Frankie

Walked a dog for the first time in four years today. Not ours, I hasten to add, but that belonging to a friend of Mrs C. Her partner was having a plate removed from his shoulder (pedestrian caused him to come off his bike a few months back) but because our local hospital trust has declared Westmorland General as their “Covid free” facility, they had to come through to Kendal from Lancaster for the day. They’d both had to isolate for a fortnight before the op and he had a test a few days ago. She wasn’t even allowed to enter the hospital to drop him off or pick him up.
Mrs C had suggested she spend the afternoon here as it was pointless heading all the way home only to potentially come right back! It was also a chance for them to sit out in the sunshine and have a good old girly catch up. We’d said to bring Frankie with her as he would be quite safe in our garden and it didn’t seem fair to leave him at home. I offered to take him for a walk so they could chat, and it was quite a strange sensation walking my normal route but with a dog alongside me.
Anyway, I think we bonded during that walk (or maybe it was the treats I gave him!) because when I came back from the gym later on he barked at first and then wagged his tail when he saw who was coming through the door. Nice to know he felt it was his duty to guard our house from intruders whilst he was here.
He only disgraced himself once - we heard a scraping noise from outside and discovered him trying to get into the hedgehog feeding station! Laughing too much to tell him off though. Tried to get a photo of him with his head stuck inside but my laughter caused him to retreat with a hurt “what?? what have I done???” look on his face.
Op was a success and the patient was duly collected and taken home in time for tea (and Frankie’s tea!!). Fortunately, the follow up appointment to remove the staples can be done locally. Which is a bit of a shame because I’m kind of missing that little dog now. Perhaps he can come back for a social visit sometime and we can go for another walk.....