Bonfire night on your dog beds

So Christmas is getting nearer, at least it can be noticed in the supermarkets. The Halloween costumes were intermingled with tentative attempts to sell a bit of Christmas themed items, but one could pass it and think that it is just so that relatives of expats can buy some to send to Australia, knowing that it might get there in time. Bonfire night took over the Halloween sales quickly and we all prayed that our dogs would stay on their awesome dog beds while the bonfire nights came and went. Our bonfire night last weekend went like this: as we were building the fire and making the Guy, it was getting darker and I noticed that Gaia was getting fed up with all the messing around and she had actually gone to bed. She obviously enjoys her lovely dog beds in the kennels and was in sleeping mode. Fine, we knew where she was. It took quite a while to make the big pile of wood, but we finally got it lit with a whoosh. Wonderful to see the flames against the Scottish Highland sky and feel the warmth. The scared Guy Fawkes went up with the flames, his hair alight. Finally we got all the fireworks out. They were the sad, cheapy ones and we decided that next year we are going to have a few selected huge ones instead of a stream of wee fizzzzzs!! The whole “display” was not very impressive although we did manage to lift hundreds of geese off the nearby loch. Gollum and Tippex, the other two GWPs were beginning to look a little concerned so our sensible son decided to put them in the car so they could feel secure on their warm dog beds that they know so well. He asked me where Gaia was and I said she was fine, she had gone to bed in her kennel. I was wrong. The festivities went on and we all had a lovely time, just us family, enjoying the fresh air and some nice little fireworks. In the back of my mind was, however, Gaia, so at some point I decided to see if she was still in her kennel, content on her great dog beds. I called, but as she did not appear, I used my torch to shine inside the kennel to check. No dog ! Hmmmm….   I then looked in the house as she might have slipped in there, but there was no dog. I was now very worried. If she had taken flight and run off because of the fireworks, she might have run a long, long way. Some dogs can simply run off till they are so far away and disorientated that they can’t find their way home. I walked round the garden, which is two acres and luckily she suddenly came running towards me. She had made herself a little Tuffie nest in the grass in the bottom of the garden, across the stream. It’s more a little wilderness in there and she had been hiding in the bushes. Wow, I could have messed up big time by not thinking the right thing. How terrible would I have felt if she had disappeared!!! Maybe we would have found her the next day, maybe not…..

I was so pleased to see her, and she to see me. I took her straight to the car where the others were enjoying the less exposed feeling  on their secure, nice dog beds. She was very happy.