alleycat

I hope he will be safe in the same environment?  He is going to need such a lot of special care and really hope this lady will do the right thing by him poor little mite - I would have loved to have taken him in for a lovely life here with us.  Sadly, because of where we live, the poor greyhounds/lurchers/whippets etc., shown in your link Mimi, would be very difficult for us to keep in here and we are surrounded with hare in our fields and beyond!  Our fencing would not suffice!  We already have three rescued dogs but little Mambo would have been no extra bother at all.  I would like to be kept in mind should Mambo's adoption fall through.

Does he have a permanent home yet?  We would love to give him a very caring loving and experienced home with plenty of time to attend to his needs in the coming months - we are in the Aveyron in the middle of the countryside.

I think you should talk to Richard and Sheelagh at Phoenix Rescue - they have all sorts and have a lot of experience with re-settling dogs in different environments.  There are far too many good dogs of all ages and breeds needing homes desperately and I would no doubt make myself extremely unpopular by voicing my strong opinions on people who continue to breed and sell puppies in this throw away society that we now live in.  It's nothing short of criminal.  Give a dog a second chance at life and enable your son to be doubly proud of his pet because of it.

Any chance that someone knows of an English speaking Avocat in Rodez area please?  With regard to a previous posting on helping a friend with bankruptcy - my French isn't bad but when it comes to the intricacies of law (in any language) I would rather not get it wrong at any given point.

The dogs are the only thing that has kept her going throughout this ordeal, but for them she would have fled and landed goodness knows where.  They don't eat vast amounts and to be frank I have helped as we buy our dog food in bulk and it's a small thing to be able to do.  I hear what you are saying, but she will get through this and I for one couldn't see her dogs dumped in a home or worse!  What she needs to feed them qhite honestly isn't going to make the least bit of difference to her circumstances except perhaps keep her sane!

You can also pay on-line!  Even easier - www.impots.gouv.fr

Cerise - thank you so much for that - exactly what I was looking for!  We can start the ball rolling tomorrow and yes I will be helping her all the way!  Thanks also to the previous posting - much simpler than the stuff I was trying to wade through earlier.  I am sure we can begin to sort something out and ease the burden for this poor woman - it cost her a lot just to have to lay bare her soul on all this mess and admit she needed help!  Thanks to all.

I tried to wade through both links very kindly given - thank you.  I am left no wiser as to where to start - in simple terms that is.  Where does our friend go to begin with, I mean for instance, during the coming week?  Bailifs have been to the house several times and taken what cash she had and she is now reliant on us more or less completely.  But for her two dogs, who don't have passports, she would lock up the house, give the bank the key and run...... but she won't leave her beloved dogs.  She has a French friend who says they can help her make some 'phone calls but I'm dubious as to whether this friend really knows what to do or where to start either and can very likely just make more of a muddle.  It's so very worrying.  Obviously, from what I read this must all go to court so therefore should she be seeing her local Notaire for starters?

Can anyone advise on the laws that govern bankruptcy here in France.  We have an English friend who is struggling to keep her neck above water after her partner cleaned her out and left her with debts she can no longer continue to service - these include mortgage, bank loan and taxes!  She has kept going for a year or more but now sees the gap widening and her health is beginning to suffer.  She is effectively insolvent and doesn't know which way to turn - is bankruptcy an option does anyone know?  We have no experience to be able to advise her but want to help in any way we can, so here's hoping someone out there can throw some light on this.  Her accountants refuse to talk to her because she hasn't been able to pay their bill.........

Thanks for that Panda.  Sounds like it's an expensive business - unreasonable I think given the amount of work they actually do.........  My friend is changing because his previous accounts firm have made a huge mess of things (and they are a leading international company supposedly, widely advertised here in France) and landed him in hot water with the tax man.  Do you think they take the p**s because we are Brits I wonder?

Can anyone shed some light on approximately how much you would expect to pay an accountant in France to handle the business accounts for a registered builder with one emplyee?  A friend has just been quoted €3000 a year.  He gathers all his documents/invoices/bank statements etc together monthly and the accountant does the rest.  Seems pretty steep, should he be looking for another quote?  He was previously with another large international company, very prominent here in France, who charged him €450 every two months.  Would just like to know if others on here find this reasonable or otherwise.  Thanks.

