Old friends

This afternoon Sophie and I went with Mum and Dad to visit an old friend called Marie who lives in Leicestershire. She has bred Great Dane dogs for most of her life and I used to be very friendly with her daughter Linda when we were growing up. Marie bred the dog we had when I was a child, a Great Dane we called Karl.

Now she runs a boarding kennels, cattery and dog "creche" with Linda from her lovely home near Leicester and as it's doggy heaven we took Sophie with us. When we arrived there was an incessant barking and howling and the house dog, Mia, came to greet us. She was huge! She's very much like a large black labrador and just as bouncy, something that's a bit hard to handle coming from a Great Dane who is the size of a small pony!

I could have kicked myself as I'd forgotten my phone so couldn't take any photos of the dogs, but we had a lovey time meeting all her Great Danes and lots of other dogs as well, some of whom were boarding. Marie and Linda also have two Jack Russell dogs who took a shine to Sophie (and she to them) and constantly jumped up at the gate to see her.

We had a look at all the kennels and peeped into the creche where four or five dogs were hanging out and enjoying themselves! It was kitted out like a child's nursery with individual beds and soft toys! We were also shown where Linda does the dog grooming so they have a really good business going on and I was really pleased that Marie had made it such a success.

We all went back into the house for a cup of tea and a final cuddle with Mia and then it was time to head home. On the way we stopped off at a McDonald's just outside Market Harborough for Sophie to get her fix!