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In 1977 we hired our first narrowboat from Anglo Welsh at Market Harborough.From that moment our destiny was set. In 2006 we finally purchased our own brand new 57' narrowboat which we named 'Free Spirit'. Our aim is to travel the length and breadth of all the navigable rivers and canals of the UK. This will be our story as it unfolds.

Wednesday 2 March 2011

Doggie senility!

Judy is having a bad time of it at the moment. We are still at Bugsworth awaiting results on our four leisure batteries. We bought them new 2 months ago and from then on we have had nothing but trouble, electrics tripping out, not charging properly and specific gravity reading in the cells almost none existent. Its a wonder we have got as far as we have. As we bought the batteries from this part of the world, Ian got straight on to the suppliers and asked for them to come and sort them out. Two days ago they came to collect the batteries and gave us another four to tide us over while our four were tested. We still haven't heard from them!!!!! We cant sit on these moorings for ever. After all it is only supposed to be 48 hours. Luckily we have seen the mooring officer and explained our position and he has agreed to let us stay until are batteries have been sorted. Anyway I digress. Lets get back to Judy. As you can see in the picture the boat is considerably higher then the path. This meant that Judy couldn't jump off or on the boat. Thank goodness we purchased a folding stool because now Judy only had a short distance to jump. Well, last night around 10pm Ian said he would take the dogs out for there last "Tiddle". Jade as always had to be first and consequently pushed Judy out of the way. Unfortunately Judy was just about to step onto the back deck when Jade did this. It must have unnerved her because she turned and tried to jump of the wrong side of the boat. Ian screamed at her to stop which, give her her due, she did straight away. But now she was completely confused as to what she should do and turned to get back to the cabin again. I had heard Ian's shout and rushed up to see what I could do. I tried to coax her back to the deck . No way was she having that. As far as she was concerned she must have done something really bad for her master to have shouted at her. In the end the combined efforts of Ian and myself managed to pick her up and carry her off the boat. She did perform for us last night but this morning we found a nice large package of "doggie do's" at the end of our bed. Not only that but something more unsettling was her constant pacing backward and forward with no sign of settling. I'm just hoping that this is short lived and that the events of last night hasn't permanently deranged her. Posted by Picasa

2 comments:

Jo Lodge said...

I hope that you get your battery problem sorted out quickly.
Awww poor Judy. She really is having a tough time. When old age creeps in, it can do funny things to not just the mind but also the body. Hopefully she will pick up. Jo x

nbchance said...

Hi Ian and Irene
We read your blog with great interest, but felt we had to send you a comment on poor Judy, We sold our last boat "Spirit" because Oscar was getting on.. 2 years later he is still here but like Judy he's getting doggy dementia, some days he is better than others! He has regularly been having mini strokes for some years now, we think he's on his way out then comes back within a few days as though nothing is wrong, the vet says its quite usual in old dogs! hence we are starting again and hoping to be back on the canals next month, we know Oscar at 13.5yrs cant go on for much longer, but we enjoy every moment we have with him, and the new boat seems to be giving him renewed interest again whilst we have been at the boatyard this week. We do hope Judy makes a good recovery, we have found that metacam has been a life saver for Oscar, its an anti inflammatory/pain killer, hes been on it for the last 6 months and its given him a new lease of life, given orally through a syringe, might be worth a look into! Hope to hear Judy is improving very soon. Best Wishes Doug

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