the chicken

The awesome power of Napisan Oxyaction

*******PLEASE READ FOOTNOTES BEFORE REPORTING ME TO THE RSPCA******

I got a new washing machine a few months ago. It doesn't have a pillar in the middle of the barrel. This is handy. I am quite lazy, I resort to the quickest course of action, involving the least amount of work possible. Suzie needed a bath, so I chucked her in, on the gentle cycle! with some Napisan (to get the stains off) and it worked really well, a little too well. Here are the before and after photos.

Before...... She is quite black with several white patches.

After she is WHITE with a few fawn bits.......

Miraculous really. It's like a totally different dog!

This may be because it is actually a different dog... but it makes a great endorsement for Napisan!

Ok, so clearly the white dog is not the black dog formerly known as Suzie. The gorgeous white dog is Ally. She was at Chicken Manor for the day spa treatment. This is a comprehensive package. Dogs get washed in special blue shampoo, blow dried, after bath oil massaged into their coats, ears cleaned and nails manicured. After that they relax on the sumptuous polar fleece covered beds before having a play session with the numerous fabulous squeaky toys. When all this is said and done they get to go in the car for an exciting trip to their FOREVER HOME! Yay for Ally. She has a forever home. Her new peeps love her. As if you couldn't!

Her new mate Frank thinks she is pretty cool too. This is Ally and Frank...

Gargantuan meets tiny... they are very cute together. Frank started out by biting her ankles. Poor little guy couldn't reach anything higher!

The hardest part of my role with GAP is taking dogs away from people, fosters that people are attached to and dogs that come back to the program. This is balanced out though. The ultimate goal is to find forever homes for these beautiful dogs. Being the one that does the adoption at the end of the whole evaluation/foster process is immensely rewarding. Besides which, The Chicken would pack his bat and ball and leave home if I kept ALL of them....

**** I DID NOT, NOR WOULD I EVER, PUT A DOG IN THE WASHING MACHINE, OR THE DRYER, OR THE MICROWAVE - YOU GET THE IDEA. I WAS USING CREATIVE LICENSE AND IN NO WAY ENDORSE THIS KIND OF LUNACY. I MAY BE UNBALANCED BUT EVEN I KNOW THAT GREYHOUNDS DON'T FIT IN MY WASHING MACHINE.... PLEASE DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME - THANKS ******

Spot the difference

Can you tell these two are sisters? My flatmate came home and thought he was seeing double, or that we had a SUPERdog, it was in front of him, and then when he turned around there it was again!

The white paws on Sox give it away. I remember a similar situation when I worked in TB racing stables in Japan. All the colts had Yellow halters, all the fillies had Red ones. We got two black colts that were almost identical. I suggested that we maybe put a different colour halter on one of them.... see,that would have made sense, so we couldn't possibly do it! For those horsey people, yes I could tell them apart, up close, not at a distance, and the Japanese don't brand their horses either. Instead one of the boys found out the hard that he had the wrong horse when he saddled up Arcanges and attempted to ride him. He wasn't broken in, whereas the other one was. Oddly enough after that he had a different halter on!

Anyway.... I solved the problem of Which Dog?

Well, Sox did. She went to another foster carer today. I know when dogs aren't going to be ok with The Chicken when Chicken uses my bedroom as a dirtbox. 6am and a smelly poo told me that he wasn't happy about going past the dogs to get to the litterbox. Can't say I blame him, Sox barks at you if you appear suddenly, like from in the kitchen, or if you come in the back door, or walk past the house..... She thinks she is a guard dog. Must say, she has a wicked bark, scared the hebes out of me, she isn't even that big, but would put people off with that bark!

It's Patch and Suzie Q now. They like to play together, it's cute. Patch Rat is mad, as everyone who has met her will attest to, and it takes a special dog to keep up with her. Suzie is doing ok. She is such a little sweetie. Now that Sox is gone she will be exposed more to The Chicken. She has avoided him since she got swiped at the other day. With any luck that will continue and she will graduate BootCamp.

I caught her on the couch earlier. She sulked for a good half hour after I removed her. Yes, removed her, physically. Telling her to get down achieved nothing, had to resort to lifting her off, then she sat on the bed looking totally offended. Patch has decided that since she can't get away with being on the people chairs (when we are in the room at least!) that she will do the next best thing.

She will sit on the people beanbag. It's not like there are ample dog beds available. They are simply beneath her now....

I have totally over indulged her. I am currently looking for cute printed polar fleece to get her a custom made coat sewn for winter....

Fresh meat...

I have the three musketeers at my place at the moment. There is Patch.

But of course. She will never leave.....

Then we have Soxy Lox, Sox when she is in trouble. She is extremely timid, really wants to come and say hello,runs up to you and a few feet away decides that she isn't brave enough. She is very cute. And shiny, I can't get over her coat, it feels like velvet. She is currently spending most of her time hiding in corners, except for the bit where she is chasing The Chicken. Fortunately for The Chicken she is still really scared of people so I can get in the middle, once she gets her confidence up it will be a different story I think.

And last but not least we have the gorgeous Suzie. She was on overnighter last week and is now back for a stint at Chicken Boot camp. She may actually pass it too....

Lucky for me Sox has little white feet, she and Suzie are litter mates. Funnily enough they seem to not like each other much, same thing happened with Peach and Dory. Must be a sibling rivalry thing. Patch loves Suzie cause she plays with her, she can't figure out why Sox isn't interested...

Fun and games when trying to sort out who sleeps where. Patch is lording the fact that she isn't wearing a muzzle over the other two. She has been hanging out with The Chicken too long. All her own toys have been forgotten and the one Sox came with is being carried around all over the place.