Been a while since the last post so here goes...
There's Always Room for One More
I see by his coat
he must be a stray,
the untidy look
gives him away.
He's lost his will
and is so thin
hasn't eaten, since
God knows when.
I know as I coax him
through the door,
There's always room for one more.
The other night
in the freezing rain,
That little female came again.
Matted and soaked
crying in need,
lost and alone
with babies to feed.
Her pleading eyes
I couldn't ignore,
There's always room for one more.
There's a new face
on the docks today,
hungry but clean.
to our dismay,
I stroked her head
Her body ripples
when she got up
I saw she was crippled
she started to go, but
fell on the floor.
There's always room for one more.
There's the poor doggy
standing in the rain,
I've tried to entice him
Time and again.
One ears lopsided
the other's been torn,
Blind in one eye
lost and forlorn.
He's coming now, so
I'll open the door.
There's always room for one more.
These stories are true,
As I've said before,
There's always room for one more.
11, November.
Our village has but one shop, a liitle place that sells most of the stuff one is likely to need in the way of food and general domestic needs. Everyday we have a range of travelling shops roll through the village, the bread man (two of them!), the egg man, the fish man and two or three different fruit and veg people. Yesterday while I was out exercising the pack seniors, Izzy, Leo, Sox Suzy and Fred, the veg man called out to me; In his right hand he had a very small black and tan female puppy. She looked to be perhaps six or seven weeks old. He yammered away at machine-gun speed Andaluce which was completely lost on me but it was clear that he wanted me to take the puppy from him. Well with five dogs in tow and another four waiting in the house for their turn, I couldn't do anything there and then and in any case I had just returned from the Vets after arranging to have Sophie spayed. (She is pregnant by the way; I said that I would have problems monitoring her 24/7 for the two full weeks of her season).
More expense... 100€ to be split, by special arrangement into two instalments, to coincide with incoming pension payments.
I explained to the veg man in my best Spanglish, that I couldn't take on any more responsibilities... "No tengo espacio, no tengo dinero, no tengo asistencia, no tengo ayuda..." At this point we were interrupted by a prospective customer so I turned away and continued with the walk. When we returned, the van had gone but sitting on a low wall was the puppy, looking very sorry for herself. Still unable to do anything about her, I cursed the veg man for abandoning a near helpless puppy, but it occurred to me that perhaps he hadn't abandoned her in the first place, but had maybe just been calling my attention to her presence at the roadside knowing that among the villagers we are known as the mad English couple that rescue abandonados.
Either way, I still had the rest of the pack to see to plus a whole raft of other time consuming tasks to attend to. The pup was still there sitting on the wall when I took the others out for their walks, but by the time I was able to return to check out this latest abandonado, she had disappeared. I would like to think that someone has taken her in, but I really don't know...
Some time ago when I was trying to win over the hearts and minds of Suzy and her siblings and her Mum, two of the regular interruptors were a pair of black Spaniels, obviously brothers. They used to turn up at the cave at feeding time and join in the fray. One of the Spaniels disappeared at about the same time as Suzy's mum and siblings, but the other one is still around some eight months later. He is in a sorry state... he's obviously getting enough to eat either by foraging or begging or via the actions of one or more villagers. He is very reclusive though, and like Suzy was at first, he won't come near when the rest of the house pack are around, prefering instead to follow some distance behind. Like all black Spaniels he is long coated, but his coat is matted and hanging in clumps, his back end is a total mess of matted fur and his ears too need some serious attention. The clumps and matting wont be brushed or teased out, they need cutting out. He could do with a visit to a vet and a grooming studio, but thats not going to happen unless and until he accepts human handling; he is a true street dog. Lovely dog though...
I get the impression that he would like to be friends with the pack but there is a degree of colour prejudice within the house pack... Izzy and Leo just hate black dogs; it's nothing new, they have always been that way, even back in England the presence of a black dog would immediately put them on a war footing. Strange too that Leo is that way inclined because his coat is black over silver... Given that the house pack has two yappy snappy, very active black dogs among its number makes for some confrontational meetings. Izzy and Leo's way of coping has been to set up their own Royal quarters in our bedroom; the rest of the pack are welcome to visit, but definitely not Spike and Scruffy. S & S just want to be friends but Izzy and Leo are having none of it; if the two blackies do stray upstairs they are instantly warned off.
Anyway... I guess that's it for the moment. Sophie goes to the vet on Tuesday morning for a termination and spay. More later....