Holiday Adventures

I really was hoping that there would be nothing to tell about Paula and our holiday – but of course she had to add some excitement (?) to our trip.

We had booked into a small hotel just around the corner from Plymouth Hoe.

At 6.30am we went for a stroll for her to empty then returned to the hotel for me to shower and change. At 8.15am I decided to take her for another walk before I had breakfast.

She did what she had to do and I was standing just watching a ship in the sea when she tugged on the lead. I obviously wasn’t clutching it tightly enough as it came out of my hand.

As soon as she was free I knew I was in trouble.

Paula’s recall is non existent. She just looks at me with disdain when I call her to me.

I tried the sweet voice – no response.

I tried shouting at her – again, no response.

She simply trotted out to the gate where we had come in with me in hot persuit.

Anyone who has ever tried to catch a dog that doesn’t want to be caught knows that they always trot just a tiny bit faster than you!

Anyway, off she went back down the street that we had just come up with her nice sparkly pink lead trailing behind. A builder tried to rugby tackle her but she just leapt nimbly over him and shot off.

By the time I reached the corner there was no sign of her. I was frantic…

I trotted all around the streets calling her to no avail. The worst thing was that the hotel is very near the city centre and the thought of Paula getting run over and hurt – or worse was driving me crazy.

I dashed back to the hotel and rang the police who said that they no longer deal with lost dogs and to ring the Dog Warden, which I did and left all my details. I then rang my son to tell him to bring my car back so I could cover more ground.

He arrived in double quick time and off we went.

We searched everywhere around the Hoe and the surrounding streets, the town centre at rush hour and all the back streets where a frightened whippet may hide. No sign of her. I asked everyone I saw but she seemed to have vanished. Then I started to worry that someone may just pick her up and take her home (well, she is very beautiful…).

I comforted myself with the fact that she had a bright pink lead still attached so surely someone would realise that she had escaped from somewhere.

To cut a long story short, about an hour later I had decided to get a quick coffee whilst ringing the Dog Warden to see if she had turned up. When we turned into the road where the hotel was there was a woman standing outside the hotel with Paula tucked up in her arms.

The relief! I leapt out of the car and rushed over. The lady was just about to take her into the hotel. She put Paula on the floor and gave me the lead. Paula just looked at me as if she had never set eyes on me before – not even a little wag of recognition! I think the woman was unsure that she really did belong to me.

It turned out that this woman had been driving her children to school and seen Paula running up and down the city centre road. She and another kind chap stopped the traffic whilst they caught her. It was only because she was really scared that she went to the woman – I dread to think of the end result if she had been having a great time!

I can’t thank these kind people enough for taking the time to rescue my frightened (and very naughty…) little dog.

All’s well that ends well and I bought a different kind of lead to make sure that she didn’t slip through my fingers again.

Oh, and to make the holiday a bit more interesting, she came in season again the very next day! This is her second season, she had her first the last time we came to UK  last October – just 5 months ago!

Escapology

Paula and I are off to UK again.

I went to Longford to do a bit of last minute shopping and bought a ham shank. I thought that I could have the ham on sandwiches and the bone would be good to keep Paula entertained on the ferry.

On the way home I was picking at the meat and eating it – before you say it, I know I should have waited until I got home!

I offered Paula a bit of the ‘crackling’ but, of course, she turned her nose up at it. So, thinking that a fox or some other form of wildlife would love it, I stopped the car at the side of the road where there is a very wide grass verge and fields beyond and opened the passenger side window of the car.

I got the big piece of fat and crackling that is on a ham shank and tossed it through the window. Without missing a beat Paula followed it. She was so fast that she could have caught the stuff as it was airborne!

Now anyone who knows Paula will know that her recall is non existent so I leapt out of the car (using the door – unlike Paula…) and ran round to try and persuade her to come to me.

Fortunately she was busy searching for the stuff that I had thrown through the window so I was able to grab hold of her jacket and haul her back into the car.

I was so relieved because the road is a busy one and, if I hadn’t managed to sneak up and catch her, anything could have happened.

Lesson learned – never, ever open window fully. Paula can jump like a gazelle from a standing start…