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.

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.

Week 91 - Photalife Animals and My Sunday Photo

I love photo prompts, without them I'd probably just be uploading photo's of the cat and dog all week.

We've been fostering Clyde (bottom right) for the past two weekends, he's a pit bull mix and the brother of Bonnie, who we fostered for two weeks in June. Bonnie found her forever home and was adopted in Abu Dhabi, where she has settled into a loving family with another dog and 2 children.

Clyde is energetic and was neutered last week, we had him immediately after the surgery for a few days before returning him to kennels, but his kennel was too big and allowed him to jump around and he's not recovering from the surgery as well as we'd hoped for. Sadly this means Clyde has to be crated most of the day and night, where he can rest, we tag team our cat and dog to allow Clyde to spend some quiet time out of the crate with me in the house and the garden where he is calm.

Bob the Dog and Pushkins and the husband have been forced to bond with being restricted to the lounge when Clyde is out of his crate. The cat is as nervous as anything, but that's pretty much her normal state and has been able to spend the odd night outdoors now the weather is cooling.

Bob has enjoyed more time outdoors at the lakes in the desert and evening walks around the neighbourhood.

A couple paid a visit to meet Clyde, yesterday and I'm pleased to say they have offered him his forever home and left with him, for a two week trial in Abu Dhabi, with approval from DAWS, Dubai Animal Welfare Society. Sadly the trail failed after 24 hours, Clyde just wouldn't settle and became dominant and firmly in charge, so back to kennels for him now while we'll come up with a new plan.

My next challenge is to spend the week driving around Dubai collecting donations of curtains, blankets, duvets and pillows etc to make dog beds for rescue dogs, like the one bottom left in the photo.

Week 25 - One Daily Positive, project 366 and SnapHappyBritMums

I started the week exhausted, after a busy weekend with Bonnie the foster dog, she's 8 months old. I had no idea how much time and energy a puppy took. Sadly I still haven't found a forever home for her, but she does have another foster mum to go to on Thursday while I'm travelling.
The week included a Ladies night to watch the football in a bar, my birthday tea at The Burj Al Arab, the air con packed in Friday and wasn't fixed till Saturday night and with temps reaching 44c and a low of 36c, it wasn't nice and Wales won the football........'get in there'

On the blog this week:

#MySundayPhoto Keeping cool in Dubai
#PoCoLo #AnimalTales Meet Bonnie the foster dog
#HDYGG Peonies
#PhotalifeWATER Water feature in the Burj Al Arab

Sunday Day 171 #onedailypositive #project366 #dad #june2016 #snaphappybritmums

Monday Day 172 #onedailypositive #project366 #card #june2016 #snaphappybritmums for my husband on Father's Day in the absence of a card from any of the 5 kids. Let's hope for a better turn out for my birthday on Sunday.

Tuesday Day 173 #onedailypositive #project366 #OnTop #june2016 #snaphappybritmums it's 7.25pm here in Dubai. I started cleaning at 4pm. Curtains and cushion seats have been washed and are outside drying. Conservatory cleaned within an inch of its life and finally the smell of dog has gone. I now have to sort this out, walk the dogs and go to bed. Should be On Top of all this by 9pm.

Wednesday Day 174 #onedailypositive #project366 #salad #june2016 #snaphappybritmums does the fancy dressing count as a salad? Pork bangers and mash washed down with a rum and Coke or 7 watching#euro2016 in a bar.

Thursday Day 175 #onedailypositive #project366 #travel #june2016 #snaphappybritmums getting excited about the first flight of my summer holiday travel

Friday Day 175 #onedailypositive #project366 #business #june2016 #snaphappybritmums serious business being this being spoilt @burjalarab#afternoontea #birthday #treat #spoilt #dubai #mydubai #myview #expat#dubailifestyle #dubailife

Saturday Day 177 #onedailypositive #project366 #bml16 #june2016 #snaphappybritmums I'm having a crap day, arguments in a group on Facebook, cowards hiding behind a screen, the air con is broken in the villa and we've spent the day in the bedroom where the air con does work, tag teaming the cat and dogs to give them access to a cool room but not all at the same time. The pump has gone on the water tank and it's taken bloody ages to do the washing needed. The air con repair man was due this am and now isn't coming till 8pm so we've not been able to go out and now I'm wondering why I'm bothering with these photo prompts when @britmums don't interact with me and I'm on my 2nd year, I'd expected a bit more than once a month several 'likes' it's BML16 today and that is the photo prompt, living 3000 miles away and school time I can't join in with it. I've only been once which was in 2012 so I'll share with you my bag that was in my goodie pack that has travelled 1000's of miles in my handbag as a shopping bag. It's been to South Africa, the U.K., the UAE, Canada, Oman and this year is off to Germany for its holiday. I've hinted before I'd like another please as this one is getting a bit tatty. It's been photographed in Kruger, Niagara Falls as well as loads of other interesting places, it's sparked conversations with random strangers on trains and planes.