I have to add that I'm not phased by critters and happily have them alongside us as long as they don't create problems for our domestic animals and fowl - I do draw the line at rats however as I onced moved into a large old victorian house in Kent that was inhabited by rats running up cavity walls from the cellars and the under the floorbaords and it was a nightmare!  I was recovering from a major op at the time and confined to bed listening to these things and on a couple of occasions actually spied these large grey things with horrid fat tails running along the skirtingboard in my bedroom!  We called the council and the rat catcher took three weeks to deal with the problem - we then had the most appalling smell of rotting bodies under floorboards and it turned out these blighters we actually living outside in a large grass bank in the garden!  They took the bait in the house but to actually get the whole colony they had to flood the bank in the garden by sticking hose pipes in as many holes as they could find and leaving them running............  it was a nightmare and I have never been able to deal with rats ever since!  Sorry - am I going on here?  Just brings it all back when I think we might have them to deal with here....UGH!

When I said we don't have rats - well not the usual kind as mentioned by JohnRoss as per in the UK.  However we have seen (fleetingly) brown things that disappear down holes in the veggie plot and around piles of stones that were dug out from when we put the septic tank in.  They are as large as small guinea pigs but I wasn't able to catch sight of tails as they were too quick (see three in all).  I read in my poultry book that if you see rats in daylight hours then you have a thumping big colony somewhere which put the fear of God in me!??  Our cats haunt the spot where the stones are so I do worry a little - we can't begin to move the stone pile without some heavy digging machine and we're not ready to shift it yet anyway - any ideas how I can find out if there's a problem brewing in there and if so what can I do?

Thanks for that Nick - he has been to the bank and the high street but a specialist company was what I was after -THANKYOU!  After we have quotes from all three we will have done our homework and will have to bite the bullet.  Many thanks.

I apologise to BJSLIV if I appeared 'shirty' - certainly wasn't my intention but if I came across as being so, then I'm sorry - not that kind of person actually and have never been accused of being such before.  I was told that the DO was the insurance I was trying to ask about - but clearly I was wrong.  I stand corrected but am still confused and actually nobody has yet give me any pointers as to how much the quotes might be and if there are indeed any insurance companies that specialise - so if you guys out there know all about this particular insurance do you have that information per chance?

You made me smile JohnRoss and I do understand what you are saying but we're a little barking over here!  We hear them dancing about sometimes it's true but as yet there isn't a dancing troupe to keep us awake and watching swinging through the trees outside our bedroom window is something we enjoy.  Unlike mice and rats they don't produce multiple amounts of offspring so we're not that concerned about the four or five we may possibly still have around - we have lots of large owls in our trees also - ouch to loirs!  Having said that we were soppy enough to allow a couple of very sweet field mice (long long tails and big ears - cute) to spend the cold winter months with us....... like I said we're barking.  However 2 mice became four mice (friends invited back we think) and so we had to assist them to move on and set up home elsewhere seeing as the weather was much more clement!  Rats we cannot afford to have at any price and so far have not been bothered despite having hens.  Clearly you have homing mice which was a fun story!  Thank you.

Right, we seem to be on the same page now.  Certainly I'm sure lots of people don't bother, but our friend really doesn't want to fall foul of any potentially expensive and complicated snags should they arise for whatever reason - he's keen to be properly set up with no room for unhappy mistakes for lack of being on the ball.  He is well aware that this insurance will very likely not be either needed or in most events, difficult to claim on - he's inclined to think it's a complete waste of time and a large amount of money he's not overly pleased to be parting with right now!  The insurance company in question is quite happy to cover him and provide him with the 'certificate' to show clients before starting a job etc., but he's just looking to bring the premium down a little if he can - 2650 euros took his breath away a bit!

How can this be a one off cost?  I am requesting information on behalf of a friend who is an experienced long standing builder by trade and before he can work here in France he is told that he MUST have this insurance to safeguard all his clients and the work he carries out.  So, unless I have it wrong here, I assume he will have to maintain this insurance for as long as he works on properties and projects for people?  It's specific to the building work he does and covers the clients for 10 years - bit like our NHBC cover I guess?

Does anyone know if there are specialised insurance companies that deal with this kind of obligatory insurance for builders?  I have just been given a quote that seems pretty steep to me (2,650 euros annually and extra 54 euros if you pay monthly!) and would like to get other quotes to compare.  My quote is from a well known insurance company so I expected it to be top wack but a more specialised buildings insurance company perhaps, might be more sensible?  Any information or assistance on this would be very welcome - thanks.

Patf - I am inclined to think that your much loved dog would much prefer to have your love, care and company and a small back yard with walks than to suffer the confusion of losing you!

