At around the same time I had two further customers staying; a very friendly guinea pig called Oscar and a lion head rabbit called Dopey. Oscar was just the right size to go in my outdoor run and I would put him out first thing in the morning and bring him back in to his hutch every evening, so he spent all his days indulging in his favourite activity which was chomping on grass. Dopey was very unusual with a ruff of fur around his head resembling a lion’s mane. He was quite cheeky and loved running around the conservatory for his exercise and on days when it was too hot for him to go in there he was just as happy running around my bathroom. The only problem was that he was quite difficult to catch when play time was over, so I had to get quite skilled at ambushing him and it often took several attempts before I could convince this wily character that it was time to go home for his dinner.
One evening just as I was contemplating my latest strategy for capturing Dopey and returning him to his hutch I had a call from a lady who had been let down by someone who was supposed to have been looking after her two terriers while she went to a wedding. The wedding was the next morning and she was phoning around desperately trying to find someone at short notice to sit with her dogs. I told her I would not be able to get over to where she lived, but if she was able to bring her boys to me then I could look after them for the day. Duncan and Dudley duly arrived early the next morning along with their owner who was already wearing her wedding finery. Luckily the boys hadn't seen fit to cover their mum’s lovely smart outfit with hairs or muddy paws as she wouldn’t have had time to go back home to change!