One Daily Positive Week 10 - Bye Bye Rory

Back to normal this week, with Peter at an exhibition last week, my routine was interrupted as he didn't leave home till 10am, returning at 7pm. I find I'm more productive with physical chores in the mornings and spend the afternoons/early evenings blogging.

After the drama of Bob's emergency vet dash and Rory having to be returned to the kennels, the house was in a mess and both Peter and I were frazzled. I spent 3 hours in the kitchen, cleaning and doing several loads of washing and trying to restore some norm to our lives.

I will carry on supporting rescue dogs in Dubai, without the involvement of Bob and mainly online.

I started packing for my UK trip, bits and bobs for the flat and a few gifts for upcoming birthdays. Looking forward to finally spending some time in the apartment we've bought, that's sitting empty and costing us a fortune in ground rent and council tax.

Sunday taking a break in-between the house work, I managed to comment on all the blog posts I'd linked up with last week. I went for coffee mid afternoon for a change of scenery and took a stroll along our local beach, I needed the break. In the evening it was back to the vets with Bob to have his wounds cleaned again and check on his leg as he's still limping.

Monday was spent sorting out paperwork and making a list of all renewal dates for policies and insurances in the UK and Dubai. Post arrived from child 4 of 5, marked for Mother's Day, as I fly to the UK on the 27th I decided to open the cards and enjoy them while I can. Back to the vets in the evening, Bob is making a good recovery.

Tuesday morning was spent on the beach, there's free wifi in places, restaurants and showers etc down on Kite Beach. I usually cycle there but as I wanted to take my chair and sun tent, I went by car. I sat had a picnic lunch, read, swam, blogged and just generally had a day off from doing nothing, by doing even less. We went out for dinner in the evening. Last trip to the vets with Bob, they're happy with his recovery, but he needs to keep the cone on until the wounds heal and 2 weeks of antibiotics.

Wednesday I attempted to tackle my sewing room, it's become a dumping ground for half finished projects, that I never seem to have time/inclination to do. It was 3.30pm before I realised the time, so I dressed and decided to pop out for coffee and get my nails done. I spent the evening replying to endless emails I'd fired off a few days ago, I'm fed up of people taking advantage of us living outside the UK.

Thursday I went to visit Rory and take her for a walk, she was so excited to see me and I feel so guilty for giving up on her, but Bob comes first. I was early so I stopped for a coffee first. My plans for the week have gone belly up, with Peter working odd hours, he had to go to the Pakastani embassy to collect a visa, so we had lunch out. I'm starting to get quite anxious when I go somewhere new, where there are lots of people and when I'm with others, I cope much better when I'm on my own, I'm getting stuck in my own ways, just doing my own thing, I'm finding it hard to adapt to others.

Friday, no desert trip for us or Bob, it'll be getting to hot soon, so hopefully his wounds will have healed by next week. We went out for brunch at the Crowne Plaza, had too much to eat and drink, got a taxi home and did nothing for the rest of the day.

Saturday we took Rory to hr new kennels out in the desert, sadly I won't be able to visit her daily from now on, I washed Bob and cleaned his wounds, he's healing really well. We had bacon and eggs for brunch and then headed down to the beach for a couple of hours in the afternoon and the evening was spent rehanging curtains in the villa, as hooks had broken and they weren't hanging to my liking.

64/365 Ouch! - Poor Bob, just wants to lick his wounds.

65/365 Surprise - Mother Day Cards from the cat and dog and child 4 of 5.

66/365 Meal - Picnic on our local beach.

67/365 Crisp - more abrupt really.

68/365 Cuppa - No excuse needed here.

69/365 Baby - Teeny, weeny pudding portions, but I made three trips.

70/365 My view.

On the blog this week:

My Sunday Photo - A is for Art with Dubai Canvas 3D Art Festival

Parenting - Managing emotions when your child is in care

Travel - Planning days out with a disabled adult

Review - Dinner for 2 at Tribes

Animal Tales - Problems with fostering a dog

When fostering a dog doesn't work out

Last week I blogged about the positives of fostering a dog and of some of the things our dog, Bob have learnt from having another dog around. And I'll be honest with you, over the weekend we had some serious problems, but it was no ones fault other than mine for taking my eye off the ball and thinking I'd cracked it.

