A busy weekend with Alfie and Ruby
Alfie is now totally at home here, but he thought his boat had really come in at the weekend, when we had a beautiful ginger retriever, Ruby, to stay. Thankfully, Ruby had "been done", but neither of the dogs seemed to fully acknowledge the fact. Consequently, they were never left in the same room alone, together, if you see what I mean. Alfie tended to get the blame for getting amorous, but in reality, Ruby was a real tease. But they got on great guns. It was only an introductory, overnight visit for Ruby - we are having her for a couple of weeks later on, but her owners were busy on Saturday evening and asked if we could have her. This is a great idea for all concerned. It gives us chance to ask any questions which may arise, and gives the owners peace of mind when they can see how well settled their dog is.
We took them down to The Burrs Country Park on Sunday morning, where they had a whale of a time, but racing for the ball. (Ruby generally won, but Alfie had his moments as well.) They ran and ran, and came back home exhausted. Ruby was collected shortly after, and later on we received a text from "her" saying that she had just slept all the time. Alfie did similarly - I think he was pining. As it happened, we had to be up before 6am on the Monday - and woke Alfie up (not that he actually GOT up!). After half an hour or so, David and I went back to bed. I got up again at 7.45am - stepping on a very soft "cushion" at the side of the bed. Obviously I had forgotten to shut the bedroom door. But Alfie hardly stirred. Eventually David and he came down at 9.30am! And he still slept much of the day.