Hello again. Today I am going to be talking about the first time Honey and her puppies had to stay in a Kennels for the first time for nine days away from home. We were off to spend a week in France and so we had to book the dogs into the kennels.

The preparation of the Basset puppies’ first time away from home for more than a day….

It started out with contacting the kennels that we had always used if we went on holidays or abroad for some reason. Unfortunately, the particular kennels we use is very popular and she is always fully booked around August, which is when we were planning on going to France. My mom made sure to book the kennels well in advance and there was plenty of room for the three dogs. We were very relieved. Since we were going to have to use the dog trailer for transporting the dogs in, we had to make sure it was in good shape. So, my dad went to the local garage and got new tyres and made sure there were no loose screws or anything.

I was not very helpful when it came to helping in the preparations for them leaving as I was extremely emotional. I did help out of course , I am just saying that it was especially hard for me to let them go for such a long time. I knew that I wold be worrying about them the entre time we were on holiday. It didn’t help that Honey was not the bravest dog when it came to looking after her own puppies, she always had us to help her and now this would be the first time she would have to look out for them.

The week before our departure and the Basset puppies first time on their own..

It was the week before we were due to leave and whilst I was excited to go to France, I also was extremely nervous for the dogs. In fairness to Honey, she had been away from home about three times in total with Corry before so she was used to the routine in a way. In the middle of that week, my siblings and I decided to give all three Basset hounds a wash. Now, let me tell you, giving any dog a bath s tricky, but Basset hounds are something else. Buzzy is the only one doesn’t mind that much when he has to have a bath. Honey and Bumble on the other hand absolutely horrified by the idea. It was the last week of July so the weather was alright. We all had to wear several layers of old clothes plus rain gear to protect ourselves from getting soaked from the dogs.

We have a small kiddies pool from when we were younger and so that is what we decided to use for washing the dogs. It was a big mess with the warm water slopping in and out of the pool. Honey was impatient and scared as usual. Surprisingly, Bumble and Buzzy were actually okay. They were both calm and it was only at the very last stages of washing them did they start to get impatient. Once they were finished, we let them run around the garden to dry off.

Evening before the day of departure for the Basset hounds…

It was around seven o’clock when my mom and my sister packed the dogs into the dog trailer. I couldn’t go as I start to cry and get very emotional. It is a painful goodbye as we won’t be seeing them for more than a week. It takes me a long time to say goodbye still to this day. They head off to the kennels and we head off to France the next day.

Well, that is it for today. Thanks for reading and please feel free to like and share my blog posts! Until next time.