MY HOME IS A CASTLE--the tale of how and why I became a chatelain , four times .This is my present home. If you are visiting for the first time you may care to read the older posts first.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

SPRING ARRIVES , AND AXLE GOES MISSING!

We survived our first winter at la Roche Hue without any other mishaps except perhaps for feeling the cold. Even though the Chateau had a reasonable central heating system , it could not compensate for the vast rooms with the very high ceilings. Fortunately Mum was very cosy as her apartment was on the lower ground floor with normal ceiling height and her rooms were standard size. Strangely enough though we soon seemed to adapt to our new temperature. When friends or family came to visit during those winter months they all walked around with about six woollies on! ( er-a bit of an exaggeration)! We later realised that none of us had gone down with the flu or even a cold, so the cooler atmosphere must be better for the health?




Soon Spring came streaming in , giving warmth and light again and came sparkling through to the bridal paths, spooking the horses! The work in the apartments was progressing more rapidly now which was fortunate as we had already received some bookings around the Easter period and beyond. We had decided to name all the 15 apartments after members of the family starting with ' Priscilla', my Mum's name.

The days were lengthening and three deer came to call and I just managed to get a picture of them:-



I began to notice a change in the behaviour of axle, our eldest doberman, who was nearly three years old. He seemed to be distant and constantly looking out towards the boundary of the parkland.



Then one day he went missing! We assumed he was in the woods , but it began to get dusk and Rocky was fretting, so we went out and combed the entire property calling him, but to no avail. It was not normal for either of the two dogs to disappear as they had been trained to stay in the grounds, which were mostly fenced or gated. It became dark so I phoned the local police, who seemed totally unconcerned and said that he had probably gone in search of a female dog. This did not help and I was beside myself because it just wasn't his nature to disappear, he was a home-loving dog.

Two agonising days went by, we put out all sorts of messages and toured around the roads in the car, just dreading to find a crumpled heap. On the third day I went out again with my daughter who was driving. We started to tour the whole neighbourhood slowly, with me hanging out of the ca window, calling Axle's name, because I knew that if he was lying hurt somewhere, or whatever, he would respond by barking if he was able. We were cruising slowly down a side road less than 1km from the Chateau, I was yelling his name, then stopping and waiting for a response, when, suddenly I heard him bark -- I knew it was definitely him-- we couldn't believe it! We kept on calling and following the sound of his barking. It led us up a drive into a courtyard of a farm and there in the middle was a pound with an assortment of dogs in it, including Axle!!! I banged on the door of the farm and a dishevelled man came out. I asked him why my dog was locked up in his pound, and he replied that it was his dog not mine!! My reaction is unprintable!! I threatened to call the gendarmes immediately, when suddenly, he unlocked the cage and thrust Axle towards us. The relief was enormous!

Apparently Axle had followed a female dogs' call which had led him to this pound , so the man had obviously decided to keep him and then perhaps re-sell him or breed him? I don't know to this day. The memory still riles me.

18 comments:

  1. oh i'm so glad you found him!! good job, bravo.

    what beautiful, lovely photos!!!

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  2. Ohhhh I'm angry just reading this!!!! Thank god you got him back. I love your stories! Filled with beautiful photos to illustrate and your wonderfully descriptive writing...but I want to know what you realy said to him, hahah!

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  3. I'm so glad this had a happy ending. It's terrible when pets go missing. What an awful man, hard to believe people can be so horrible when pets are involved.

    The pictures are lovely and what wonderful memories they must bring back.

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  4. Thanks goodness you found him! It must of been terrible to not know where he was.
    Being locked up like that, he could get home. Axle must of been so confused and sad. I'm glad it had a happy ending.

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  5. Thanks Maggie May, yes, I am too! He wasn't too keen on going AWOL after that experience.

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  6. It really was unprintable, Sandy, it wasn't the french version, but he understood when he saw the steam coming out of my ears!! I was so shocked and angry when he insisted Axle was HIS dog!

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  7. Anet: Axle was very quiet for days and sooooo glad to be back home, it did teach him a lesson, us too, we patched up the holes in the boundaries!

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  8. to Winifred, I cannot fathom people with natures like that, and they sometimes get away with their evil deeds- I am glad I persevered in my search, or we would have lost our dog forever, as it was he went on to live with us for another 11 years!

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  9. I guess this fellow knew a fine dog when he saw one.. too bad he was deceitful about the whole thing...

    maybe all the dogs in that fellows pound were dogs that were attracted to his female's scent... maybe this is how he made extra dollars.. that would be sad...

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  10. Do you know Gwen, that is what I thought at the time, how many people lost their pets at that time I wonder? I did consider reporting him, but at that time our french was minimal, and once we had recouped Axle we had no proof! So sadly,he got away with it.

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  11. Wow, what a story about Axle. Glad the man released him. Thank you so much for guessing what the squint shot is on The Ville. Since I wouldn't be able to treat you to an ice cream cone, I'll give you the answer. It is one of two water towers for our village, taken from at least two miles away, while parked in our high school parking lot. It reminds me of a huge, blue mushroom.

    Your blog is so interesting. I am going to start following it. How interesting your life has sounded. :) M

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  12. Thanks M and welcome to my blog, do you know I ( honestly) was going to put water tower, and then I thought NO go for something different. I shall go back right now and take another look!

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  13. i am glad your story ended well unlike ours with big black jack. i have been on those car rides myself and know how the heavy heart feels when a beloved pet goes missing. we now have an 'electronic' dog fence that prevents any more escapes from the farm. they have about 4 acres to run and they are very happy.

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  14. How can people be so uncaring and sleep at night!
    You were so persistent Delphine! Why doesn't that surprise me? You were renovating a chateau!

    You picture of the wood ... God light!

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  15. Welcome to my blog kritter keeper ( very apt name) and I recommend to any animal lover reading this to visit your wonderful blog. What a life you lead! Strangely enough we have just installed a similar fence on our property, after two of my large dogs got out and terrorised our neighbours chikens and geese. We trained them well and now they romp quite happily withing our boundaries.

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  16. Hi Cottage girl! I remembering taking that photo whilst walking the dogs - it would be about 18 years ago now. I spend hours going through all my boxes of photos, thank goodness we took loads otherwise my blog would be all chat with everything left to the imagination.

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  17. He may have been nasty, but he contributed to your wonderful story! Without a villain this would not have been nearly as good.

    But I can only say that knowing it turned out well, and Axle was safe and sound thanks to your perseverance! I picture this man in a black cape.

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  18. Ruth, I can only say that he looked scruffy, but otherwise normal, no black cape! :) My daughter and I felt quite " creepy" for a while after that episode, however we never came into contact with him again.

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