A-Z Monday, Letter A

A is for Arthur.



Our new greyhound.
Here he is with his tongue hanging out.
It's not unusual to see greyhounds with their tongue sticking out of their mouth's when relaxing.
I think it's probably because they are so long.
But Arthur's tongue hangs out the side of his mouth more than usual because he has no teeth, except for 4 canines.
Poor thing, his teeth were in such a state that he had to have most of them removed.
It was when he was under the anaesthetic having his teeth out that the vet phoned the kennels and suggested that Arthur should be put to sleep.
Arthur at this time was in the rehoming kennels.
And as well as having most of his teeth removed it was known that he was partially sighted.
He has a condition known as Pannus.
You can see the effect of this in the above photo, his eyes do have a milky film to them.
We were told this story when I went to collect Arthur from his foster home.
We decided to take Arthur as he is Rufus's brother.
And when we heard about him
we just knew that he would be just as lovely as Rufus.
And he is!


Here are the two brothers lying down quite close to one another only a day or two after meeting.
Rufus is on the left of the picture and Arthur on the right.
Apart from their colouring they look quite similiar in shape and size.
And also similiar in nature.
They are both happy dogs,
they both vie for attention.
After Mike has fed them all,
Rufus and Arthur come rushing in and come up to me to be stroked.
They stand next to each other while I stroke them both
and they will both stand there as long as I will stroke them.
Paddy and Jewel don't do this.




It was good of our friends Richard and Susan to foster him once we said we would take him.
Arthur stayed with them whilst getting his passport issued.
They have recently adopted their own greyhound.
That is Poppy in the photo above.
She's a pretty little thing, very sweet.
Totally different to Arthur, but they became good friends.

So I met Arthur for the first time just before Christmas during my visit to the UK.
and he returned with me.
Richard very kindly drove us to the ferry port
but after that,
Arthur and I were on our own!
I am grateful to the ferry company P&O (edited to amend company name) for looking after us so well on the overnight crossing and then escorting us and our bags to the bus once we arrived in Belgium.
The bus took us to the railway station, here a fellow passenger (a woman) carried one of my bags off the bus while I managed my overnight case and Arthur.
(I know I should have travelled with less luggage).
After buying tickets for us both we waited on the platform for the train.
When it arrived Arthur refused to budge!
This all must have been strange for him.
Travelling with someone who he had met only 3 days earlier,
travelling on a boat, a bus and now a train!
This was a part of the journey that I had been concerned about,
getting on and off the train.
Susan was also worried about Arthur managing the steps and the gap between the platform.
I tried to lift Arthur but I didn't have the strength.
Fortunately a railway man lifted Arthur onto the train for me.
But then we sat in first class before being told by the conductor that we had to move.
That was a shame as Arthur had just made himself comfortable by lying down on the carpet!
Of course once on the train I worried about how to get Arthur off!
I didn't have much faith in the conductor returning to assist us as I had requested.
But fortunately Mike was there to meet us and greet us.
Luckily he was waiting near to where our carriage stopped,
it was a very long train!
People helped me off with my bags and waited patiently while we got Arthur off.
So it all went well.
We just had a 2 hour drive to get back home then.
And meet the rest of the gang!

The others have accepted Arthur very well.
There have been a few growls from Arthur when he has been lying on a bed near to one of the others.
He has probably thought they were getting a bit too close.
But none of them have retaliated.
They probably realise that he is just settling in.






In the photo above left to right are: Rufus, Arthur, Jewel at the front and Paddy behind.
It's easy to mistake Jewel and Arthur if you don't look at them properly or out walking in the dark, they are similiar in size and colour.
You can see Arthur with his brother Rufus below.



He seems to be managing his new life in a new country very well.
His loss of sight doesn't seem to disadvantage him either.

And we enjoy having him.

Visit Jen for more A~Z fun.