Lucy's Newsletter

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August 2010

Dear Irish Terrier Friends,

How quickly the year has turned with morning dew on the grass when it hasn’t been raining and leaves turning yellow. It seems unfair that the summer months flash by so much more quickly than the winter…time is relative as they say.

I had a good sun and sea holiday in France in July and left Zuli and Beeg at home with their dearly loved Arrabella. She’s very good at getting them out and up to Hampstead Heath really early which avoids the trail around a hot Regent’s Park. Beegie loves the Heath and it seems she was hugely more energetic. I think she’s bored with the park and stands still looking trance like or mysteriously contrives a brisk canter off in the opposite direction. She’s very deaf and wayward (of course) and seems to have lost the concept of a walk having any real direction. It’s just ‘a happening’ now with gentle strolling between tufts of grass, each requiring minute examination. I feel like a shepherdess waiting for my sheep! Zuli is still much more frisky and has no trouble keeping up with Tessie. It is rather exasperating as Tessie still needs a long fast walk. I do take a ball for her to run and chase, but like all terriers she’s not very good at bringing them back. We lose so many as she drops them in the long grass and expects me to retrieve them unaided. Beegie is so funny and sometimes pretends she wants to play and swings about like a rocking horse pushing the ball with her nose.

Tess was seven yesterday and Imogen telephoned from Greece to ask about ‘The Party’. My son James and I had to think quickly and rustle up a large bap decorated with candles. We sat her up at the table, lit the candles and sang loudly after the photo call - required proof of the celebration.

We’ve all been down to the New Forest again to stay with the Manners. Nonny and Tess are litter sisters and have great fun dashing about the fields hunting and chasing ‘anything that moves’. They’re fond of each other but the real affection is for Zuli and Beegie who have always been so incredibly kind to the younger dogs.

We missed our darling Isobel all over again. She’s buried on the edge of the woods and her stone is now in place. It says ‘For the joy she gave’. I have to confess to weeping even now as I write.

Arrabella, when she was here, came up with some new seaweed cure for plaque on the dogs’ teeth. Zuli’s teeth are not good and I have regular ‘run-ins’ with the vet about them. Her breath is not the most fragrant either! This remedy has made a huge difference. I can’t imagine how or why it works but both the old girls have cleaner teeth and sweeter breath. It is called ‘Pro Den Plaque Off’. I do recommend it and it can be bought over the counter at most pet shops.

We made our regular pilgrimage to the Animal War Memorial this morning bearing flowers and cards to leave there. It is such a beautiful memorial and the poppy wreathes are still in place. Everyone should see it and if you have time come and tea with me afterwards. I never fail to be moved by it.

Now that Beegie has been declared in very good health by the vet I have had to put the new puppy on hold. I like to run the dogs on together but if Zu and Beeg have still ‘several years’ (the vet’s words) there really is no point at the moment. Tess spends a lot of time with us too which, as I’ve already said, makes for a complicated walk. Besides, there must be time and space to enjoy the new baby.

There has been a good crop of puppies this summer but the holidays make it less easy to place them well. John Cunningham 01282 779884 has two pups on hand and Anne Bradley has two as well. They’re all beautiful puppies and dear Mrs Cunningham made me laugh saying ‘I get up early to do the house so that I can have the whole morning to play with the puppies’.

Don’t forget the Fun Day at Roade on September 19th – see events page for the Open Show. It is such a joy to see the children managing their puppies with such care.

I was absolutely incensed in France this year with a child on the beach being so harsh with her Yorkshire Terrier. She dropped him, kicked him and pushed him off her beach bed without a second thought. I was on my feet shouting ‘doucement’ several times. I’m sure that she, and her parents for that matter, thought I was mad but I like to believe a small message got through!

Imogen is off to boarding school next week and Tessie, Zu, Beegie and I will be bereft. She will be home at weekends but we say ‘it’s not the same…’

Don’t forget to send us your best photographs for the calendar. We’re starting to plan it next week.

I’ve finished writing ‘Fadden and the Fairies’ and have done all the drawings. It is a story about an Irish Terrier who is taken away to live with the ‘little people’. He has all sorts of adventures and eventually goes home but never looses the touch of magic given him by the Fairies…which is why ‘all those terriers with their bright intelligent eyes and golden brown coats are magical to this very day’. Well, we all know that… and so do they!

 

With many greetings and love to the dogs,

 

Lucy