You know the way that the stars get their hand prints in the concrete in Hollywood? Well, I have now been immortalised as well. Dad’s builders took up the front path on Friday and laid fresh concrete. As soon as I saw it I leapt down and left five doggy prints. Then on Saturday they laid a new step. This time Mum said she was keeping an eye on me, and she lifted me over the wet concrete. But the builder went out when she wasn’t looking, I followed him and left my prints on the step as well - looks good, I think.

When I was in Devon we drove down lots of narrow country lanes with high hedges. Mum does not like these very much ‘cos you cannot see the other cars coming until the last minute. One day we came round a bend and found a bird standing in our path, and he did not move at all. We jumped out to see what was wrong and realised it was a young Sparrowhawk with an injury. Fine, but how can we help him? Mum said. Then a car came in the other direction and the man got out. He told us he was experienced in handling raptors, and he knew the local vet. He would take the bird there to get help. The man took his shirt off to wrap round the claws of the Sparrowhawk, but he could not go into town bare chested! so I donated one of my spare t-shirts to wrap the injured bird in. We were so relieved that the bird was going to be cared for. After my Dormouse Rescue adventure I am thinking of taking up full-time Animal Rescue work, do you think I would be good at it?

Mum and Nan went to see another new house yesterday. They sneaked out of the house while I was asleep, and when they came back Mum was full of stories about the beautiful Boxer Dog living in the house. Her name was Mabel, and she had a big kennel in the back garden, painted blue. When they left, the dog ran to the upstairs window and stood in the window frame watching them as they left. Mum thought the dog was lovely but now she has an idea for getting me a kennel. No way - I like my indoor comforts!

Here is another happy ending for a young orphaned fox.
‘A fox cub taken in by a rescue centre after being found beneath the body of his dead mother has got a new surrogate parent - a three-year-old mongrel dog. Twelve-week-old Tod - named after the cub who befriends a puppy in the Disney film The Fox and the Hound - was adopted by the British Wildlife Centre. Samantha Johnson, a worker at the centre, in Newchapel, Surrey, then took him to her home in nearby Lingfield. She said her dog Molly “just took to Tod and is now his surrogate mother”. “He follows her everywhere,” Ms Johnson added. “He’s very mischievous, he’s always chewing things and pouncing on people and biting your toes when you’re just sitting watching TV. He’s a right little monkey.” Ms Johnson will hand-rear Tod at her home for a few more months before he returns to the wildlife centre to grow up with the other foxes there. His mother died after becoming caught up in a fence in Brixton, south London, and he was found sheltering beside her by a gamekeeper. Tod’s experience has extended his life expectancy dramatically though, according to the wildlife centre, because as an urban fox he would probably not have survived beyond 18 months.’

Here is another story of a doggie mishap that ended happily. I think it is good that the Fire and Rescue services can help out when a pet is in danger.
‘A dog who got her head stuck in a pot had to be rescued by the fire service in Hampshire. The mishap occurred when Siberian husky, Scarlet, got her head stuck in a terracotta pot while playing in her garden in Church Road, Locks Heath. The 17-month-old popped her head inside the pot when a pebble dropped into it. Her worried owner called Hampshire fire service who sent an animal rescue specialist to remove the pot, returning Scarlet to her playful self. Anton Phillips, from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service’s rural safety team, said: “This was quite an unusual call. “The owner did a great job in keeping Scarlet as calm as possible before I got there. “As you can see, Scarlet was completely unharmed in the incident and was immediately back to her old self.”

Here is another doggie accident with a happy ending after a young Lakeland Terrier fell into a badger sett while walking on the moors. You can also see the film of his rescue here.

‘A mechanical digger was brought in to rescue a dog that had been trapped underground for a week in County Durham. Under the glare of arc lights, the machine shifted 10 tonnes of earth to create a series of trenches to find three-year-old Lakeland Terrier, Tyke. A firm supplied the equipment for the operation after being contacted by the dog’s owner Stephen Walling. Tyke had gone missing down a badger sett while being walked in Castleside, County Durham. The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 bans anyone from interfering with a sett and a licence needs to be granted. Satellite sett. Natural England spokesman Jim Milner said it granted the licence because it was a satellite badger sett, rather than the main one. He said: “In that situation there was a live dog down there which everyone knew was alive. “From the badger point of view the fact that it wasn’t a main sett meant that there was less risk to the badger. It was probably not a breeding sett.” He said an officer supervised the work and found no sign of current badger activity. The sett also had to be reinstated after the work. ‘Cry for help’ Mr Walling got in touch with Mechplant North East Ltd to ask them for help. When all the permissions were granted they moved on to the site on Wednesday afternoon with a 360 degree excavator. The company provided its services free of charge. Managing director Stephen Makinson said: “It was really a cry for help from the dog’s owner on Tuesday. “At first we were a bit hesitant because there were various bodies involved but once we were told all the people involved had given their permission we moved one of our machines there. “It’s certainly not what we usually do as a construction company. We don’t often get people saying can you come and rescue my dog. It has been good.”

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