Absent friends

Flip, I'm missing my hounds. I didn't get to see them all last week thanks to a cold and snow and now I'm busy with work all week. So it'll be nearly three weeks between greyhound fixes.

To get a hound ration I've been regularly checking the kennel's website, and have discovered, sadly, that one of the most laid-back and funniest dogs at the kennels has died.

Barney was a lovely black-and-white boy and a fantastic greyhound ambassador. He loved his walks and was brilliant with children - more than once, I passed him in the paddocks lying on his back, all four paws in the air, with several children giving him a tummy-tickle.

He knew his own mind, as I'd found to my cost on a couple of occasions, when I tried to go in the WRONG direction. Barney would lie down until you went in the direction he wanted you to (in fact he'd often use this as an excuse to ask for a tummy-tickle as well).

He also loved his pig ears, and would take them back to his kennel, to chew on, often eating some of his bedding as well. (I found out that it passes through unchanged, just in case you wondered!!).

He really was a lovely dog, a true gent, and will be sorely missed.