Lydford

My dog Spike, who is about 13ish (he is very coy about his age, he wont let on) went for his assessment to become a volunteer Blue Cross Childrens Education dog yesterday. He passed!! He can come along to the talks with me now. I am sooo proud of him. Spike came to us from Border Collie Rescue. As we couldn't have a dog at the time we used to go and do some dog walking for them, and everytime we went Spike would still be there, always being overlooked because he was Border Collie x Greyhound and kennel life stressed him out so much that he never really looked his best - so no one was interested. 10 months later, we could stand it no longer, we made some alterations to our working days so we could look after him, and he moved in with us. We had got to know him so well by this time,we even used to take him to the pub during his walks! So I would just like to say - nah, nah ne, nah, nah to all those who walked past him and ignored him all those years ago, because he wasn't picture perfect - you don't know what you missed!. But then I am biased I suppose.

Hi all, Its great so many of you are wanting to come along - you all sound like soo much fun its going to be a brilliant weekend Ranirotte, thanks for the suggestion on the caravan and camping club sites. I have their magazine here so together with that and the other suggestions made I will be investigating some sites over the next few days, and starting to get things sorted. Anybody still considering coming please add your name to the thread with the details asked for. The more, the merrier !!

Hi Sally, I think we met the other day when transporting the beautiful Bailey . Seems we were all newbies together on that run, even foster mom Nikki - but we all got him there in one piece! You might want to consider coming along to The Oldies weekend camp in June (see the thread in General Chat), you can bring some of your menagerie with you and meet some of the fun loving 'human menagerie' from The Oldies Club. Hope you can join us. Kate

It has already been mentioned on here, but an important piece of kit is a blanket or even duvet if you prefer to put underneath you no matter what you sleep on. It stops all the cold coming up off the ground. This will apply to the dogs as well. As a Scout Leader I have been on many camps and it really does make a difference in keeping you warm. Also, something else that works, and something we always tell the kids to do is to get changed into different clothing before you get into bed, no matter how cold it may feel at first, ( I know you will say you always do anyway but when its cold and dark and late its quite often an effort when you are camping!!!!) It really does make you warmer when you get into bed - honest!!! Kate

Lovely to see you again Bailey! Being one of the transporters yesterday, and as hubby was doing the driving, I was fortunate enough to have some wonderful cuddles off Bailey as we were going along, and I talked to him about his new foster home,and how he would be fine - and I was right! He certainly looks as if he is settling in well and looks a happy boy. Like I said Nikki he will be hard to resist!! Kate x

Thanks Buddyboy for the camp site suggestion - its looks good, I will certainly take a close look at it. If anyone has any other suggestions for campsites in that area that may be suitable please let me know. Kate

Just to let you know I have put Katy (aka Kita) in my promotion books for you.Six books have gone out so lets hope someone see her. Kate

Hi all, Just to let you know I have six books out at the moment - have managed to get a couple into the outpatients department at the local hospital - lots of people sitting around wanting things to look at - so you never know. Oldies Club dogs included are Bolo and Mitzi, Zak, Max and Alice (Alice is probably fostered too far away but what the heck - if you don't ask.....) Jacqui (Teckels) - have put in Mary, Mr Burns and Taliska and Ranouch for you. Fingers crossed then. I plan to update them in a fortnight and move them to six different locations - yet to be found! - so that they don't start getting overlooked - then after another 2 weeks will put them back at the six original locations etc etc. Will post a reminder just before I update them so any dogs needing including, or hopefully taken out beacise they have a home, can be added or removed. In the meantime if there are any needy causes who you feel need adding straight away please do not hesitate to let me know - either on here or by pm. Cheers, Kate

