21st April - Col in trouble

I take the 2 dogs out first thing in the morning. Petal is much better behaved on the lead than she was the last time we looked after her. Warren must've been training her! Its a lovely morning and the fields look superb. We have a great walk.

Pascale, Alex and Colin turn up as we're having breakfast. We're looking after him tonight as they're going out for a 30th birthday bash. They're only with us for 10 minutes when Pascale notices that Colin has a massive, deep gash on the side of his nose. We rush off to the vet with him to have it seen to. On the way we speculate as to what could've caused it but have no real ideas.

We eventually see a vet who says that he'll need stitches and that we need to leave him there whilst they sort him out. Back home, we try to find out what caused the accident. In the garden I discover a broken glass container which the three dogs must've knocked over when they ran into the garden. Its smashed and he must have cut his nose on it when he sniffed at it - probably when it fell over.

We sit with Pascale and Alex for a while before they head off to their do but only after we promise faithfully to fully take care of Colin and after we reassure them that we're fully competent of managing the situation.

We then start moving the furniture around in the newly decorated room. The first problem is the TV and all the other connections we have through it - this runs from the BT vision box, to the broadband router to the DVD. It causes a few problems but we finally manage to get everything reset and working in their new positions.

Phil pops round to look at Pascale and Alex's mobile home. Alex thinks the head gasket is blown and Phil has promised to look a it. It turns out to be OK and not the issue that Alex was fearing. Phil thinks the temperature gauge may be the problem. We chat for a while - his cough is still bad and worrying but he says that he's getting better.

We continue getting the room back into shape and then head off to pick up Colin. Poor dog has had stitches and has to wear a funnel. The say he'll be groggy and will be quite easy to handle tonight.  Back home, the other two just don't know what to do with him. Poor Blake is totally confused as Colin continues to be friendly with him but has this weird thing on his head which Blake just doesn't get! They eventually settle down except for Colin who is full of beans. He plays with a rope and a ball! Completely irrepressible.

We eventually head to bed taking Colin upstairs to keep his boisterousness in control. He does sleep for a bit but the pain gets to him after a while and he has trouble sleeping. I take him downstairs and sleep next to him on the sofa for a while. It works and he actually sleeps for a couple of hours.