Having collected Rory from her failed adoption trial, I returned to firmness and kindness with her from the minute I brought her home. She was reintroduced to Bob, my husband and the home on lead and under full supervision she was let off lead and went straight to one of the dog sofa's we'd previously allowed her to sleep on.

I sat in the conservatory with the dogs, drinking tea, before putting Rory in her crate so Peter and I could head off to the beach for a couple of hours. On our return Rory was and Bob were very happy to see us, letting Bob outside first, while I fiddled around trying to open Rory's crate.

I fed both Dogs. I learnt on day one that Rory is super protective over her food, so Bob is fed as usual indoors and I fed Rory outside and sat with her. The afternoon was spent with the dogs, running around the garden, curling up to sleep and generally just both following me around. Rory was returned to the crate for bedtime, both dogs given a dental stick, radio left on low and left for the night.

Saturday morning, I let Rory out the crate and she went out to pee and poop, she then returned to the dog sofa where she lay for half an hour after her breakfast. Rory went back in her crate while we went out for breakfast and on our return she followed the same routine, but then I foolishly went to the bathroom and made a cup of tea. On my return Rory had shredded every book and magazine she could get in my absence. I didn't scold Rory I merely put her back in the crate while I tidied up.

We then sat in the garden with both dogs for the afternoon, then things got out of control, they were playing with a rope, Rory wanted it, so Peter threw a ball for Bob to distract him, Rory wanted the ball, so Bob grabbed the rope, there was nothing we could do, they fought and it was aggressive. I've never seen Bob like that before and both Peter and I were both quite frightened. I threw a bucket of water over them, I turned the hose pipe on them, I screamed at Peter not to intervene worried he would get hurt, but we knew we had to do something and opening the garage door, walking towards the dogs, eventually Peter managed to grab both dogs by the scruff of the neck and quite literally drag them apart, throwing one dog into the garage while I shut the door.

We took a few minutes to calm down and think what to do. Both dogs were injured there was blood everywhere. Peter had bruised his hand. The crate was fetched outside and Rory was put in it, Bob retreated, limping badly to his bed. I cleaned Bob's wounds and shut him in the conservatory while I made quick calls to get Rory rehoused and then went to see Rory, her bites were surface wounds, the poor girl was shaking quite badly, I was anxious about how she would respond but she came out the crate and sat on my lap, shaking and quivering, while I cleaned her up. I fed her some treats and kept apologising to her, that sadly she was no longer able to stay with us.

With Rory sitting on my lap, Peter drove us to the kennels, I was so sad to say goodbye, knowing this is probably the last time I would see her and she had to be dragged away from me, she just didn't want to go back in kennels.

I returned home and realised Bob needed the vets, he had two large puncture wounds, one to his leg and the other behind his ear, he was struggling to walk. The vets washed out his wounds and gave him antibiotic and pain killer injections and said I had to bring him back the following day for X-rays to check for a fracture, he was too traumatised to be x-rayed and the vet didn't want to have to sedate him.

So Rory is back at the vets, they called Sunday morning to say she had a good night, was eating and sleeping well and had antibiotics and pain killers, there's no lasting damage and she'll be fine.

Bob will recover and there is no long lasting damage done other than to my wallet. We will however be keeping a close eye on Bob over the coming weeks and will slowly reintroduce him to other dogs in a controlled environment.

The reality is I'm afraid that some things just don't work out and I need to put the needs of my family first.

I'm convinced with some training and the right person and a lot of love that Rory will make a great pet for someone. She needs to be the only pet in the house and with someone who is at home for most of the day and is prepared to crate her to continue the training.

We'll never fully know Rory's complete story, but she was found wandering without a collar and no microchip and no idea how long she'd been on the streets for, she has several scars over her face and body and she's obviously had a tough life.

If you or anyone you know can help out with Rory in anyway what so ever, either leave a comment below or contact DAWS directly as they are responsible for her care and continuing rising costs at the kennels.

3 reasons why you should foster a dog

There were a few tears a few weeks ago, in fact there were quite a lot of tears.

Rory went on trial in her potential forever home and I was sad to say goodbye, I was sad at home for the rest of the evening especially when her new family kept sending me photo's to show me how well she was settling.

Sadly 6 days later the call came to collect Rory, due to a variety of reasons it just didn't work out.

Rory had the potential to be a foster fail, when you fall in love with a dog and just decide to keep them as part of your family. Rory can't stay with us and will be returned to over full kennels on Sunday.

