April 1, 2008: She's Back!

Ko wai, ko wai tenei? Ko au, ko au; Tui pai.	Who, who is this? ‘Tis I, the pretty tui

Kinloch Tui went missing for an agonizingly long 9 days. Goodness only knows where she went, but she was found wandering down a busy road about 25-30 miles (as the crow flies) away from where she went missing. A couple - Richard and Jo-Anne - saw her, and having dogs themselves, pursued Tui, stopping traffic along the way, until they caught up with her in a field. Tui was very frightened (and very dirty) but when Richard got down on his hands and knees, she came to him. Jo-Anne and Richard cared for Tui as if she was their own. A short time later, they contacted their local dog warden who read her microchip, and the rest is history. Within an hour Tui was picked up and on her way back to Scotland. Richard and Jo-Anne, thank you! Your kindness, caring, honesty and compassion are exemplary.

We received many emails and calls from people offering their help to find Tui. Strangers went out of their way to post flyers in the local area where Tui went missing, or contact pet stores, vets, dog groomers, dog walkers, and anyone else who they could think of that would help spread the word. Dog Lost was amazingly supportive. Dog wardens offered their search tips. One lady wrote saying how upset her 2 young girls had been to know Tui was missing. Friends from all over the world emailed, people called offering their advice and moral support, and strangers posted messages of encouragement on various websites.

Thank you all! Tui is doing fine and appears to be completely unaffected by the adventure - although her manners need improving (and they are, rapidly)! While it is nice to have Tui back, it is still hard to think of losing Tippy. We miss sweet Tippy a lot. (see last week's blog)

It's been a quiet week otherwise - thank goodness. We have no training sheep at the moment so the dogs are bored! While they like their thrice daily walks, they'd rather be out with sheep. It is frustrating living on a farm with 2,200 sheep and not having any to train on! Thankfully it's only a temporary thing.

Nothing exciting to report. Lambing time is not far away. There are some early lambs up on the hill. They survived the weekend snow storm and torrential rain quite well. Today is the first day we've had without rain in a long time. Our place is a mudbath, made that much muddier by the building of a new shed right next to the cottage. Our cottage is a mess! We'll get to that when we've caught up on our work...and, heck, it's much more fun taking dogs for a walk than mopping the floor!

April 3, 2008: Happy Brithday Tui, Ace, and Kenny.
It's Ace's, Kenny's and Tui's first brithday today. Now normally we don't celebrate dog birthdays. But, today we thought we would because of Tui's recent adventures (see this week's blog). Tui got a special card in the mail today from Jo-Anne and Richard, the kind people who found her after she had been missing 9 days. Here it is. What a nice thought. Happy Birthday Tui, and Kenny and Ace too.