Brent & Lisa  - Actually, I think you will find that the subject of Brits dumping their dogs was not , in fact, referring to your plight!  Read the thread again.  It was praising some folks who had stepped in to rescue some people who left it until the day before they travelled to check their animals' passports?  I am the instigator of this thread and have based it on correct information provided by people who are at the heart of this soul destroying business of rescuing dogs left behind and abandoned for a variety of reasons.  I read you plea for a home for your dogs and you at least are trying to find a way to provide for your dog's future for which I give you due credit, especially if, as you say, you won't just dump him on anyone.  Don't think I don't understand (because actually I really do!) and again, I think I was careful to mention in my post that there are indeed some very genuine people who are left with no choices and they are generally not the ones that dump their dogs.  I am very sorry to hear of your circumstances and fervently hope you and your family will manage to overcome your present problems soon.  Please try and contact Phoenix Animal Rescue in the Dordogne - it is run by an English couple Sheelagh and Richard who have a network of foster people who do an absolutely brilliant job.  That is who we got our dogs from and they really do their best to home dogs with good people.  Here is their telephone number - 05 53 54 94 81 and their email  address - [email protected].  I hope they can help and I wish you well.

Newcomer - the German Shepherd was taken back by her owner and one can only hope that he will take more care of her after my friend advised him strongly to have her micro chipped and either spayed or at least kept in whilst in season!

A friend of mine found a stray dog last week and because she already has two rescued of her own and a small house she knew she couldn't take on another so she set about finding the owner at the same time as trying to find a place to settle it in the meantime.  The local SPA was full to busting and turned her away (they complained about French as well as English giving their dogs up for lack of funds!) so she searched further afield and came across an English lady in the next department who runs a rescue place for dogs and she said that since January she has had 21 dogs and armfuls of cats from Brits leaving who couldn't be bothered to organise passports!  She was still getting frantic calls from such people with all sorts of excuses why they couldn't take their pets back to the UK and needed to leave them behind.  Our friends at Phoenix recounted stories of Brits who simply left their dogs on the property and took off - neighbours found them!  These are not just the odd cases here and there and several other rescue places who reported the same thing.  My friend did manage to track down the owner of this dog (she was a young pure bred German Shepherd in season, not chipped, no collar and running scared!) and give him a piece of her mind, but in that week she was unable to find anywhere that would help the dog or her because of overloaded kennels with unwanted recently thrown out dogs.  It's just awful.  I wish I had the cash to set up a holding kennels for people who don't get their act together with pet passports in time and do the paperwork for them (it's not rocket science, I've done it) and hang on to the dogs till they are ready for return.  But I lay bets it wouldn't help as most of these people just don;t want the expense or responsibility - fact!

Can our someone tell me what we do when we find a hibernating loir?  There wonderful creatures, which we seem to have in abundance and enjoy watching in the summer, seem to hibernate within the thick walls of our buildings and recently we have come across several whilst beginning to take down walls as part of renovations to our farmhouse.  We feel quite upset when we suddenly have them tumble from their little nooks and crannies, still fast asleep.....  We have been carefully putting them into boxes filled with straw in one of the barns (still cold temperatures in the hope that they will not wake) but so far all of them seem to be gone when we go back and check them.  Are we doing the wrong thing - is there a better way to re-accommodate them?  We can't stop work till hibernation time ends as we are already way behind with this year's targets for making the house a decent habitation by next winter - i.e. more than two rooms!!  We love the little creatures and want them to live here safely and carry on their families.

Sarros/Sarah - what a splendid thing you did stepping in to rescue the two doggies - well done!  It makes my blood boil reading about all the Brits that are piling back to the UK and just leaving their dogs behind hoping others will step into the breach or abandoning them to uncertain futures in a country that doesn' t exactly have a brilliant record for caring for unwanted dogs!  It's inconceivable to me how they can do it with such disregard for these poor creatures.  I know that some people have genuine reasons and it's a real shame (though I DO question how life back in dear old Blighty right now could be better than finding a way to stick it out here given all we read in the press...??) and I believe there will be those who genuinely care what happens to their animals and think ahead and do their best to make arrangements.  But how the devil do you get to the day before you leave and not check the dogs' passports? Other stories/pathetic excuses mostly,  you read, equally beggar belief and it makes us no better than the people we dare to be critical about here in this country.  I thought we were better than that and I think people should think very very hard about taking on these poor dogs who already have had a bad time in most cases and then just dumping them.  We have three rescued dogs and life isn't always easy but if ever it came to the crunch, our dogs are family and respected for the joy they bring us and the part they play in our lives - where we go, they go too no matter how inconvenient or difficult, there is always a way........... would be like leaving the kids for heaven sake, only worse as the dogs can't speak! Grrrr from the Aveyron!  Get a grip you miserable Brits and be loyal to your pets!!