In which Bertie wins at hide and seek. By Bessie

Today we went out with the pack.   We got up nice and early and Mummy made bacon and hash brown rolls for breakfast and chicken and cheese rolls for lunch while Daddy got the car ready for us.  When it was time to get in the car Daddy couldn't find his keys even though him only had them a minute ago.  So we all looked for the keys but they was nowhere to be found and we really needed to go or we were going to be late so Daddy got his spare set and off we went.

It was the same walk we did last May so we thought we knew where we was going.  We drove to the place where the walk started last time and we waited.  And then Mr Guy, Alice, Jessica and Maude came so we got out the car to talk to them.  And then it got to twenty past and we thought where is everybody?  Some people walked past and we asked them if they seen any more dogs like us.  "Oh yes," they says, "there's loads down there."  So we thinks we ought to walk back and meet the rest of the pack so we did.  It took ages to walk down cos we was parked so far away.   Everybody else was parked in a completely different place (which by the way wasn't anywhere near as good a place to park as where we was but ho hum).

Then we give everybody an invitation to the basset rescue christmas party and we set off on our walk.   By the time we got back to the monument by our car we realised there was two dogs missing, Bertie and Flash.  Then Miss Diane got a call to say Bertie was found but Flash still missing.  So Miss Louise and Jordan went back to see the lady who apparently had Bertie.   Mummy said me and Carly and her would go and help find Flash.  So we followed Miss Louise and Jordan but they was running so we lost them. We went back into the woods and tried to retrace our steps until we found a lady who had been on the walk with us but had got left behind.  We felt terrible cos we not know if anybody even knew she was left behind. So we showed her how to get back to everybody else and then we went off into the woods.  Then Brian and his humans catched us up and say they would help look for Flash.  Then we heard a voice and it was Miss Louise.  She went looking but she couldn't find the lady with Bertie.  Her was not where she was sposed to be.  Jordan had run into the woods to look for everybody but now we had lost him too.   Then someone phoned and said the lady now had Bertie on a lead and Flash had run off back to the cars and she was coming back with Jordan.  So we went back the way we come and we seen Mr Ryan coming towards us so we all went back.  Then Tom phoned to ask where we was cos the rest of the pack was carrying on the walk.  We say it ok, all the dogs has been found and we is on our way back.   So them say they wouldn't walk with everybody, they would come and meet us.  So we went back to the path.  But when we got there Jordan was with Daddy, Tom and Bryn and he said he hadn't seen the lady with Bertie or Flash.   So we all started looking again.  We decided the best thing was to go back to the cars in the hope that both the dogs, and this lady whoever she is, made it back there.  So Daddy said he would move our car so it was with all the others, so he went back to get the car and we walked down to the other car park.   When we got there Miss Sam and Mr Dave were there with all the children but Bertie, Flash and the lady weren't.  Then the lady who had got lost in the woods came and described the dog she saw with the lady and we was convinced it was Bertie.  So we said we would go and look for Flash then if we know Bertie is safe.  So we all went back into the woods to look for Flash and Mr Dave drove up the lane to see if he could see anybody.  Then he came back and said he saw a basset running across the road but it was going too fast.  So Daddy went with Mr Dave so if they saw it again he could jump out and try and call it.   In the meantime the rest of us were walking round the woods calling Bertie and Flash.

Then someone shouts up the lane that they have Bertie but Flash is still missing.    So we say we will look, then suddenly Flash is back too.  We never did find out where the dogs had been and which dog, if any, this lady had found cos by the time we got back to the cars she had gone home.

Then the humans ate their lunch and we all had some snossijs and then we went off for the second half of the walk.  Bertie had to stay on his lead this time after disgracing himself.   We was having a lovely walk too until we was 300 yards from the end when Mr Wayne shouts "Come back, we've lost another one!"   Narla had gone missing this time.  So we all walked back shouting her name and us dogs were all barking and howling to attract her attention but we waited for ages and we were all in the woods looking but we couldn't find her anywhere.  So her mum said we should go back to the cars and hope she has run back there.  So we started walking back and then suddenly Lotty ran off into the woods.  Bryn and Daddy raced after her but her was so fast she was really far in seconds, then Bryn managed to corner her against a fence but she didn't want to be caught.  She had the scent of something and she wanted to be off.  Bryn had to throw himself on top of her to stop her running off.  So then Lotty had to stay on her lead.

When we got back to the cars most people decided to stay behind and help search for Narla.  We was all standing round deciding where to start when Mr Guy and one of Narla's humans come walking down the path with Narla on her lead.  We was all so happy and relieved.   Then we all did huggies and kissies and we got back in our cars and went home.  We was so tired after all the excitement we slept all the way home.  Luckily Daddy stayed awake so he could drive the car.  There was a massive queue at the toll and it took ages to get back into Wales.  Then we picked Katie up from her friends, came home and had baffs (grrr) and our tea (yummy) and slept most of the evening.

At bedtime Mummy went to lock the back door but the key was missing.  She asked Daddy where it was and he had a look then announced that someone must have snuck in and took the key.  "Oh that reminds me," said Mummy, "Did you find your car keys yet?"    "Yes," admitted Daddy, "They were in my other coat pocket."   Then he went upstairs and the back door keys were in his coat pocket too.

Ooh I almost forgot, we arranged another adoption this week.    Someone in Lancashire needed to rehome their basset so we advertised him on our facebum page and we rehomed him.  He went to his new family today and he's already settled in.