Hi Everyone, First let me introduce myself - My name is Kate and I will be helping Kelly with the events organisation. It is such a big job for one person and we want to get as many events as possible off the ground to publicise the work of The Oldies Club - so I will be assisting in order to spread the workload. The first event we want to concentrate on is a weekend camp for everyone, and we mean EVERYONE!.Not only those involved with The Oldies Club, whether you are involved in fostering, transport, events, fundraising, or just generally supporting and following what goes on at The Oldies Club, but even those who may not have heard of us before ( here's our website - www.oldies.org.uk -go on take a look at what we do) - you are all invited. The camp will be our way of saying thankyou to you all for all your suport, in whichever way you offer it, even if you are brand new to The Oldies Club. It will be a weekend of fun, chat, lots of doggie talk and generally a having great time. Those who went on the 2006 camp will know what a good time it was, dispite the weather and this years will be as good, if not better. So to get things under way in terms of organising it we need to get an idea of how many people would like to attend so that we can look for a campsite able to meet our requirements. The details we have so far are: Date: Friday 27th June - Sunday 29th June 2008.Location: A campsite in the Cotswolds area - yet to be named.Cost: TBA Its a little vague at the moment we appreciate, which is why we need expressions of interest from you so that we can see the size of the camp we need to arrange. If you are interested in attending can you please let me have the following details: Number of adults Number of children Number of dogs Whether you will be camping or caravanning. You wont be contracted to attend by expressing an interest, we realise things change in your busy lives as the year progresses, but it will help us to get a clearer picture of the size of the event, and help in its organistaion, if you could register your interest at this stage. Please register by FRIDAY 21st MARCH at the latest by adding the details required on the thread or by PM to me. Come on - join in The Oldies Club fun weekend!!! Many thanks - Kate

Is Kita still looking? I hope not, but if so I am in the process of promoting 'special' dogs in the Stafford area, (see the 'Promoting the dogs' thread in Oldies General Chat). Would you like me to include Kita's details? Let me know if you do. Kate

Hi JoT, I have put some of the Oldies posters up in the local supermarkets so it could have been - I hope so! Thanks for the suggestions re the dogs I will pull the information together tomorrow and get them in the books. Lets hope you get some calls as a result of the books as well. Kate

Hi all, Just a quick update about this. I have managed to secure 5 places so far where they are willing to let me leave the information on the dogs - these include hairdressers, dentist waiting room, dr's waiting room and library, and am working on more. I have taken on board the advice given and will have contact details and adoption procedures for each rescue centre in the books so that they can be contacted direct. I aim to get the first ones out next week so JoT or anyone from Oldies Club can you tell me there are any of the dogs in Oldies care you would particularly like promoted? Also if there are any other rescue representatives reading who know of any other 'special' dogs ; older, medical / behaviour problems, need to be with another dog(s), or have just been in your care a long time and are always overlooked, please let me know so they can be included. If it only manages to rehome one dog it will be worth it. Kate

Thanks everybody for your support and suggestions. I have not been involved with the rehoming side of things before so I appreciate your advice and will take on board what has been said. I have e-mailed various rescues to get their support and permission and hopefully they will see it as a positive thing. I don't wish the idea to become any extra work for them, I just need them to tell me which dogs they want me to promote and I will do the rest in putting it together. I take your points about contact issues I wasn't sure which way was best to do it. I suppose I was just keen to know that it had produced some enquires but I can always check with the rescues direct for that. So if its best to leave the rescue phone numbers on I will. I just want it to work! So at present I am just liasing with rescue centres and talking to local places so that I can leave the info. I will let you know how it goes and please continue to offer advice, or let me know of any dogs or rescue centres that may be of interest. Anne, Thankyou for the offer I will PM you. Kate

Hi everyone, As I have time on my hands these days I was thinking of putting together a monthly 'publication' (well information in ring bind folders to be precise) promoting the most needy dogs - not only oldies, but those with medical conditions, those who come as a pair, any dogs who are for whatever reason harder to home. My plan is I would then put these folders in doctors waiting rooms, hairdressers, dentists, the library, anywhere really where people have time to sit and browse. Anyone interested in any of the dogs advertised would initially contact me - so that I could monitor if it is working and which dogs are getting interest and which are not - and I would then pass on the contact details of the relevent rescue centre. If a dog has been homed in the meantime I could inform the caller and maybe try and interest them in one of the others and I would also go and physically update the folders once a month removing any that have been homed and putting in any new dogs. Rescue centres would have to keep me informed of the dogs status. This is probably not a new idea but I have not seen anything like it in my area. Have any of you done anything similar? If so have you any advice, hints, tips etc. Is it ok to do this even? I am just thinking of ways to help. I live in Stafford, so I would be targetting that area, but it is fairly central for any dogs within a 2 / 2.5 hour travelling distance who could be included, maybe even further if there are urgent cases. I thought I would include the three oldies for which there are already posters done - Barney, Naz, and Buzz - thats unless they are already rehomed. Can anyone tell me if they are still waiting? So if any of you know of any dogs who are waiting and that fit the criteria - older, medical / physical problems, need to be homed together - please pm me with the details or a pre-prepared poster if possible, or contact details of the rescue centre where the dogs are at. I am hoping to get the first 'edition' together and out by 8th April so let me have details asap. Kate