It seems the boot is on the other paw at the moment. As many of you know, my ghostwriter Doreen is in hospital, so I’m going to have to write a blog entry myself, or at least dictate it to David.

Sadly, I’m unable to visit Doreen in hospital, which is not helping her recovery. Linda has lent her the calendar with my photos on so she can at least look at me occasionally. The problem here is that the doctors, nurses and visitors all keep coming into the room, look at my pictures and say “comme il est mignon” and forget to talk to Doreen. I actually thought “mignon” had something to do with steaks, so I’ll have to ask David about that.

I think Doreen needs a new hobby, so I’m going to suggest Linda and David keep all my fur from when I go to grooming and then Doreen can knit Linda a jacket, which should look very smart. I know Doreen and Linda have lots of friends who are good at embroidery, so we can put a big ‘L’ on Linda’s jacket so everyone will be able to tell us apart. There may even be enough fur left over for a pair of socks for David.

Note: 'mignon' means cute in French. Although I'm sure they mean well I don't see myself as cute. More on the handsome side I think.

PS: My friend Kiwi Minnie was asking about those cats who live with Doreen & Gavin. I can report that they are being fed & watered by local friends, Martin & Judith, who live nor far away in St Antonin. Cats don't show their emotions much, but I'm sure that like me they're very worried about Doreen. 

My Feisty Friend!

My friend Doreen has now been moved back to Montauban from Toulouse. I'm sorry to say that the news is not good. They've discovered  cancer and started chemotherapy  Nothing 100% definite as of yet on just how bad it is.

As I would expect my feisty friend Doreen has vowed to fight whatever this is. Knowing her she will probably win. She's a winner, we all know that! I just wish they'd let me in so I could hold her hand in my paw. Its frustrating to only be able to lend support via my blog. (My temporary Ghost Writer is OK, but he's not Doreen. At least he takes dictation well.)

I really feel sorry for Gavin, Doreen's husband. There's not a lot he can do other than lend support which he does. Thanks to my friend Jacques efforts Doreen has a private room at the hospital where they bring in a folding bed for Gavin to sleep on. I'm sure it lends strength to Doreen to have him there all the time.

Doreen's many friends have rallied around with messages and visits. She's getting lots of emails in support and can now answer them as she has internet access via a smart phone. (She can get messages via either her old email address OR via a new one which is: escriveranglais@gmail.com.) Her visitors are many. I only wish I could be one of them. I just had my monthly 'toilettage' yesterday and am looking my best. I'm sure it would cheers Doreen up to see my smiling face. (Yes, we dogs can smile you know.) I think I'll send her my picture.

As in my last message I'd encourage all of Doreen's many animal friends to pray for her. I'll certainly be doing so. All my love to you, Doreen!  

Scary News

My good friend and Ghost Writer Doreen is in the hospital. They have moved her from Montauban to Toulouse, not a good sign. She's very ill.

I can only hope that she gets better. We dogs can't kneel down to pray, but I can assure you that I will be praying for my friend. I wish I could visit her. I'm sure my being there with her would help. I'd give her lots of licks and lay my head on her lap and do anything to comfort her. Its a shame that they won't let me in hospitals, but that's the way it is.

Please can all of readers both human and canine and even feline pray for Doreen's recovery. 

Thank you all.

Rupert

A dog in demand

A dog in demand

I’m a dog in demand. My friends at LinkedIn have sent me details of jobs I might be interested in. One is for a European Sales Director. It sounds right up my street as it’s based in Toulouse and I’m certainly European — I can bark fluently in English and French. I’m not sure Linda and David are too keen, though, as they need me at home to look after them and they would have to drive me there and back every day. I took a closer look at the job description. Apparently I would “Support and be a key member in the development of a structured and sustainable plan to exploit synergies…” Must ask David if he knows what that means. Aren’t synergies a bit like truffles? I’m sure I could track a few down.

I have 64 Connections through LinkedIn, which is very nice and apparently they connect me to 663,723 other professionals. It’s good to be so popular. I’m doing my bit too. I’ve endorsed the skills of my friends Doreen and Miriam — I hope they’ll do the same for me.

LinkedIn has also invited me to join some groups. I’m tempted by the Wild Game Hunters Network, which is a network to facilitate fellowship and friendship between wild game hunters. Do synergies count?

I think I’d better go and polish up my CV. I might ask Robbie in Atlanta to be a referee.

