No Tricks Just Treats
It doesn't seem possible that Halloween has been and gone for another year. It feels like only a couple of weeks ago I was talking about being too hot to walk the dogs. Halloween does seem to be getting bigger and bigger each year. We had more Trick or Treaters this year and people are really making the effort with their costumes and decorating their houses. I don't remember ever going Trick or Treating as a child......I blame the Americans as they've always been massively into it and their influence has obviously come over here. It's lovely that the kids can do this now though and the hounds love having all these little visitors knocking on the door. I am careful to keep the hounds at bay while I open the door mind you. They would not only barge through to say hello to the little witches and monsters but they'd also take great joy in snuffling out the treat bags! As it is I have to keep the little cauldron of sweets well out of hounds' reach as well as the freshly carved pumpkin. Oh yes, they've stolen a whole pumpkin off the worktop before! They managed to savage Mr Furry's freshly decorated design. It did actually look quite scary with hound bite marks all over it! Funny enough pumpkin isn't something I'm bothered about them stealing and eating, it is in fact quite good for them. Certainly in our house there will be no wastage as I will be roasting and crushing the pumpkin seeds and liquidising the flesh for either soup for me or as something to add to the hounds' daily diet. Pumpkin is an incredibly good medicine for dogs tummies. 
Sticking with Halloween, we went to Hove Park last Saturday morning for Howl-o-ween Brighton. A festival organised by a local company with stalls for you to walk around, a fashion parade of doggie Halloween costumes and they were attempting to break the Guinness World Record for the number of dogs wearing bandanas. We arrived just after 9.30am (the event was due to start around 10am) and sad to see only a few other doggies (mostly Dachshunds). Never mind, in our usual fashion we were early. So we had a wander around the market stalls that were there and I bought the hounds some Halloween themed bandanas. There was a whole schedule of events due to take place between 10am and 5pm. However at around 11.30am there were still not an awful lot of people around and also we realised that our parking was soon to run out (the drawback of parking in Hove). The schedule was clearly not on time so we knew we were not going to be able to hang around for the record attempt so we left. It did get me thinking though, we live in Sussex, one of the most over-crowded counties in the country, so why are these events so poorly attended? It's such a shame when so much effort has gone into organising them and there are very few events like this at the weekend that you can enjoy with your doggies. So why do people not go? Is it because you had to pay to get in? It was only £5 each and £1 of that was going to Dogs Trust. Is it because people think that there will be too many other people there? Is it just that people cannot be bothered? I will continue to go to and support events like this because for me, the more things you can do with your doggies, the better. I understand they were hoping to get at least 1000 doggies there but according to the local newspaper report, around 200 actually turned up. I'm not sure whether they beat the 
record, I think they're still waiting for the result, however I really hope they didn't miss out by just 3 dogs or I'm going to feel awful for having to leave! At least the hounds had another moment of fame by appearing in The Argus on Monday! Not in fancy dress but in their very snazzy Equafleece jumpers!
So now that Halloween is done until next year and we're into November, is it socially acceptable to start seriously planning Christmas? I've managed to secure some lovely new Christmas cards from the Basset Rescue Network with proceeds going to this charity very close to my heart. I know a lot of people don't bother with Christmas cards anymore but I think it's a shame. Personally I think it's lovely when I get a handwritten card from someone who I may not have seen for a while or even if I see them regularly, a little note to say hello in the form of a Christmas card gives me a warm feeling.
I have the odd one or two appointments available throughout the whole of December, and November isn't much better either, so all new doggie enquiries are being booked from January onwards. What a lucky lady I am to be so popular?
We are missing Chewie and Lally on our regular walkies. Chewie unfortunately has a recurrance of his skin issue that he had back in August so he's not allowed out on group walks until he's had the all clear again. We hope he'll soon be back with us.
This weekend is not the favourite for a lot of our four legged friends as it's fireworks. Is it me or do they seem to be getting louder and louder? Keep your pets in and safe and let's hope it's not too bad for them.
Whatever you're up to, enjoy it with your furries.
Much love
Sally xx
