I Guess You Might Call this Settling In!

I have to say... the team back at Gouves Animal Shelter, in Crete (where I came from)... they did a great job on me... Along with the rest of the pooches I was fed and watered ... I could wee and poo whenever and wherever I wanted and then, at the end of the day, whichever of the volunteers who drew the short straw would come around and hose down the place down to freshen things up. They all gave us love and life was good. It was warm (not so much rain as here) and I now know that stability had arrived in my life... But, I left Gouves about 10 days ago!
And - they hadn't told me about THIS place!

Here, in downtown Worthing (I think it must be near the North Pole) I go for a walk every morning (maybe even along the pier). I am still on the coast here but on this one it's a little on the chilly side. The Mediterranean it definitely is NOT... Sometimes there's another walk just after lunch (yeah I have lunch too) and then again, after my evening meal - yep, we may go out again. It's been said by a few of the 'uprights' around here that I really need to put on quite a bit of weight. But I think my ribs have almost disappeared (in a certain light). I am still quite nervous and maybe, when I was at Gouves, I didn't assert myself enough and some of my pushier pals were a little daunting to have as neighbours. I've also heard in the last few days that my 'journey' really started when I was found scavenging around Crete's less salubrious areas - taking my pick from the dustbins - they were the ones without lids.

Every night here I have been made to lay on a huge cushion (they thought I was going to be much bigger) in front of a fire ( did I say it's cooler here than it was in Crete)... And I have a toy in each room... In front of the fire it's my new best friend - the green funky chicken. You know what? I think I'm gonna like it here. And next week I get to go to Brittany! I'll let you know how it works out!

Quick PS:- Yesterday a £100 parking fine arrived in the post...because the uprights overstayed the free parking period whilst waiting for me to arrive at the rendezvous point... That went down well!

What do you think of the threads huh? Good eh?! This is my Top Gun Jacket!

Now for the truth... (CS here) Until about ten minutes before sitting down to write my own bit here - I was beginning to despair over the "weeing and pooing whenever and wherever etc.," because he has had his 'catch me if you can' moments... But tonight Rudy stirred from his big cushion and sauntered, maybe a little resignedly, to the lounge door. Micki said... I think he might want to go out. Quick as a whip - because he has been quite wil'o the wisp - and suddenly - there will be a puddle and he will be standing yards away looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. "Who me?"... "No, it wasn't me!" The cat at least uses the litter tray - even if the outside world is not even on her radar. So we know it wasn't her!

So, I carry Rudy to the kitchen door and we go outside together and, almost before my backside touches the bench it's...a wee on the lawn and, a quickstep to the flower bed - amongst the shrubs (not even on the lawn) and voom! A number two too! Brilliant!! A breakthrough? I'll let you know! Everything else is just perfect! Rudy is superb, an absolute delight. He walks to heel on the lead as though he's just left the show ring at Cruft's. He is such a joy! btw... he has put on a kilo since the first vet weigh in a week ago!!

He's going to love Brittany! We're going to give truffle hunting a try...Wish us luck!!

and... Rudy now owes me a tank of fuel because we had to travel to collect him on two consecutive days after unavoidable delays caused some real hassles for the Gouves volunteers... And I got a bloody parking ticket on that poxy motorway service area! This bloody dog owes me big time now. He'd better learn how to tap dance or something! (I was also flashed by a speed camera... but that one hasn't materialised in the post yet!!!)...

Did someone say Truffle Hunting?
That sounds like I could be on wages...
Sounds like I might be needing a talent just to pay
off the upright's motoring offences... Humpf!

From One Top Holiday Spot to Another!...(Worthing!)...It's a dog's Life

From Crete, in a Crate, all the Way to Worthing in West Sussex...

The Rudy Has Landed!

It was a long haul from Crete, and the Gouves' Animal Shelter volunteer ladies did us 4 dog-travellers proud! The trip didn't quite go according to plan and I think a few beings... human and canine, got fairly near the end of their tether at times! I've finished up in a place called Worthing hey ho!... And, first impressions are that it's OK. Cooler than Greece but that is just from a temperature point of view initially. I will let you know about the social, hip-hop and night club scene after a few days...

I was sick in the back of my new owner's car after being lifted into my new squidgy pet carrier...within the first 30 seconds... and then did a poo on the hall floor as soon as I got into the house... what my new boss called my 'travel plug'! He thinks I'd been constipated after being cooped up in a box for a long time with only a few opportunities to stretch my legs and, I'll admit... I was nervous. But I certainly didn't want to sit in my own crap for the best part of 1,500 miles! Can you imagine the embarrassment? Everyone was very nice about that first indiscretion, and we've all put it down to the journey taking much longer than expected. So, I'm on Chicken and Rice at the moment and every time I do something that makes them smile I get something that smells manky but actually tastes quite nice. I have two or three places in the house with squidgy things to relax on. But I spent the first night in my transit carrier in the hall with the noise from the TV to keep me company. There was plenty of time to sleep off the journey on that first night... My new folks went to bed early because I think they had a fractious time too... Two trips up to the M20 on consecutive days.... It's been said that I now owe my boss a tank of fuel out of the earnings from my first modelling contract. He says I'm cute enough. I decided to try whimpering and barking at about 4am because I was busting for a pee and it worked a treat. The new boss came down and took me out in the rain in his onesy and with bare feet (you have to laugh)...and I made it easy on him by doing a double evacuation within about twenty seconds. I got a dog treat for that but he got soaked!

