Carlo

What an adorable little dog. Owned by my son and partner's landlady he is a long haired dachshund and has the most expressive face which I really wanted to try and paint. And they felt it would be a good way to say thank you for all the help Sylvia and Theo have given them.

I took some photos while we were there in June and this was taken while he was hiding under the table, so I realised when we saw him last week, that the photo was a touch greyer than him but they seemed nevertheless very pleased with the final result.

And this is the painting

Please Help find Archie

I write this blog with a very heavy heart. What should have been a happy post has sadly turned into a living nightmare but I am posting in the hope that it will be further publicity for our plight.

You may or may not know that my son, partner and granddog Archie moved to Basel in Switzerland in the Spring an we were fortunate enough to visit in June where I celebrated my birthday and we made the acquaintance of their landlord, landlady and lovely dog Carlo, a long haired dachshund.

I took photos of Carlo with a view to painting him as a gift for my son to give their landlords as a small thank you for how good, helpful and welcoming they have been. Their properties are all within a courtyard and they have involved Mark and Steph in many social gatherings and have helped them integrate into life in Switzerland. I will post the painting of Carlo another time but for now there is another reason for this post

Mark and Steph came home last weekend for two weddings. We attended the first on Saturday which was a beautiful occasion in the Trough of Bowland and they were due to travel South for the second wedding on Thursday when they received a phone call on Monday to say Archie had gone missing from the doggy minders (friends of Mark and Steph's) in Basel last Friday evening (31st July), one minute he was on the sofa, the next minute he was gone and having contacted all the relevant people (agencies, police, vets etc etc) and produced posters and advertised on the internet they phoned to let my son and partner know. Obviously we were all distraught and the only plan was for them to catch the first flight back to Switzerland yesterday and continue with the search.

This is Archie

As you can imagine we are all worried sick as he has now been missing for 4 days and though we know he can survive without food for that long and we know he will have access to water as there are many rivers and streams around the area he will be very frightened and will be frantically trying to find them. We are hoping and praying he is still alive and will eventually be found and reunited with them.

Obviously we cannot rule out the possibility that someone has stolen him and I am posting this blog in the hope that everyone who reads may somehow share with anyone and everyone in the hope that someone has seen him and will call Mark or Steph on +41(0)762973605 or +41(0)795014583.