FIVE MORE MINUTES .....

The picnic is a lot of fun but boy does it wipe me out! I noticed at the beginning of the week that ME/CFS has received some media coverage in so far as there's been a little more research to suggest that it's actually not all in the mind - wow, tell me something I don't know because I really could do with an energy boost right now but as the old saying goes there's no rest for the wicked. The kennels are thankfully very quiet and it looks like both Meghan and Tank are away soon which will just leave us with lovable - but very naughty Alfie. The new kennel maid, Annie has been doing a lot of work with Alfie and he's calming down a little on his walks, since the recent incident he's having to be walked on a double lead and a muzzle which he's not at all happy about but it allows us to actually work with the behaviour as opposed to worrying about him eating a passing poodle for breakfast. Being a young dog, he is very eager to please but bear in mind this wee chap has already had 4 homes and his dog aggression is almost definitely the result of being attacked by a PitBull as a pup and by all account it took 20 minutes to free him, so when you look at life from Alfies perspective hating male dogs is a justifiable reaction but it really doesn't do our rescue's (or the breeds) reputation much kudos !!!
At the beginning of the year we were giving a lovely donation in memory of Mrs Shirley Yap from her daughter, it was requested that some of the money be spent on improving the kennels and as we are currently unusually very quiet we're taking the opportunity to have the indoor kennel floor done. We tend to use the 3 pens inside as hospital pens so on Sunday the floor of all three pens and the grooming/treatment room will be laid with a purpose made resin via a company in Essex (Specialised Flooring Solutions Ltd). However, the down side is that the kennel has to be emptied and the grooming/treatment room contains a grooming table/scales, a fridge/freezer, kitchen units, feed station and quite possibly something horrendously yuk behind each one! Thankfully Dawn, Peter and Bev have kindly agreed to help out on Saturday so if you hear any of us squealing you know we've found something very unsavoury and hopefully very dead!
As the countdown begins for my SQP exam next month so do the preparations for the conference I've been asked to speak at. Under the Heading "RESCUE & REHOMING: The challenge to find a loving home for every dog" sees 5 speakers from different aspects of Rescue and Rehoming and you can read all about it via the face book page. There are 10 tickets reserved for bulldog people and a couple of them have already gone so if you want to witness my first ever attempt at public speaking feel free to come along for the laugh.