News from Robbie

I'm really pleased — I've a had a couple of emails from my friend Robbie. I couldn't read them while David and Linda were away because they didn't leave me their computer password. I don't know what they thought I would get up to. Next time they go away, perhaps I could go and see Robbie! I'm sad he didn't get any snow like he wanted to, but I had some and to be honest it made my nose cold when I was hunting truffles. Here's what Robbie has to say.

Hello Rupert, Robbie from Atlanta here. Well, it's been an exciting and stressful day. The weather for kasters were talking about the possibility of a sno flake yesterday. This is the kind of talk that gets a wee sheepdog from the Shetlands all excited. Even more when skools and kolleges started to close. Things almost hit boiling (or should I say freezing) point when the fore kasters stayed up all night .. well, for kasting. Did we get anything? Not a damned thing (can I say that? My dad often does). So here's the thing Rupert: I think of you as a friend, so I wondered, since you have so much of the white stuff, kan you send me some? I will will be glad to repay from my secret stash of burried bones. Sno long for now. Robbie By the way, I dictated all of this to my dad to send to you yesterday. And what happened? It disappeared into sigh per space. He really is useless at that sort of thing. I had to wake up from my nap to repeat it all to him. Humans... on Another dog needs a home

Hello Rupert, Robbie from Atlanta here. And happy New Year (my dad has just about recovered from it). Well, it's been quite a stressful day. The weather forecasters predicted that we might get a flake of snow. Naturally, as a wee chap from the Shetlands, although I have seen more than my share I still get very excited. And it really looked as if was going to happen: the forecasters stayed up all night, speculating whether or not we might get 0.00002 mm or more. Most of the schools closed, businesses closed, Atlanta airport (the world's busiest) cancelled many flights. And then I thought about playing in it, I thought of you. After all, I have my fur coat - what else do I need? It turned out we did not get a damned thing (am I allowed to say that - dad always does?). Not a flake. Not a drop of rain. Dad let me stand outside the house sniffing the cold air, but what kind of consolation is that? So here's the thing: I read that in France and the UK they have plenty.

           

This is a picture of my cousin, Fantomas (they have these funny names in the French branch of my family) is in dire straits! He needs a home desperately.

He's currently residing in the SPA kennels in La Garric just over in the Tarn, but they can only keep him for so long. He's hoping one of my kind readers knowing that a wonderful family he comes from will be kind enough to offer him a home. He'll repay their kindness by being a wonderful companion for either adults or children or both.

As you may have gathered from my blog we in the standard poodle family are exceptionally intelligent, gentle, loving, playful and just plain fun to be around. Fantomas is a chip off the old block, so to speak and would be a great addition to anyone's life.

If you can offer a home you can contact the SPA at: http://legarric.spa.asso.fr/node/64962. as well as seeing some more pictures of Fantomas.

Please spread the word; quickly please as he can only stay at La Garric for so long.

Rupert feels neglected

I’m feeling a bit neglected. Linda and David went on holiday and left me at home. They didn’t even ask if I wanted to go with them. I know it might have been difficult getting me to Florida, but I’m sure it would have been possible.

Apparently they went for a ride on a Harley Davidson motorbike. I would have enjoyed riding pillion on one of those, with a bandana around my neck. I would also have liked to chase an alligator or two — it would make a change from truffles. “No you wouldn’t,” shouts Linda. “They would chase you instead and probably catch you.”

Still, I wasn’t left on my own. A nice lady called Bridget came and stayed with me while I was away. I thought we might have a wild party or two where I could let my fur down. I could have invited Ferney and Bess and some of my other friends, like Benz the kitten, but Bridget said no, so we went on lots of walks instead.

She made me some nice dinners, but she didn’t sprinkle herbes de provence over my chicken or add garlic to it like David does.  Still, I found I could wrap her around my paw and get her to take me on more walks than usual and give me the occasional doggy treat.

I have to confess that I did get a bit smelly after digging up something nasty, and was a bit unwell. Someone suggested that Bridget spray me with Febreze before Linda and David returned, but it seems I will just be paying a visit to Funky Toiletage soon.

I was very pleased, though, when Linda and David came back and my meals returned to their usual cordon bleu standard. Sadly, though, they didn’t bring me a present although they seemed to have bought a lot of things for themselves. But I think they were glad to see me and I gave them a nice welcome back.