Good news and bad news …

Good news! Since I last put paw to keyboard last Friday I have had a wonderful week. On Saturday my friend Amanda from Happy Buddies popped in to see me. She is so lovely and I was really pleased to see her … I haven’t seen her for ages and ages and ages – I think I was years younger then (well, in doggy terms anyway). She gave me loads of attention and she showed him some things he could do with me whilst my hip fully mends. They talked about something called a Halloween Howl which is a walk and a doggy show in aid of The Children’s Trust and is on the 29th October at Priory Park in Reigate. Happy Buddies are supporting it and he said that he would like to go along – well, actually, it was more about me going along to show off my new hip and my handsome looks! Richard thought that was a good idea too, so it is now in the diary … although events may well have overtaken that. More on that later!

As if seeing Amanda wasn’t enough, in the afternoon I had another visitor – my friend Jake!! I haven’t seen Jake for a while either and I was so happy to see him. Jake understands me and I love spending quality time with him. Jake stayed for at least an hour which was lovely. I really like him and I love playing with him – even when I can’t do very much at the moment. I’m hopeful he will come a bit more often nowadays because, if I’m totally honest, I get a bit bored of his company and it is really nice to see other people – particularly if they’re my friends! After Jake left, we went out for a walk. That was nice too. I haven’t been out for a walk very much at all in the last couple of months and it was lovely to go out and have a jolly good sniff of all the messages that have been left by others around the village. I can’t go very far – a gentle walk along Salisbury Road and through Dewlands and Court Road are all that I am allowed to do, but even that is so much better than just being able to go into the garden!

You won’t be able to see it from the photo on the right, but I had just produced a huge poo at Sniff Central before we got to the corner of Court Road and Dewlands. Richard was carrying it in a very full bag, but for some reason he wasn’t as proud of it as I was and he hid it in the photo! Talking of photos, what on earth does he think he was doing here? Can’t he even hold the blinkin’ camera straight! Honestly, how did I end up with him? Anyway, it was really nice and we started doing that walk three times a day which was lovely. We also started to go to other places in the car. Now that is a really strange thing – ever since Bonito (my personal surgeon) said that I didn’t need that bandage thing on my leg I have quite liked the car! I actually want to jump in when the door is opened (although I am not allowed to, so I have to be lifted in). Anyway, it is all very strange!

On Sunday we went to Redhill and we went shopping. Apparently they both needed a proper waterproof coat for when they are walking with me and it is raining. They are such wusses sometimes … they don’t like getting wet when it’s raining. (I had to look up wuss on Doogle but I thought I knew what it meant because I have heard it before!) Sometimes I am truly amazed at them … getting wet in the rain is compulsory in my view – a bit like walking through muddy puddles is the law. Why on earth would anyone want to keep dry in the rain? Anyway, they got their coats, so they were happy. We walked around Redhill for a little while whilst Richard popped into a take away shop for some lunch for them. From the smell of it I could tell it was chicken but there was none for me so I wasn’t interested. Mind you, I don’t know what they were doing in there, but frankly they had enough time to lay an egg, hatch it, grow the flippin’ chicken and turn it into a southern fried ‘meal’ in the time it took for Richard to get it! Having got their lunch we went home and they ate it. Apparently it was average. All that effort and only average … they have their priorities so badly wrong!

On Monday we went to a place called a ‘garden centre’ so that they could get some plants. Richard had the week off work, so we all went out which was nice. I was a little confused as to what a garden centre is so I looked it up on Fidopedia. This is what it says: A garden centre in the UK sells plants, compost, fertilizers, tools and landscaping products such as statues, furniture and garden ornaments. Some also sell pet related products and small pets such as guinea pigs, rabbits, fish and mice. Now, I don’t like to complain, but do you see the word dog in that description anywhere? Nope … nor me! What is the point in that? I have previously mentioned that plants that he grows are nothing more than disgusting – I have eaten almost every one and never found a good tasting one! To go somewhere that sells disgusting things that you can’t eat and that doesn’t have anything for me seems more than a little pointless, but you know what they’re like!

