What a great weekend we’ve had & both of the girls were angels.
We arrived late on Friday so had to put the tents up in the near dark, but friends came along & helped us. The tide was in so both Meg & Heidi went for a paddle – Meg’s idea of paddling is swimming out as far as she can & waiting like a submarine (surfaced!) for someone to throw a pebble or stick. Both dogs slept in their crates in the van for the first time ever & they were good as gold – I think the sea air & calm atmosphere helped.
The weekend involved lots of sea, short walks & sleeping for the dogs. This worked for everyone as Meg’s eye wasn’t too good when I left Mid Wales so a bit of rest was called for. The weather was pretty warm on Saturday so we were grateful for the reflective sheeting over the front of the van which kept the girls lovely & cool. I’m very conscious of temperature as HRH has a habit of getting too warm, but this weekend we had the opposit problem.
Heidi inadvertantly went swimming. She has been carefully avoiding it since we’ve known her but always has opportunities to do so if it’s safe. When Meg is in the water, Heidi will stand up to her wrists & stare at Meg or bark delightedly. Over the weekend she went in deeper & deeper Until she was up to her tummy; Meg turned to chase a pebble & Heidi accidentally turned the wrong way & was suddenly out of her depth. Her face showed initial panic but then she moved her legs & got back to ankle deep in no time! She turned around & went back to tummy depth immediately but avoiding swimming again steadfastly. The waters were about as safe as you can get & it was quite warm on the full tide. The difficulty came later as I discovered that Heidi’s coat holds water, unlike Meg’s which lets it drip all over the upholsteryfirst. Heidi started to shiver after I’d rubbed her down gently with a towel & I was unable to tell whether it was cold or just the shakes after a rub down. I put her into her full fleece body suit anyway & tucked her up in the crate (it was quite overcast so there was little danger of her overheating) & did 5 minutes TTouch on her ears which is good for warming a chilled body through. It took about an hour for her to return completely to normal, but she was good throughout.
If pride is acceptable, that is what I felt about both dogs at the weekend. They were both so well behaved, Meg didn’t eat anyone, Heidi didn’t mug anyone – a habit she developed on one of her trips to Leeds when she sees another dog she’ll run up to them, spin around in circles in front of their noses & then when they are completely dizzy she barks at them & runs off! They were so quiet when in their crates (Meg used to get really cranky if she was left in it, but is so much more settled with Heidi in the adjacent crate) & happily went wherever we went.
I invested in a plug in cool box which meant I was able to keep both Heidi’s medication & our wine cool for the whole time. She was fed tinned food (either Lilly’s Kitchen or Butcher’s) over the weekend & as testimony to the health of her gut the sudden change form natural to tinned had no effect on her tummy at all.
Overall, the camping experience for Heidi was a good one. She’s now deeply asleep on the sofa & awaiting her photos (a few camera problems so when Demetri has sent his through I’ll post them up). If any of you have an elderly dog & you are considering camping, with appropriate items (like comfy bed, something to warm, something to cool, plenty of treats!!) & lots of resting opportunities it can be a great time for everyone. We were fortunate in camping somewhere I know well so knew there were plenty of vets available if required, plus I had my usual armoury of homeopathic remedies, but this is always worth checking out before you go & ensuring you know how to get to them if necessary.
Enjoy the sunshine today.
R, M & H