Shelley the Lifeboat Labrador by John Periam Read Free Book Online

is a little muddy – my wife heard some noise in the back garden and we found him in the pond having the time of his life.” I apologised and was greeted by a muddy dishevelled Shelley. No way could I take her back into my aunt’s bungalow so I removed some towels from the boot of my car dried her off and she spent the night in the garage.                                                                                         
     
    Next day after a typical Lincolnshire breakfast (The sausages were great and from the local butcher) I made my way to RAF Coningsby where I watched the RAF Phantoms take off meeting up with one of my pilot friends Barry Titchen before going to see my cousin Basil and his wife Anne in Boston.
     
    It was just what I needed a nice drive round and to see some family and a couple of close friends before I drove back home to try and sort my career out.
     
    Once home I got in touch with one of the well established medical agencies in London and before I knew it I had been offered a job based in Sussex near Worthing selling surgical equipment in Kent Sussex and Surrey.
     
    I had a call from an old friend of mine Stewart Collins whom I knew in Hythe and he was now a teacher in Nottingham.  He wondered if I would like to go to the Lake District with him for a few days to do some fell walking and camp out.
     
    What an ideal opportunity, the weather was fine and he was great company and liked jazz as well as a pint of real ale.  My only concern was that he was a lot fitter than me and was used to walking and cycling.
     
    I picked him up in Nottingham and we drove to a camp site near Keswick. I had not told him about bringing Shelley; however after a while he came round to the idea of sharing the small tent with us both.
     
    On our first day we seemed to walk for miles getting high onto the fells often above the clouds.  A lot of the time Shelley was off the lead but when things became a little difficult I put her back on.  She was very good and did not pull. When we got back we walked to the local pub.  We had a meal whilst listening to folk music.  Shelley slept by out feet all the time not even moving for a packet of crisps whilst I did not know I had so many muscles in my legs and back.
     
    Next day it was decided we would go across some of the lower fells and aim for a nice village Stewart knew for some lunch.  We followed a shallow stream, up through a valley walking along the path beside it.  I picked a stick up and threw it into the stream and Shelley ran in after it.  Suddenly there was a terrible yelp and the water turned a bright red.  I rushed in to find she had trodden on a broken bottle and cut her pad open. It was deep and we tried to stem the flow of blood.  I was pleased in a way that we had not gone higher and that there was a village in the distance.
     
    We wrapped her paw in handkerchiefs and put a small plastic bag over it securing it with some string taking turns to carry her back to the village. We were lucky as there was a vet nearby.  It was a very deep cut, she said, and was not easy to stitch being a pad.  After an antibiotic injection her paw was well bandaged and we left with her walking on three legs with her injured one in the air.                                                                                                   
     
    There was little point in going back home that afternoon as it was a long way to go so we visited a few local pubs with Shelley making the most of her injury  resulting in a few packets of crisps.
     
    I dropped Stewart in Nottingham returning to Eaton Socon.  That evening Shelley became very distressed and I could see she had a temperature.  First thing in the morning I took her to a local vet and he confirmed she had picked up an