Our dog Camel

Over 250 years the English poet Christopher Smart wrote the poem For I will consider my cat Jeffrey.  Now we think constantly 'for we will consider our dog Camel', the new friend at 74 rue de la Brechette following Evie's sad death last autumn.  Her replacement is several times her size!!

Last week we went to Figeac, 3-4 hours' drive west of Lunel, to collect our new companion, a 10-year-old male dog called Camel.  He had lived for 4 years in the refuge in the remote hilltop locality Nayrac a couple of km outside Figeac on the river Lot.  The refuge is operated (since the late 80s) by  MASAQ, the Mouvement Associatif pour la Sauvegarde des Animaux du Quercy, a very caring and committed group which seems to be struggling to cope with demand - the 100+ dogs have to be housed, fed and walked by volunteers and they are completely full up on the cat side, and the refuge has shelter and some limited facilities, but little warmth or protection for the many animals in the woodland setting surrounded by rubbish processing plants at the end of a long winding dead end road.

Camel is a placid, friendly animal, underweight and in need of more walks and more food, carefully controlled to allow for his rather shrunken stomach, and now just starting to get used to our warm dry house!  He was chipped and checked by their vet before we could collect him and sign the adoption papers, and given a thorough check by our own vet the day after he arrived.  But if he seems bemused to find himself in our home it isn't surprising - he'll still be getting used to being warm.

Figeac itself is a really nice little town with a really lovely medieval centre which we explored despite the annoying closure of the Tourist Office for staff training!  But going to the Mairie instead to get a town plan was a bonus, because the young woman at the desk turned out to be a volunteer at the refuge and of course knew one of their longest-staying residents!  She and we were very glad to say hello before we went to find him.

Here is an album of photos of Camel in his first few days with us.