Rory is only the 3rd dog I've fostered and the agreement with DAWS is that I only have the dogs for short periods of time and I do all I can to help them find their forever home, socialising them with my dog Bob, giving them experience of being around a cat and focusing on toilet and crate training, walking on a lead and learning simple commands such as sit, stay and down.

My only qualification in dog training is having my own rescue dog who was badly treated and mistrusting of humans when we adopted him in South Africa, 4 years ago and trial and error.

Bonnie was an expensive dog to foster after she chewed through my laptop cable as was her brother Clyde chewed our furniture. Both Bonnie and Clyde needed a lot of work around toilet habits and there was quite a lot of unpleasant clearing up to do. Rory destroyed my favourite flip flops and would chance her luck running off with cushions, she was also car sick on longer journeys, but it was worth clearing up the mess in the car seeing how happy she was to walk in the desert and splash in the lakes with Bob.

Bonnie (top) Clyde (below)

All 3 dogs have had me awake at night for the first few nights, barking or not settling and there have been a few food related fights with Bob which have been quite frightening. But all 3 dogs, calmed, settled, learnt to pee and poop outside.

So far it just sounds like a lot of hard work and expense, but as a family there have definatley been great benefits for us all.

1. I've met more people, made friends, gained great satisfaction from seeing the first two dogs going off with their forever humans, there has been great satisfaction through basic training and seeing how quickly these dogs have learnt, there has been lots of love, cuddles and endless kisses. Although I've had to ask my husband to add the word dog to the end of his sentence when we've been in the garden and he's yelled 'stop licking me' I've no idea what our neighbours thought was going on.
2. My husband and I have both gone out for walks with the dogs in the evening, rather than taking it in turns to go on our own with Bob. Our cat has become far more tolerant and is less jumpy around new dogs, but the greatest benefit has been to Bob.
3. Bob, despite his age of 7, is very energetic, he is also very social and is extremely well behaved. I can honestly say in the 4 years he's lived with us, we've never had any problems, but he does have two areas of behaviour that fostering has helped sort out. It's not just the foster dogs that have benefitted from staying with, but our own dog also.

Walking on lead
Bob pulls none stop when walking on a lead, we've tried a harness, choke chain, normal collar and have settled with a martingale collar. Bob has really slowed down walking now and no longer pulls after the first few minutes, unless of course he sees a stray cat.

Eating
Bob doesn't eat his food, he inhales it, he never chews anything and eats it within a few seconds, we've tried special dishes etc and nothing worked. He has been eating much better since Rory has been around, chewing every few mouthfuls and no longer trying to knock the bowl out my hand as I place it on the floor.


Meet Rory.

Urgent Foster home needed for Rory. She is 18 months old, an English Staffordshire Terrier, she must stay somewhere with a garden and with someone who is at home all day and is prepared to use the crate for night times and when left alone.

Rory is energetic, she likes to chew but with supervision and discipline she will drop items and is easily redirected to a ball or a suitable toy.

She gets on well with other dogs, untested with cats, but has been known to jump garden walls to chase after them.

You'll need a lot of patience and time, but within a week of doing the above she was happy to just follow me round the house and garden.

If no home can be found for her, she will end up back in kennels, there is little space available and funds are not available to support her.

Please get in touch with DAWS - Molosser & Bull Breed Rescue UAE or comment below if you are able to help in anyway whatsoever.

One Daily Positive 2017 Week 3 Dogs, exercise and routine.

First full week as a SAH, a housewife. Peter is at work 8am till 6pm every day, so it's just me, Bob and Pushkins. So far, so good. I've established a routine, a daily time table and a list of things to do for the week. In the past when I've been a SAH, it's not been through choice and I've suffered with depression.

The first day of the week in Dubai is Sunday, I tidied up after the weekend, hoovered and put the washing on, after getting dressed I headed off to a local vets to walk a rescue dog, Rory.

Monday was going smoothly, after a few jobs around the house, I set off on a bike ride to the beach, as I posted my photo, I realised the date and had a minor meltdown. I collected Rory for the afternoon and sat in the garden sorting out car insurance. After taking Rory back, I went to the RTA to get the car tested (like a UK MOT) and re register my vehicle for another year. A very efficient process but not easy to work out if you've not had to do it before.

Tuesday and Bob and I went out into the desert, walked round 4-5 lakes and had a picnic breakfast, collected Rory and chilled out in the garden. I walked Bob and Rory back to the vets.

