Once again, Frodo and I have had a pretty busy month!
Our highlight would have to be travelling down to Banbury (where the Charity’s National HQ is) on 25 April for a Big Dog’s Breakfast event at the Centre. Frodo and I spent a lovely morning at there. The weather wasn’t great (probably an understatement – it was chucking it down all day) but we all had a brilliant time! We had bacon and sausage butties (there was also a vegetarian option) and quite a few cups of tea! There was a barbecue – in the rain! The Training Hall had been totally transformed – it looked amazing! All humans had ‘Toastie’ facemasks (‘Toastie’ and ‘Honey’ are the two mascots of the Big Dog’s Breakfast) – I’m not sure what Frodo thought of these!
There was a quiz – I’m really not very good at quizzes! Frodo and I were also asked to judge a mini fun dog show. We were asked to be on the panel judging ‘dog with the waggiest tail’, and ‘dog you’d most like to take home’. Also on the panel was Steph from MEM Consumer Finance, and Graham, the CEO of Fish4Dogs. It was a very silly day – Steph introduced herself as ‘Cheryl Cole’, and Graham was ‘Simon Cowell’. As I don’t watch ‘X-Factor’ then the only other person I could think of to be was Louis Walsh! I’ve never judged anything before, but it was great fun! It was brilliant to see the staff at Dogs for the Disabled again and meet up with the awesome Puppy Socialisers.
It is Big Dog’s Breakfast Week from 21 to 27 May. It is a great way to raise funds for this life-transforming Charity. Frodo enables me to live independently. Without Bella (Frodo’s predecessor) I very much doubt I would have got my degree. Please consider holding a Big Dog’s Breakfast. Why not see who can raise the most with coffee and toast? You can hold a Big Dog’s Breakfast with co-workers, family or friends. All materials, including invitations, posters, recipes (including ‘doggie’ ones), menus and quizzes are downloadable from the Dogs for the Disabled website.
£3 could feed a puppy a nourishing breakfast for a week, £5 could pay for a breakfast bowl for a puppy, £10 could fund a grooming kit for a post-breakfast brush, £20 could pay for a jacket, collar and lead for a puppy’s post-breakfast walk, and £50 could fund breakfast for a dog for six months. I’m hoping to organise a couple of Big Dog’s Breakfasts in my area (my perfect breakfast would include my Grandad’s scrambled egg on toast, and a glass of Bucks Fizz!). Please get involved and raise money to train more beautiful dogs like Frodo and have lots of fun in the process!
My shiny new wheelchair was delivered on 2 May – there are several photos of him on Facebook and Twitter! I’ve called him ‘Ricardo’ (the RGK Max-Lite). He has some fab personalisation, including coloured spokes and castors, and a brilliant embroidery on the back of the seat!
On 5 May, Frodo and I were on BBC Radio Leicester again. We were talking about Dogs for the Disabled, our Supporter Group, and Big Dog’s Breakfast Week. You can listen to this interview on iPlayer. The interview starts at about two hours and 20 minutes in.
Until next time!
