Yvonne Fleece: Heidi’s Hectic Holiday

Heidi’s Hectic Holiday

Once upon a time on a small farm near Billingshurst…

Heidi the Schnauzer who was still on holiday at the farm, pricked up her ears. They were going in the car to the caravan. Her last visit was ages ago just after she had arrived at the farm and she wasn’t 100% sure she liked it. There was so much kerfuffle with leads when they had gone out even just for a wee. But she and Magnus had a conversation and he had assured her this time would be different. And he was right. Was he ever right!

Once they had arrived and unpacked, it was the same old with the leads and Heidi gave Magnus a ‘Schnauzer look’ – black eyes glaring and ears pricked up. Magnus reassured her it would be all right so she gave him the benefit of the doubt.

The next morning Nanny and Grandad got all sorts of stuff together and after a tense discussion, they settled to work. It wasn’t too long before the shape of a dog play area emerged. Although it took the humans all morning, the finished product looked really good. Now the dogs could easily go outside by themselves and do a wee – especially Poppy widdle pants.

The next day Heidi and Magnus were outside enjoying the freedom and fresh air, Poppy caught sight of Tim, the Important Person there. She put her head through the wires and to her delight, her body followed all by itself. She bounded over to say hello to Tim who patted her and then put her back. In no time at all she was outside again.

Tim told Nanny so she laughed and huffed too. Then she ferreted a roll of chicken wire out of the trailer and she and Grandad spent another whole morning putting the chicken wire over the original wire fencing. When it was all finished the humans had to go inside and have an afternoon siesta.

Just because they had play area it didn’t mean they didn’t go for walks. Usually in the afternoon they went down to the dog walk and had a really good run and sniff. One afternoon, they went over the bridge to Medmerry Reserve. They came to the pond, covered in duckweed. This is where Poppy had fallen in and learned to swim and Nanny was watching to make sure she didn’t fall in again. Heidi, who was just out of her sight, fell in. As an older dog, she panicked more and reached to closest bit of shore she could, also the highest bit and she couldn’t get out. She tried and tried and Nanny encouraged her to move along, but with Schnauzer stubbornness she wouldn’t move. Sighing, Nanny managed to put one foot down the bank and was Doggy home from home just leaning over to pull Heidi out when she lost her balance and down she went. She landed on her back with her feet in the air and her head hovering over the pond. She reached over and hauled a wet and bedraggled Heidi who looked like she was wearing green polka dots, out of the pond. Heidi was fine once she got out had a good shake and just wandered away leaving Nanny cast with her feet in the air. Some passers-by came to the rescue and hauled Nanny on to her feet. The man told her she should have put the dogs on a lead. Nanny was sorry she’d asked for their help. By the time they got back to the caravan, Heidi had dried out. Exhausted, all three dogs and Nanny collapsed for the rest of the afternoon. All too soon it was time to go home, so after one last free walk they packed the car and came home to that small farm near Billingshurst. Yvonne Fleece

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