Wednesday had the potential to be a very stressful day, as I had to do the Ejari, which is registering the house contract with the government. I then  In the headed out on my bike to the bank and then for a walk on the beach. In the afternoon I collected Rory again for a few hours. It's nice finding different routes to walk through the streets with the dogs. The evening was spent doing the UK tax return online, as overseas landlord we have to download software off the Government website and after a lot of searching I found another expat in America willing to share her knowledge.

Thursday was my day to get ready for the weekend, tidy, clean, iron and food shop. Now I'm not working I've found the time to shop for what we want to eat each day. I decided to visit the Mall of the Emirates and check the sales out. I've been keeping a close eye on what I'm spending so I can create and stick to a budget of some sorts. I collected Rory again. After posting on my blog about a visit to The Green Planet, Rain Forest, the Project Manager invited me back for a tour to see what else has been added and to explain why certain things, such as seating can't be accommodated.

Friday my friend came round with Jelly for the afternoon and leaving both dogs with Peter we visited Safest Way, an American supermarket I'd heard about. As Jelly's human is American it was a good trip and the cupboards are now restocked. Peter will be working more from home and the aircon in the study isn't the best so we spent the evening, moving his desk and contents into my sewing room and vice versa.

Saturday and my routine is getting interrupted already as Peter heads off to Egypt this evening with work. I'm joining him on Thursday for a long weekend in Luxor and I have Rory till Tuesday, when she is getting spayed, to occupy me and to work on her behaviour. Peter had a hair cut in the morning and we met a friend for lunch.

15/365 Indulgent. Getting things done. 

 16/365 Play.

 17/365 Kiss.

 18/365 Alive. Enjoying living next to the beach.

 19/365 Wake Up. The whole of Dubai was up early and off somewhere.

 20/365 Fur. The cat has been feeling slightly neglected this week with Rory visiting.

 21/365 Little Ones. Celebrating the end of 21 years as a school mum. My Little ones all grown up now.

On the blog this week:
PoCoLo Identifying and managing depression as a SAH
My Sunday Photo Soft Play with Bob
Animal Tales Dogs for adoption

Dogs for adoption in Dubai with Animal Tales

Late last year I made an appeal in a face book group for donations of old bedding and material so I could make up some dog beds for various animal organisations in Dubai. I'd fostered a couple of dogs for a short period, successfully helping them get their forever homes through some basic house training and social media. But it wasn't something Peter was keen on doing on a regular basis and it was upsetting the cat, introducing new dogs into the family. Bob certainly wasn't put out and seemed to enjoy having them around. So 2017 is going to be a year of supporting the various organisations through social media, walking and socialising foster dogs and collecting and donating items for the organisations to use such as bedding and food.

My mum was visiting and finding the weather too hot she helped run up several dog beds, which have been donated to Dog Walk, Doggies Palace and My Second Home, companies who work with rescue organisations.

I've made a couple of visits to Doggies Palace to walk Pheonix who was rescued back in June but is sadly living in kennels. Bob and Phoenix had a chance to meet in a supervised environment, both on their leads to see how they got on, to see if Pheonix can be integrated into a family with other dogs or whether he must be the only dog.

We left a couple of presents for Pheonix and will be visiting him some more this month.

I haven't been back to see Phoenix yet, as I've been helping out with Rory, she was found a couple of weeks ago, no microchip and around 18 months of age. I can't foster, but I can have her home in the afternoons so she can have some time out of her cage and socialise. She walks well on a lead and travels ok in a car as long as she is secured safely.

Rory would make a lovely addition to any home, with or without other dogs.

 We had a visitor over Christmas the New Year. Jelly and her owners arrived in Dubai in October. They spent the holidays with family, so we offered Jelly a place to stay rather than her go into kennels. 

 After our visit to meet Santa we also attended a carol concert for humans and hounds at My 2nd Home. We've also lined up quite a few other playdates at various locations and I'm looking forward to friday meet ups with Jelly and her owners.

 Bob and Jelly got on very well together and Jelly is certainly missed already. I'm sure Bob is perfectly fine, as is Jelly now they are apart, but having 2 dogs was really nice and they played together none stop as well as constantly looking at me like this, every time I entered the kitchen.

I also took Bob to soft play and there have been trips out into the desert.

There are also a lot of stray cats in our neighbourhood, this one turned up a few weeks ago, I've been feeding her/him, but can't get close enough to check for a microchip.