As mentioned earlier, the sub-plot of this holiday is to try and meet up with the people responsible for rescuing Monty, and getting him to the UK. Primary of these is Lorraine at Wexford Pet Helpers, but despite the e-mail, voicemail and text message to say we were here, we have heard nothing. The other lady responsible for Monty, advice to Lorraine and help arranging transport, was Mary at Dungarvan Rescue.

We set off to Dungarvan with the weather throwing it down, again. Once there we stopped for a bite to eat and called Mary just to check if it was OK to drop in. First surprise came when a London accent answered the phone; but yes it was OK to pop in.

Chatting with Mary, and you soon realise how dedicated she is to her work. She came over to Ireland 18 years ago to start a rescue, and has been doing it ever since. I have to say that if you are going to spend 18 years dedicated to anything, Dungarvan is a very nice place to do it. I wondered why here though; turns out her dad comes from here, and 18 years ago no-one else was doing any rescue work in Ireland.


The Lovely Mary and Monty

Monty's bum has been playing up a bit, and Mary kindly gave us some Bimastat to help dry him up. Although he seems OK in himself, we think it might be the stress of travel and strange places - he is a sensitive soul.

We couldn?t stop too long as Mary was getting ready for work at the Village Inn pub, but did say to pop in later for a drink. So we went off to find a walk for the Beasts. It turned out to be the beach. Tide right out and there was mile and miles of sandy beach for the Beasts to go mad on. Kai went mad as he always does on beaches, and Jack and him had a good charge around. Monty joined in a bit, but he prefers his grassy fields.


The Beasts thought they could drink me under the table!

We turned up at the pub at 3:30pm, when Mary is supposed to start work. She wasn't there. According to the gentleman that was, this is not exactly an uncommon phenomenon. His recommendation was to come back after 3:45; nearer 4 o'clock would be better. So we decided to do a quick bit of shopping, and then go to the pub. One bit of advice - don't use the EuroSpar in Dungarven for fresh items. Two things I bought there were in date and off.

We were allowed to take the Beasts in the pub, which gave Mary a chance to meet them properly. Kai worked his magic on everyone there; to a man they said how handsome he was. I think even Mary was quite taken. Jack, who was limping, though with no obvious wound, charmed her with his happy up front nature. Monty took a bit of persuading, but eventually went to Mary. As she said, "There is something about him that just makes you want to take care of him.".

We chatted about dogs, Dog Pages, you name it (even the clientele). Mary did notice Monty was a bit thin (hair wise that is). Her theory, which kind of makes sense to me, is hormone unbalance after being neutered, which would also explain why it's growing back - his hormones getting back in kilter. I mentioned to her that my research on alopecia on the net mentioned that lethargy in greyhounds was a symptom. We agreed that this would be incredibly difficult to tell from normal greyhound behaviour.

We told her about our experience in Waterford, and it seems that greyhounds in Ireland are regarded as vicious dogs. Now, I don't know about you, but greyhound and vicious are two words that don't really fit together in my opinion. What are these people going to do if they meet a Rottie with a strop on???!!!


The Passage East Ferry

And so home, in the rain. And now, having been fed and watered, the Beasts have crashed out.