On Tuesday I had more visitors … Sue and Malcolm came to see me. That was really nice too. I like Malcolm so I decided I would go and sit between them – there wasn’t a huge amount of room, but I managed to squeeze in anyway! I spent some quality time with Malcolm on the sofa and then they all went off and had dinner. Frankly, I wasn’t included in this activity so I have no further interest. All that I will say is that I was rather unceremoniously picked up and whisked off to bed by Richard even before Sue and Malcolm had left. He rather wobbled upstairs with me and that was that! By the time he came to bed, we were both snoring rather loudly (he told me afterwards!). On Wednesday morning I had to bark my paws off to get them to take me out for a walk! I think Richard was a little slower than usual! When we had been out though, we hopped in the car and went off to East Grinstead. He went shopping whilst I had a lovely wander around the town with Richard. Nothing too strenuous, just a gentle wander and a jolly good sniff. After he had finished his shopping in East Grinstead we went to Horley to a different shop. I spent a bit of time having a look round in Horley too, but I think I preferred East Grinstead. He was moaning that “Waitrose in East Grinstead is hopeless – they never have decent stock”. I’m not sure what that was all about, but he seemed happier when he came out of the shop in Horley and, let’s face it, I’m used to him moaning!

Wednesday evening was Gardeners’ Club. Richard went off to Gardeners’ Club and he stayed behind with me. Well, when I say with me, that isn’t strictly true. No sooner had Richard gone than he went off into the kitchen and left me in the lounge watching the telly. When he eventually returned the telly was such rubbish that I had decided to push out a few ????s. Typically, he disturbed me coming in and I woke up from a lovely dream about chasing rabbits! He decided to watch ‘Bake Off’ from the previous evening on catch-up. I think I may have mentioned this in the past, but he isn’t all that bright … a few atoms short of critical mass, if you get my gist! Well, there he was watching ‘Bake Off’ and I got to thinking … he hardly ever bakes cakes – in fact, he doesn’t even like them. What is it with him and TV programs about cooking? He has only ever made one cake that I can remember … liver cake. He didn’t eat one bit of it and I had to do my best to get through the whole thing – which obviously I did! He hasn’t made that for a very long time either!

Having gone to bed on Wednesday evening, I woke up on Thursday morning (yesterday) with a bit of discomfort in my hip. I didn’t make too much of it, but it was a bit painful. He noticed that I wasn’t putting much weight on it. He was rather hoping that it was just that I had done too much on Wednesday but after an hour or so he decided to give my personal surgeon, Bonito de la Puerta, a call. Bonito wasn’t available (he is very busy!) so he left a message. Richard, myself and him went to a place called Felbridge where they wanted to order a new bed. (What on earth is wrong with the floor? Honestly, these humans!!!) Having just left the shop (the man in the shop also had dogs so I was welcome in there and I had a lovely roll around on the floor) he got a call from Bonito’s secretary. Apparently Bonito wanted to see me, which was nice. Only when we got there, it turned out not to be so nice. Bonito said my new hip had popped out again! He said he would sedate me straight away and put it back … which he did.

Now here comes the really bad news! My personal surgeon, Bonito, says that my new hip is obviously loose and not going to set properly. He has decided that the best course of action is that he replaces the ‘neck’ of my new hip with a bigger one. He doesn’t want to wait too long, so he is going to operate on me again on Monday.  Apparently it isn’t as major surgery as having a hip replacement, but it does mean we’ll be back to square one … again! We will be back to that dreaded lampshade round my neck. We’ll be back to no walking at all. We’ll be back to just going outside for a wee in the garden on a lead. We’ll be back to six weeks of enforced rest – no games, no walks, no running, no jumping, no nothing! I was going to see my personal therapists, Katie and Emily, at Hydro Hounds today, but I have had to cancel my appointment. After all that progress, we’ll be back to the beginning again! I know that he is dreading it but, frankly, this doesn’t really have a lot to do with him. It is me that is going to be hacked about again. It is me that is going to go stir crazy being stuck in the house with him all the time. And worst of all … it is me that is going to have my bum shaved again! I’m going to give him hell!!! For now though, my hip is back in and I am able to go out for walks, so I’m going to take advantage of my last couple of days of freedom and drag them both out for a walk. For now, then, must paws … ????