Sef's Mum

My first oldie came from Dog's Trust. Our eyes met through a wire fence. He was black, a bit bald in places and had half a yellow hedgehog on his nose. The staff obviously thought I'd change my mind when I found out he was 9 but he stoled my heart. He was a full on collie cross I named Seth and I had him till he was 17. He is still my soulmate. And then I tried my hand at fostering for the Oldies Club. Very unsuccessfully. And now I have the delightful Grace (Alice). She is a little bit of heaven on 4 feet and makes me smile just looking at her. Ali

You're not wrong. I like art and I think it has it's place but the lottery money should be divided proportionately according to need. Did you know that hospitals have to designate part of their budgets to have art projects. Our 2 local hospitals are having to decide which one of them is going to keep their maternity unit open but both have arts budgets. Unbeleivable. Ali

Grace is going away for a long weekend in May and has her ticket and camping booked for the Wag and Bone show in August as well:biggrin: She keeps asking for sunglasses and matching luggage but I'm trying to teach her to pack light. Ali

We covered everything in sight but they didn't really get that muddy. We had lovely weather which helped too. The site we went to was very dog friendly and although it was only a small place there were over 20 dogs on site and very little barking. Ali

Grace(the artist formerly known as Alice) has just had her first weekend away in a caravan. And she loved it. It was mine too and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it too. All the dogs were soooo well behaved, I almost didn't recognise them. I kept forgetting to take the camera on our walks but I did take a couple in the caravan although they both look very similar so I'll just post one. You have to look carefully to see all 4 dogs. And this Grace all tuckered out when we got back yesterday. Alison

Thank you all. It didn't take me long to decide but Rena and Lucy had other ideas for a while so I just wanted to make sure they got over their snotty behaviour. They did and they all lurve each other now. Ali

I have done something terrible. I have decided Alice (now Grace) is going to stay with me. Bad foster mummy. Ali

She is no longer sore or feeling sorry for herself, in fact she's back to normal except for licking the drain from one of her wounds. She is being very active and not very co-operative about taking it easy. The huuuuggge wounds look like they're healing nicely already and no signs of swelling, so fingers crosse dit will all be plain sailing from here. Ali

Oh what have I done to her She has got 2 of the biggest scars I have ever seen The vet said that luckily they were just lumps and cysts so nothing sinister and they found another cyst under her tummy too but felt that it was better to leave it. Teeth were not bad either. She has a drain in her side and is dripping everywhere but it's just her way of paying me back for taking her in. She was ravenous when she got back and the other dogs let her finish off their leftovers too. She is very tired and a bit sore now so she's trying to sleep it off bless her. Ali

She's had it done and came round well. Can't pick her up until 5.30 though. Spoil her? Moi? She has chicken fillets and rice everyday. Ali

Alice is at the vet's having a bit of work done . She was making me cry when they took her away because she doesn't like the vets. She is getting on so well with the other dogs, she was even play fighting with them yesterday. She won't be allowed to do that this evening. Ali

Sef hogging the sofa and Alice stuck on the floor She was looking up and smiling but by the camera snapped she'd moved. I'm working on a decent one. Ali

My horrible dogs are giving poor Alice the cold shoulder treatment at the moment but Sef did sit next to her on the sofa today so things are looking up. Alice seems a lot less confused today and showed me how to 'kill' a stuffed bunny without so much as leaving a mark on it. She has got to be one of the gentlest dogs I've ever met. My cats love her Ali

Happy gotcha day!! Ali

Thank you. They don't normally sit so nicely together especially if I'm taking photo's. Normally they do this: Ali

She's awake. They're not brilliant but they'll have to do. She looks like the dog from Fraggle Rock. and with the gang. Ali

The lovely lady Alice slept like a log last night (she likes my bed ) She is sooo good with the cats they like her better than my own dogs She's snogged both of them now and one of them slept on my bed with us last night. It took a whole year for them to trust my Seffy. No wees indoors today And she loves going for a walk. She's a bit scared of Rena because Rena has barked at her a couple of times, not aggressively but more out of indignation That she hasn't gone home yet. She's got herself a bed that she likes and has made herself at home on it. I was going to take photo's but the minute I got the camera out she fell asleep so I'll wait until she wakes up. Ali

The lovely Lady Alice arrived this afternoon. She is a small lurcher cross but mainly lurcher. I can't believe how good natured she is, especially as it was all a bit confusing for her. She had to have a bit of a bath and sat right down in the water and just kissed my chin . She even let me blow dry her a bit. She's had a little bit of dinner, kissed one of the cats, done 2 wee's indoors and several outside After tea we went for a small walk around the block and then she decided to settle down on her new bed. She's a very tired old girl now. Ali

We put some carrots in last night. Rena scoffed them up but Lucy and Sef were not hugely impressed. Sef does think that he should only ever have meat and that I'm cruel for giving him anything else. See what happens today. Ali

We met a tiny 14 yr old JR last week who's owner pushes her around town in a babies buggy. She still likes going out but her legs aren't up to it. She would have looked great in this. Ali

Come on Fraggle, I'm sending you sleepy thoughts. The rest will do you good. to Snow and family. Ali

I weighed their food today and they have approximately 1/3 of what is recommended. I used to feed my old Seth on tinned food. He used to have a tin and a half a day but they suggested 3-4 tins I'll have a go at adding veg, Rena might fall for it but Lucy is highly skilled at picking up and spitting out the bits she doesn't want. She sometimes doesn't eat for a couple of days and still never loses any weight Ali

Do bitches put on weight quicker after they've been spayed? Both Lucy and Rena eat much less than recommended daily food amounts advised by the manfacturer but both are overweight and it's difficult to shift. I can't imagine giving them less than I already do as it wouldn't be much at all. They're not putting any more on but seemed to have settled at the weight their currently at. The vet says they could do with losing a couple of kilo's each. Sef is 40 kilo's which just about right and he scoops up all their left overs. He's not really that much more active either as he's restricted to lead walks and they can go offlead. We have changed them onto a fish and rice food to see if that helps. Ali

Thank you Muriel. Helen - hope he has a speedy recovery. ali

It did for us. The vet prescribed this for Lucy as she's always had trouble with her teeth but can't have them cleaned anymore because of her heart condition. Lucy's are much better (even her breath smells better) but will never be perfect. Sef and Rena had quite stained teeth when they arrived and no amount of rope chewing or dentastix could remove it. We put this on there food and they've now both got sparkling gnashers. Ali