A Fox At A Funeral

My head count is complete, and as far as I can tell there has been only one casualty during our holiday.
Last Friday right in the middle of the funeral of a lady from High Street, the guinea Fowl started their screaming. One of the guys who tends to the new Graveyard that overlooks my field was there and  was amazed to see a dog fox trotting slowly over the riding stables fields with a hen in it's mouth. The graveyard was full of people and the riding stables field was filled with horses which skittered around the fox nervously and with typical horsey challenges, but the fox seemed totally blatant and unmoved by anything that was going on and carried on regardless.
Only one hen..... it could have been a whole lot worse.
The turkeys and ducks under the watchful eye of Eirlys all returned wide eyed and healthy, and the blind Rooster Cogburn actually flourished under the watchful eye of neighbours Mike and Viv, who now seem to have a real soft spot for the blind old rooster, and I couldn't help but notice that they had scrubbed his feeding bowls to a shine only seen on my mother's silver teapot.
I was very grateful for all of my "volunteers'" hard work and despite all of their protestations I made sure all of them received some wine,miniature food hampers or chocolates.

The Welsh terriers returned from their boarding kennels in a much more sorry state than any of the field animals have looked this morning. Both stank of poo when they despirately clambered up into the berlingo when I picked them at at 9am and only when we got home did I notice both with dried faeces matted haphazardly  in their fur.
Not a good advertisement for the local and much lauded establishment eh?
Uncharacteristically for me I have not rang the kennels as yet to complain.. I must be filled with some post holiday good humour....but be sure I will be contacting the place very soon...I just need to get my Bette Davis head on for the confrontation!

I will catch up with some blog reading tonight.... It will be nice to sit by the fire ( those 30 degree Sitges days seem a very long way away now) with a needy Welsh terrier on my knee..... and catch up with some news


30 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:41 pm

    Poor puppies...they must have missed you terribly.

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  2. I hope that terrier gets a bath before perching on your knee. Unless you've been missing the "local flavor" too much to resist.

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  3. That is nasty the Terriers arrived back home in such a state...I would have said when picking them up. I boarded my one German Shepherd once at a Vet facility, he was picked up missing part of his ear ! I was pissed needless to say.

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  4. "The Screaming of an Unfortunate Guinea Fowl" isn't usually selected as funereal music but it could catch on. Let's hope she is now back in Guinea safe from hungry Welsh foxes. R.I.P.

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  5. The weather isn't much of a welcome back. It's been a long time since we left in kennels and for the same reason you're annoyed. Oddly enough, when we did use kennels, the best we found was the scruffiness you could imagine, but our dog always came back happy, clean and without looking like he hadn't been fed for the week.

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  6. I'd forgotten about foxes in hen houses. The fox I see here are small and I took them for mousers and the like. There are chickens kept about and now I must ask. I like to see the chickens out when I go by.

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  7. Your neighbours are brilliant, which is more than you can say about the kennels - shame on them.

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  8. We once put two cats in a cattery when we were due to emigrate...never again. We turned up on spec to see them and took them out immediately.
    Jane x

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  9. glad you are home safely and all is well. It is a bit worrying that the dogs were so unkempt.
    I shall be following in your footsteps and lighting a fire this weekend :-)

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  10. Ooh, if we had boarding pets who became stinky, we would always give them a complimentary bath before they went home.
    I'm sorry to read the fox snatched himself a hen for dinner, an ongoing problem it seems.
    I can only imagine how excited the terriers and kitty were to see you return to the fold :)
    ~Jo

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  11. Happy you had a good time away but certainly missed you and the tales from the animal farm!

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  12. Anonymous9:00 pm

    I would gladly offer my animal sitting services and pitch up on your drive - the benefit of living in a motorhome. Really missed your blog, it's been a bad week

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  13. its nice to be back!travelninja ( YOU're ON!!!

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  14. Anonymous10:19 pm

    Ha ha just give me a shout next time. I have experience of bonkers chickens

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  15. Poor dogs! I'd come down on those kennel owners like the hand of god if I were you!

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  16. I am always wary about leaving Molly in kennels also.

    Gill

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  17. We never put Denny into a kennel. We have a minder/dog walker who comes and feeds him and takes him for a walk on the odd occasions we are away and cannot take him with us - like next October long weekend.

    Give those puppies some loving, they are in need of 'tention'!

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  18. Poor puppies. Poor, poor puppies. And not a fun job for you cleaning them up so they could clamber into your lap.
    I would love to hear what you say/said to the kennel - and their response.

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  19. The kennel owners must not know that these are 'celebrity dogs'. Poor babies. Give those doggie caregivers a good blast, John.

    Nice photo of you and Chris. The beach can work wonders.

    Glad to have you back. You were missed!

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  20. Sorry to hear about the terriers and guinea hen. :o(
    Glad to hear everyone else is doing well though!

    We have just recently realized that we have coyotes to watch out for.

    Have a pleasant weekend!

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  21. Time to phone the Trelawnyd Hunt as well; sounds like those foxes are out of control.

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  22. Foxes! My brother in the UK was enthusing about how wonderful it was to see fox cubs romping in his garden in Staines, and how cute it was to see the fox who dozes on the front lawn of his house in Worthing on sea, and who is fed by everyone around. I said we shoot them here. Well we would if we had a gun.

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  23. Oh poor terriers, however did they get in such a state? Make sure you do phone the kennels to tell them you're far from happy. Probably not enough people complain about that sort of thing.

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  24. Maybe the pups had such a good party that they passed out in their own doo? Did you ever think of that?!?! (I'm just pretending to be the kennel owner with a snippy response to your complaint)

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  25. It seems to me the better looking the kennels are the worse the care is. we have used a really ramshackle place once & the dogs were fine - a more upmarket one & they caught fleas !

    Glad you had a wonderful time x

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  26. Ooo...My lady says she is sorry that the terriers didn't have a good time. No excuse for runs or accommodations to be poopy enough to dirty the dogs. Nasty!

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  27. Those poor terriers! I hope you did not reward the "caregivers" xo

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  28. Your 'Bette Davis head' sounds absolutely appropriate -- and terrifying, too...

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  29. Glad most of your brood survived all right--i'd be none too happy about William and Meg's sorry state, though.

    We've always had someone drop in to take care of the kitties. Our first one came to us a geriatric, and the vet advised that we not kennel her (does one kennel cat at catteries?) as she was too old, but better to have a neighbour pop in. That set the stage for how we've done it ever after.

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