The meet & greet walk last week with the elderly woman and her 2 Shih Tzus went well. Adorable dogs with little underbites and their bottom teeth showing.
With her health failing she was concerned who might look after her dogs in an emergency. I did the preliminary assessment, filled out a form and emailed it back as soon as I got home on Friday. The charity replied this morning and were extremely happy with the promptness and thoroughness of my assessment.
I took the dogs on 2 brief walks on Friday and Saturday, although she said they probably wouldn't leave the house. We went down the road both times but then they stopped before the house was no longer visible. Still, with time and patience I know we could go on longer walks.
She said she didn't need help walking the dogs at the moment, and her main concerned was who could emergency foster them. She was candid in saying she did not think she would outlive her dogs.
I told the charity this morning that once my campervan is done and I'm living in it full time, that I'd be happy to foster her dogs in case of emergency.
She is a lovely lady. We had pleasant conversations, and she invited me to visit her again this weekend for another chat.
When I mentioned my van she told me that she'd owned an old, air cooled engine VW campervan for a long time. She had a son called Edward too, who she lost. When he passed she said she got in her van and just drove north, and spent a lot of time in Scotland - in mourning and exploring.
She now owns one of the new California model campervans, but says she misses her old van. I sensed quite a lot of sadness in her - but that seems to be the people who intrigue me most in life. Those who I want to help.
Anyway, we shall see if she's happy for me to be put down as an emergency contact should anything untoward happen. Once the van is done I'll still be quite local to the area for the majority of the time, so I think it's a workable solution.
Ed
With her health failing she was concerned who might look after her dogs in an emergency. I did the preliminary assessment, filled out a form and emailed it back as soon as I got home on Friday. The charity replied this morning and were extremely happy with the promptness and thoroughness of my assessment.
I took the dogs on 2 brief walks on Friday and Saturday, although she said they probably wouldn't leave the house. We went down the road both times but then they stopped before the house was no longer visible. Still, with time and patience I know we could go on longer walks.
She said she didn't need help walking the dogs at the moment, and her main concerned was who could emergency foster them. She was candid in saying she did not think she would outlive her dogs.
I told the charity this morning that once my campervan is done and I'm living in it full time, that I'd be happy to foster her dogs in case of emergency.
She is a lovely lady. We had pleasant conversations, and she invited me to visit her again this weekend for another chat.
When I mentioned my van she told me that she'd owned an old, air cooled engine VW campervan for a long time. She had a son called Edward too, who she lost. When he passed she said she got in her van and just drove north, and spent a lot of time in Scotland - in mourning and exploring.
She now owns one of the new California model campervans, but says she misses her old van. I sensed quite a lot of sadness in her - but that seems to be the people who intrigue me most in life. Those who I want to help.
Anyway, we shall see if she's happy for me to be put down as an emergency contact should anything untoward happen. Once the van is done I'll still be quite local to the area for the majority of the time, so I think it's a workable solution.
Ed
