar doggy. No joy! The stark reality slowly began to sink in. Sally had gone, really really gone. There would be no Sally returning home tonight. Happy 2010, What a start to the year!

I had a very restless night. Now I really knew what it felt like to lose her. I wanted to know where she was and I wanted to know now! I was fed up of the wondering, going through scary scenarios, the danger she could be in, oh, the havoc she could have wrought in the night.

At 9am the phone went and I didn't get to it before it rang off. I rang 1471 only to hear that the caller had with held their number! I tried 1571 - there was a message! It was from the police. A dog fitting Sally's description had been reported found yesterday afternoon and had been taken to the vets. Oh no - had she been run over? Was she dead? No, as I listened I learned she had been taken to the vets to have her micro chip read. The police had been contacted yesterday but because the police had shut so flipping early both our messages had only been listened to the following morning. I rang the police who gave me the number of the people who had taken Sally in. It didn't take me long to get to her as she was only in the next village to ours.

These kind folks had been on a walk through the woods at the same time as I had run back home to find Tony when they found Sally whining by the steps of an old manor house on the edge of the woods. (This is a house that we usually pass if I'm taking Sally on our long route, she'd obviously sat waiting for me to catch up with her after her little game of 'hide and seek'. I had been searching in the other side of the woods!!!) They went to the pub for a drink but found, on their return that Sally was still sitting whining. They turned her Halti into a mini lead and took her to the vets. Not being able to get in touch with us through the police they bought dog food and took her into their home, even letting her sleep in their own room! Luxury on a grand scale for Sally who's usual sleeping quarters are in a dog crate in a hut in the garden. She was on best behaviour too, not making a peep all night.

I was very relieved to find her. It was so good to have her back in the fold. Once we recouped we got in the car and winged it to Scotland, I was determined to see the New Year in with my precious family and nothing was going to stop me now.

This experience has really made us think about Sally's routines. Its true that she has been running off more and more. Its as if its a big game with her, one where she can outrun and outsmart her owners and win a bit of free time.

Since that time we've let Sally sleep in the house - the aim to lessen her frustration. We've been playing more mind challenging games too - to give her brain something to think about other than running off. She works out every challenge in no time at all - a little freaky!

The other thing we've done that seems to work is to take her out on an extendable lead. This seems to keep her quite happy, her ears up and tail wagging. However its no substitute for a little real freedom...

...So on New Year's Day we decided to let her off lead again on a walk for a treat but it very quickly went wrong. She found an iced over pond with a little non iced bit with ducks in the middle. Needless to say I spent the next 20 minutes hiding behind a bush calling to Sally who was hurtling round the cracking ice chasing terrified ducks before she noticed I'd 'gone' and came hurtling after me! When will we ever learn?????

Happy New Year!