The plan this morning was to meet Sascha at 05:30 outside his caravan and walk together to the Promontory with his dog Zora and my motley crew. I woke up early and didn’t want to be late so move on with getting the dogs ready and getting out. The problem is that once I start getting them on their leads they have expectations which need meeting. They were all ready to go at 05:15 so we set off up the camping. As expected, Sascha was not ready waiting for us so I decided to give him a few minutes as we were so early. The problem was that the adjacent motorhome contained a German couple with their three dogs. When mine started to get restless, I felt it better to leave so as not to disturb the whole camping with an early morning barking session. We set off for the camping entrance and the road to Alonaki Beach. As it transpired, Sascha was in the loo at the time of our arrival so unable to participate at the earlier time. He emerged, looked for us then waited a further fifteen minutes.
I met up with Ursula at the southernmost end of the Promontory and handed Luis over to her. She knew Sascha was coming so had brought Heidi’s training collar as Heidi’s two previous meetings with Zora hadn’t gone as planned. I set off in search of Sascha in order to prevent him from blundering into us and everything turning into a shambles. Charlie was the only dog free and he picked up Zora’s scent and led us to her. Together we walked back to the end of the Promontory to find Ursula, Heidi and Luis. Luis and Heidi were very stressed so we headed back down the Promontory so the barking infection didn’t overcome the other dogs. Meanwhile, Ursula was left to amuse Luis and Heidi. We returned and the situation had not dramatically improved however all the other dogs were now walking together without friction and we were making progress.
On the final pass, I reclaimed Luis and Sascha and I started off back to the camping with all the dogs. After some initial unsettled behaviour, Luis too managed to walk sensibly. Skinny was mixed up with all the other dogs and there were no problems. At the camping gate, I discovered a little bird which appeared to have fallen out of its nest in the trees above. I picked it up, having fastened the dogs to the entrance gate, and removed it to a more secure location in the hope that its mother might find it before one of the cats did. Sascha and I sat on the low wall for a few moments and all the dogs were together and behaving nicely.
Moments later, the German woman from the adjacent motorhome appeared and immediately picked up on Skinny. She is a member of the Cretan Hunting Dog Club and has a Cretan Hound of her own. She was delighted by Skinny and told me that, if she didn’t already have three dogs, she’d adopt him. However, she knows of someone on the other side of the mountains who is looking for a Cretan Hound so might be interested in adopting Skinny. We shall take photos and they will do their best. A good job for Skinny if it all works out.
I ran somewhat later than usual, showered and set off for Paleochora to pick up the cable for Georgia’s Internet connection. It was ready, I paid the €60 then went to Petrakis for some shopping. The ride back to the camping was speedy. I chatted to Maria who informed me of a couple who arrived the previous day and asked after me. They’d visited the camping in 2016 and remembered me having all the dogs. We chatted for quite a while and then I went off for some breakfast.
It was another cloudy day but very warm and fairly airless. I got on with a few little projects and the dogs slept inside or on the decking. Later, there were a few spots of rain which continued until tea time. Ursula had baked a particularly delicious orange cake constructed from the last of her imported flour. In case she was short of inspiration, I presented her with a bag of oats and some soggy bananas.
After tea, we set off for the Evening Walk and to recover the fleece I’d carelessly left on the Promontory that morning. It was a pleasant evening despite a few raindrops. We entertained the dogs and Skinny entertained Ursula by pretending to be a parrot trying to climb onto her shoulder. We headed back and I took the dogs to see the Swiss couple from this morning. Further amusement ensued however we departed before they realised just how many dusty Skinny paw prints adorned their clothes.
I’ve got a reheat of Ursula’s wonderful meal from yesterday and they are dining in at the camping restaurant as a flat tyre prevents them from venturing into town. We’ll deal with the tyre in the morning. Ursula has not been having much of a good day.
More information about the Cretan Hound:
http://www.onlycrete.com/WPWC1A.htm?Nature/cretanhounddog.htm
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