Barking Mad - Are we?

Barking Mad is a home-kenneling franchise, to offer people to put their dogs in private homes instead of kennels when they go on vacation. I was tipped about it at one of the dog training clubs I visited, and thought it might be a nice experience and extra income for us to be hosts. So I contacted Catherine Court who runs the Oxfordshire franchise, and after an interview and a visit to meet Odin, we became approved hosts.

We were supposed to have a dog on try-out next weekend, but then I got an email from Cate that his owners brought him on their holiday, but if we could take on another client instead, that didn't work out in the home she was put in. Just a couple of hours after we got home from Warwick castle, Cate came to deliver Eilidh, a cute Westie lady, to stay with us for the week. Eilidh and Odin came along quite well, and Odin even invited her to play. Of course, being an old and proud lady, she would have none of that, but didn't make any fuss about it either.

On Monday I brought Odin to work, while Eilidh stayed at home with Tollef. Odin was in his (open) crate in the back of the car in the stables yard, when the resident labrador Elsa came to say hi. They are normally good friends, but Odin is very protective about his crate and they ended up having a dispute, and Odin of course hurt his paw. So the next couple of days Odin had to stay at home when Eilidh came with me to work. Today Odin tread on his paw during the morning, and since it's Eilidh's last day with us I brought them both to have a run and play. They played for a bit, then came with me to move the ponies from a field to another. Odin rolled in the muckheap and was lucky to have a nice, warm bath when he got home (not that he appreciated it that much, really). Currently they are both asleep on the sofa/bed in the office.

Karianne