Dogs, Dogs and still more Dogs

Well its 2025, We have been married 18 years this year, together for 20 and spent more than 10 years here in (mostly) sunny Spain.

Literally from the off we had dogs, heck we brought 5 with us and within a couple of months were fostering a couple of Podencos, I've written about them previously so wont bore you with them again. Unfortunately the one we kept, Heidi passed away late last year, but bearing in mind her whole system was shutting down due to Leish, when she arrived, 9 more sun and fun filled years was pretty good.

The more things change the more they stay the same, we are currently back up to nine furries. I must point out though that two of them are very very temporary fosters, I'll get to that story later.

In the mean time, we still have two of the original five we came here with, Sophie, Sophia Diamond Princess, according to her papers, Queen of the house but unfortunately now a bit blind, so needs carrying up and down stairs for her own safety.

Next is Marty,

the only other Original poodle from the UK, also getting on a bit in years and like Sophie also very few teeth left.

In respect of small fun dogs, we thave Tinto, we rescued him late lockdown from a rescue some 50 kilometers away. For two days would only respond to me, totally ignored the real boss of the house Mrs D, then suddenly flipped, If I leave the room, I might get a head raise, If Mrs D leaves its pawing the door, crying and sometimes even howling, bluddy turncoat.

We still have Tutu (Tucci Two) and she still thinks having her tummy rubbed is her idea of heaven, again unfortunately also due to age very few teeth and the ones left are very misaligned, but they match her goggle eyes and mismatched ears.

Then comes Matty, possibly much older than his papers state, technically not ours an on "loan foster" from a rescue down near the coast. He loves sleeping in a bed tucked down my side of the bed so I can reach down and snuggle him. One of the few that does not actually sleep on the bed.

A new one, I havent mentioned before is Snowy (sometimes Snowball), this one came to us with another Poodle, very elderly and in terrible health condition and unfortunately he passed over the Rainbow Bridge not long ago.Snowy has the usual mismatched features like Tuti, and very protruding teeth and has recently had a dental which took many of his back teeth out. He is a licker but his front teeth scratch, not that it worries us, he is a happy little soul particularly since he is no longer bullied by the dog he arrived with. Like Tutu he loves  being out on the upper terrace on a plastic chair ( or table) in the sun.

Of couse we cannot forget the biggest heart in the group, Milly (also Moo, Millicent and many other words too rude to print). Milly is a Dachund x German Sheherd (Probably) unlikely as that sounds, she was the smallest of the litter of rescues and is now pushing 20kilos but has a heart of gold. If we have puppies in or one of the others gets too excited and squeals, Milly is the first there to check they are allright. In fact the next dog I will mention fell asleep on the back of my chair tonight and rolled off on to the floor (not for the first time ) and yelped as he landed, Milly was straight there licking his paw, she is definately a lover.

So thats our current permanent group. however we have two others belonging to a friend who lives at the other end of our street. He recently had a serious accident and his leg was broken amongst other injuries and was hospitalised and currently has to live in a flat down town as he cannot access the upper parts ohis house. He is wheelchair bound but fortunately the flat has a lift so my wife and her friend are cleaning the hose and tidying it up for sale. Poor guy has two rescue dogs of his own and obviouly cannot care for them in his current state, so we are caring on his behalf.

The littlest is Kaiser, He is the one who insists on sleeping on the back of my chair and sometimes falling off, for some reason he is not too keen on ladies but he now accepts Mrs D and allowed her to cuddle him tonight after his most recent tumble.

He has prety much licked the hair off the up of my head (thats my excuse anyway) and along with Tutu and Milly, wake me gently each morning with a tongue wash (?)

Accompanying Kaiser is Sally, a much more laid back dog, probably something along the limes of a Breton Spaniel. She loves nothing more than a tug with one of her many many tuggers which she teases you with until she lets you win grabbing one end. She has fitted in very well and seems totally fine with her new temporary home.

So, thats our current brood, it has been a stressful year, having lost Heidi, the podenco, Pippin the poodle and the abuela Evita in the last twelve months it has hurt a lot but we know hat their last years were filled with love and sun and lots of treats.

I have started a new project on the upstairs terrace to make what we are calling "The Orangry" sounds posh doesn't it, I will post pictures if it works. Today we recieved a new canopy fabric for the extending canopy over the downstairs patio, we have wonderful new Tree of Life Curtains to give some privacy to the hot tub and Mrs D has just returned from a weekend with her Dad and family in the Uk where he was celebrating his 90th Birthday. He says it feels strange to have a son in law who is 72 and I have to agree with him.

We even managed to sneak in another Fuengirola trip where we discovered the best Argentinian Steak House ever. We only found it by accident as we patronise a very very Spanish breakfast bar and because we became regulars we were invited and boy was it worth it, Check out Sabores Fuengirola on Tripadviser or Google.

Thats all the news that matters for the moment, when I get sorted with the projects ( if Big Mat bring me some cement and tile adhesive) I'll update you.