It's all going well...I've been out for my first walk on a lead over here and I stuck to the guvnor like a limpit - just to make a good impression. It's been mentioned in hushed tones that there's a visit to the vet lined up. I'm going on a ferry to Brittany in a few weeks and so I have to have my chip scanned and my new address registered. I'm just hoping that the 'nut job' I mentioned in an earlier blog (but didn't actually have) has been forgotten about for the time being.

I'm just about to have a bath!!! Eek! Somebody said I smelt like a tramp and 'voom' some posh shampoo has been sourced for the purpose. Until now I've been almost the perfect house guest (if you don't count the sick, the poo and the wee) I even brought my own towel with me! And, now that it's been washed after the 'sicky' experience... the bath, I'm afraid, is inevitable. And the chances are... when I'm smelling sweeter, there will be more cuddles and an opportunity, after being towel dried, to finish off in front of the fire! It's a dog's life eh?!

And... (the 'boss' here) just as the bath was running ... he did a wee on the landing carpet!!!! OK, first time un-supervised upstairs so - my fault, not his... Anyway he looks great after his bath... Jealous? Yes - because he has so much more hair than I do!

The Name's Rudy and, apparently, I'm on my way!

I'll have to qualify that straight away. I don't even know what my name is! In fact I'm not even supposed to know what a 'name' is. There are things happening to me - and around me, that I don't understand... Since just after my eyes opened and I could actually see for the first time, I have been in what I've heard people call an 'animal shelter' with my brothers and sisters... I recognise the words because they are said here all the time... but I don't know what the words mean.
Here's another word, one that I've heard humans use and, by association and because I heard it again recently and close by this time, I think I've just been 'castrated'. All I know about that is - it hurts like hell - especially after the anaesthetic wears off!

This word 'castration' is something that I've heard just before others around me have disappeared and, when they get back - just before they disappear forever, people start making a fuss of them and begin talking about a 'journey' to somewhere else. It hasn't always been mentioned by its clinical name... this 'castration', but referred to as 'nut-job', 'the chop' and other things. Apparently it's done to prevent me being a dad one day. No reference to me... no-one asks! Someone just decides it's a good idea that I never get to know what it's like to have a family of my own. You go woozy and fall asleep and wake up feeling sore in the wedding tackle area.  There are humans around me here, in this place (I think it must be called Gouves) - another word I've picked out of the air around me.. and they speak of animals being 'adopted'... You just get used to something and then it's 'all change'. I am being spruced up for my own 'journey'. Into the unknown... I'm probably about 5 or 6 months old whatever that is, and... I'm on my way!

We... (that's us, Chris & Micki Slade)... first came across Gouves Animal Shelter because of a 'share' on FaceBook (whatever you might think of it - this is one of the more beneficial purposes of social networking). A friend - a real life one - who works locally here in Worthing, shared a photo of the above mentioned dog (of course he doesn't even know what he is)... Micki picked up on it and shared it to my timeline... Oh how Handsome is he?! Who wouldn't agree?
I've always had a curious mind and wondered how an animal shelter and the volunteers that run it - in a place seemingly over-run with often unwanted and unloved dogs and, consequently, litters of 'accidental' pups - how they cope and respond to their inbuilt, instinctive need to help find homes for their 'charges'? I/we are finding out on the inside track. I sent an e-mail to a name I found linked to the Gouves FaceBook page. I'd asked what costs were attached to offering a home to one of their residents. I still don't know what name he has been given by the shelter's volunteers... The only reference I've been using is 'FaceBook Dog No.4 October 14th. The first response from the address I'd found, filled me in on the cost of each individual process. Vaccination, MicroChipping, Passporting... the dreaded 'Nut-Job' ... teeth cleaning (Ooh la lah!)... the crate... transportation and logistics et al. After a week or so it's all systems go!! 'Rudy' (working title) has been reserved for us and... and even as I write, may be having his teeth cleaned and his breath permanently sweetened (oh yeah?). Because - it's been confirmed that on 11th/12th November he is due to be flown from Greece to Belgium from where he will be collected (I'm supposing/hoping together with other 'sore bottomed' pals) in a van. Our local 'FaceAche' friend, Debs, has already accepted several cats from the Gouve's shelter and tells us that she collected her new special friends via a 'meet' arranged at a motorway service area in Kent. To me this all sounds very exciting - almost covert! Puts me in mind of an exchange of spies on a disused eastern european airstrip... on a damp winter morning... but with dog biscuits, poo bags and warm blankets instead of lugers, white macs and trilby hats!!
Needless to say I am looking forward to welcoming Dog No.4 into the family - I hope you like your new name son! - Watch this space!!

He tells me that I will be having my very own blog... whatever that is!

Gouves do have a website - but most of the traffic is via their facebook page...

https://sites.google.com/site/gouvesshelter/

https://www.facebook.com/Gouves-Animal-Shelter-215371411825716/

http://gouvesanimalshelter.com/