Shadows London Adventure In late 2007 I saw an advert on the Dogs Trust website asking for nominations for 5 categories for the first ever Dogs Trust Honours; Quality of Life, Hero Dog, The Pickles Award, Lifetime Achievement and Triumph Over Adversity. I went to the site and nominated Shadow for the Triumph Over Adversity Award, which was for Dog Trust Rescue dogs only and was for dogs who had overcome a difficult beginning to become an asset to their family and the community. I felt this best fitted his life... But never expected anything to come from it. I was very very surprised early 2008 to receive a letter from Dogs Trust congratulating Shadow on being shortlisted for the Hero Dog Award - An award to recognise the pet dogs in our front rooms who are in the smallest ways heros This was the only category to have 5 shortlisted dogs, the others all having 3, and Shadow was once again going to be put to a public vote, this time in the Sun Newspaper. We were to travel to London on Wednesday 8th Feb 2008 for an awards night! I had been sent an information pack which included the menu for the evening..and I started to panic as I wouldnt have been able to eat anything as it was posh food I even looked up on the internet t see what the food was, but after emailing Dogs Trust they said nothing was a problem and what would I like to eat!! I placed my order of melon for starter instead of Celeriac and Truffle Veloute, Streamed veg for main instead of Ballottine of Chicken wrapped in Pancetta with Sage and Onion Marmalade, Curly Kale and a Compote of Butternut Squash and Fresh Fruit for dessert instead of Chestnut Parfait with Nutmeg so I knew I would be able to eat without worrying about not liking the food. I had some allergies at the time, mainly to nuts, but also have never liked complicated food and I always worried about eating things when I didnt know exactly what i was having. With my food worries dealt with, I got very excited. I didnt like eating with other people, but that was because I always wished Shadow could be with me, and for this event he could!! I booked our tickets to travel on the train to St Pancreas Station. I wrote a diary for Shadow at the time (which I found a few days ago when i was sorting out all the things I have for these stories!) so I shall share with you some of what I wrote on the day. There are 9 pages, but dont worry i wont write everything!! 8:15am - We went out for a walk and went over to the shop. On the way back when Mum was bending over to poop scoop I pinched a Cadburys creme egg out of her pocket - I didnt get to eat it though as Mum got it first! 9:30 am - We were off...when we got to the station, Mum and me went for a walk... I only managed to pinch 1 chip, and failed to get more chips, a piece of chocolate and a chocolate muffin wrapper - Mum is just too quick 12:30 am We got into London...I was a very good boy all the way, Mum had part of a muffin, and the ladies opposite had sandwiches but noone shared! On the way out of the Station I thought Id finally got to pinch some food, but Mum retreived the After Eight wrapper from my mouth! - Its not fair! We then walked to the Covent Garden Travelodge, dropped off our luggage and went to see Covent Garden 5.05 pm Mum said I was fast asleep on my back, next to her on the bed. I was very tired after my exciting adventure - and the evening was still to come. (I was having a good dream, but I wouldnt tell mum what it was about, she thinks it was about the squirrels I saw in Russell Square Gardens though) 5:45 pm We went down to the reception area and met the other dogs. i was very taken with Katie, a very lovely Rottie, Cassie a crossbreed and Tilly the hearing dog, who like me came from Ireland (Mum thinks Im her great great grandad or something!) As well as flirting with the girls (me and Cassie were winding each other up with excited barks) I was sociable with the boys. Kimmy the yellow Lab was very friendly and Stephanie the girl with him was all excited! Kimmy, like me, also had a bow tie on, and lots of people said how smart I looked in my red bow tie. 6:45 pm Got to the Guidhall in London, Mum took her coat to the cloakroom - I kept mine with me, or I would have looked very strange (No fur but a red bow tie!!) Me and Mum had our photo taken on the yellow carpet Graham Norton passed by and said he thought i looked lovely (but didnt stop long enough for Mum to ask if he would write in my book) 7:10 pm The reception with cocktails bit was very interesting, the posh food (Mum says orderves) were served in dog bowls, so I got very excited, but I wasnt allowed any. luckily Mum had come prepared with my tea in a bag so I could be given bit throughout the evening. Mum enjoyed listening to the string quartet that were playing. I met the chief of the Dogs Trust and he signed my book. Mum gave him the money we raised at dog club + a bit extra from us 8pm - People were asked to take their seats, we were on table 26 with Katie the Rottie so i was very happy and with a lady who had won her tickets to attend. Jennie Bond started off the evening after a welcome from Clarissa Baldwin. She made a few jokes about her time as a Royal correspondent, Mum didnt understand any of them, but everyone else laughed, so I know they were funny! Everyone ate their starters and Mum enjoyed her melon, the waiters kept missing me though as my black blended in to the carpet - maybe I should have taken my coat off after all - I would have shown up much better :P Then Mum got a big panic... between courses Mum took me outside to the toilet and for a drink, but because she was wearing posh trousers, her pockets werent as deep as normal, the poo bag had fallen out of her pocket. We had to do a quick run to the other side of the Guildhall courtyard where the Dogs Trust Dog Mobile was and ask for a bag. Mum was very upset as she doesnt like anything unexpected happening and it took me a while to calm her down as she was crying, but I told her it was ok. When we got back inside people were having chicken and I didnt get any! Mum said it wouldnt do me any good as I have a sensitive tummy, but it was very hard when they came to collect the plates as some people had left their chicken and I STILL didnt get any! After the meal the award ceremony began. Kimmy won the Quality of life award for looking after Stephanie who has Cerebral Palsy, they were very excited at getting their medal and Kimmy wore it for the rest of the evening. The Hero Dog Category was up next, I hadnt expected to win, but got to see my video on the big screen. The award was won by Jake, a police dog from London who had helped after the 7/7 bombings. I only saw Jake briefly, but he seemed very friendly The Pickles Award was won by Wizz, a BIG black and white Newfoundland who jumped into the water to save another dog from drowning. Cassie, my girlfriend from the reception!! won the the Lifetime Achievement award and the Triumph over adversay award was won by Morris, who after being found as a stray with a broken leg, developing and overcoming, cancer, was now a Pets as therapy dog - What a special boy! Thats where Shadows diary ended, I think i was too tired to do more! But after the award ceremony they drew a Raffle, every seat had a gold envelope with a dog trust resident in, and we won a prize! Youll never guess what the prize was? A HELICOPTER RIDE, with one of us being claustrophobic and the other being..well... a dog! It wasnt really our type of thing, so we decided to auction it on eBay to raise more money for Dogs Trust. After a good nights sleep Wednesday night, and breakfast, we went to see Buckingham Palace, but they wouldnt let Shadow in to play with the Queens Corgis, he was very disappointed, but managed not to pee on any guards or the palace gates so it could have been worse!! Shadow slept all the way home on the train and I sat on the floor cuddling up with him part of the way. Shadow wore his rucksack as you can see in the photos, this kept him calmer in the business of London as he always walked beautifully when he had his rucksack on. It also meant he carried some of his own things while I carried the rest in my rucksack. The two half hearts you can see in the photo were worn by me and Shadow on my necklace and his collar, as I felt together we were whole, unfortunately the fixings broke, but it did mean it could go in his scrapbook.
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 17:00:04 +0000
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