It's spring! And everything is springing around here, plants are springing out of the ground, calves are springing around their mothers and Henry is springing everywhere.
The best thing about spring is that the garden dries up a bit and the dogs can run around outside without getting completely covered in mud which inveriably ends up in the living room.
This morning I got up first and let the dogs out into the garden and went out there to sit on the bench with a cup of tea. Molly joined me by climbing up on to the bench and we watched Henry and Badger play fighting all around the garden.
It was really nice, the sun was shining and the dogs were happy and barking and running about. Everybody was happy.
Then out of the upstairs window comes a loud bellow.
Other Half, trying to have a lay in is completely offended by the barking and happiness in the garden.
It's not that early, just half past nine for goodness sake!
I try to quieten the dogs down even though I don't really think they are being that bad, they were only playing after all. But it's not enough, grumpy in the roof decides they should all be silent so we all come in, Badger goes in his cage, Molly on her bed and Hen lays in the living room doorway rolling his eyes in disgust as he watches me read the blogs of the day.
Then Other Half gets up. What does he do? Comes downstairs and lets the dogs out into the garden and watches them bombing about and barking while expressing that it's a lovely spring day and how nice it is outside in the garden.
I give up.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
Thursday, 16 April 2009
Trampolining Hound
I know I have no photographic evidence but Henry has decided to take up trampolining.
Even I can't quite beleive it. At regular intervals during the week he does a bit of mad running around the garden, this involves taking in as many obsticles as possible and jumping or running under them. Fergus did a very similar thing so I can only assume this is a Saluki thing. Anyway, lately Henry has been jumping onto the trampoline and then on to the wall at the end of the garden, trotting very quickly along the wall, down into the vegetable patch and springing out over the wall of the veg patch onto the lawn to continue the mad running.
This week though he has always stopped on the trampoline and sort of bounced about on it, no wall or veg patch just the trampoline. It's really mad.
Then in the sun the other day I decided to sit on the trampoline and was instantly joined by Henry who proceeded to bounce about and play bite me while barking. It's very funny and I don't understand why he is doing it but he seems to love the bouncing. He even jumps on when my stepson jumps up and down on it which causes much hilarity.
I'll do my best to get a photo, if I can catch Henry in the act.
Even I can't quite beleive it. At regular intervals during the week he does a bit of mad running around the garden, this involves taking in as many obsticles as possible and jumping or running under them. Fergus did a very similar thing so I can only assume this is a Saluki thing. Anyway, lately Henry has been jumping onto the trampoline and then on to the wall at the end of the garden, trotting very quickly along the wall, down into the vegetable patch and springing out over the wall of the veg patch onto the lawn to continue the mad running.
This week though he has always stopped on the trampoline and sort of bounced about on it, no wall or veg patch just the trampoline. It's really mad.
Then in the sun the other day I decided to sit on the trampoline and was instantly joined by Henry who proceeded to bounce about and play bite me while barking. It's very funny and I don't understand why he is doing it but he seems to love the bouncing. He even jumps on when my stepson jumps up and down on it which causes much hilarity.
I'll do my best to get a photo, if I can catch Henry in the act.
Visiting Part2
Sorry I'm a bit behind with my blogging, life has sped up a little thanks to the weather at last allowing me to get out into the garden and finally start the jobs that should have been done at the begining of spring - it is I suppose technically the begining of spring here but it feels like we should be half way to summer....
Anyway, the dogs and me had such a great time in Kent. The difference in the weather down there was amazing, it was mid summer own there compared to Scotland and the dogs spent as much time as possible basking in the sunshine, Molly has been down several times now and always makes a beeline for the lawn and lays in front of Mum and Dad's caravan enjoying the reflective rays until she is so hot she can't move.
Badger didn't really understand the heat. He was born in the middle of September and has only known the winter so he spent quite allot of time underneath the caravan in the shade. Henry decided that life was too short to lay around and spent many hours springing around the garden, leaping over bushes, ducking at high speed under apple trees and perfecting hurdling over the carefully erected fence around my Dad's newly sewn vegegables.
Henry also decided that he'd get all the other dogs in the neighbourhood going several times a day, every day. He would stand in the middle of the garden and bark. Then bark again. And again until he got a reply. This then got other dogs in other gardens barking until every dog around and beyond ws barking and Henry would come into the kitchen looking very proud of his work. Strangley the whippet cross we had when I was a child used to do exactly the same thing!
We did have a bit of a stress. Badger decided suddenly to attack any moving vehicle along the road while we were out walking. Oddly enough the first time this happened I was telling my Mum about Badger's brother who does the same thing along the lane to the farm when Badger suddenly swung out at a van, very nearly pulling Dad into the road at the same time. We all laughed at this as it was quite a funny coincidence but after it had happened several times in a few hundred yards we realised it was a potentially fatal pastime so I had to spend quite a bit of time walking Bader up and down the road trying to calm him down whilst he did his mad Collie stare at every oncoming vehicle and lurched out to kill it as it passed.
I managed to get him sorted out after several attempts but then it was time to come home so I'll have to take him to a town to see if it worked or not.
All too soon our visit was over and I had the long haul back home, I tried very hard to bring the sunshine with me but unfortunately it didn't want to come until this week. However I did manage not to give in and visit the shopping mecca Bluewater or Lakeside and so came back to Scotland with nothing but homemade sandwiches and cake from Mum for the journey - a financial miracle!
Anyway, the dogs and me had such a great time in Kent. The difference in the weather down there was amazing, it was mid summer own there compared to Scotland and the dogs spent as much time as possible basking in the sunshine, Molly has been down several times now and always makes a beeline for the lawn and lays in front of Mum and Dad's caravan enjoying the reflective rays until she is so hot she can't move.
Badger didn't really understand the heat. He was born in the middle of September and has only known the winter so he spent quite allot of time underneath the caravan in the shade. Henry decided that life was too short to lay around and spent many hours springing around the garden, leaping over bushes, ducking at high speed under apple trees and perfecting hurdling over the carefully erected fence around my Dad's newly sewn vegegables.
Henry also decided that he'd get all the other dogs in the neighbourhood going several times a day, every day. He would stand in the middle of the garden and bark. Then bark again. And again until he got a reply. This then got other dogs in other gardens barking until every dog around and beyond ws barking and Henry would come into the kitchen looking very proud of his work. Strangley the whippet cross we had when I was a child used to do exactly the same thing!
We did have a bit of a stress. Badger decided suddenly to attack any moving vehicle along the road while we were out walking. Oddly enough the first time this happened I was telling my Mum about Badger's brother who does the same thing along the lane to the farm when Badger suddenly swung out at a van, very nearly pulling Dad into the road at the same time. We all laughed at this as it was quite a funny coincidence but after it had happened several times in a few hundred yards we realised it was a potentially fatal pastime so I had to spend quite a bit of time walking Bader up and down the road trying to calm him down whilst he did his mad Collie stare at every oncoming vehicle and lurched out to kill it as it passed.
I managed to get him sorted out after several attempts but then it was time to come home so I'll have to take him to a town to see if it worked or not.
All too soon our visit was over and I had the long haul back home, I tried very hard to bring the sunshine with me but unfortunately it didn't want to come until this week. However I did manage not to give in and visit the shopping mecca Bluewater or Lakeside and so came back to Scotland with nothing but homemade sandwiches and cake from Mum for the journey - a financial miracle!
Thursday, 9 April 2009
Visiting
Last week the dogs and me went all the way down to Kent in England to visit my parents. At first I thought it would be best to just take Henry with me. As he is my boy I like spending time with him alone, going for walks or even just a drive in the car, but as preperations started Molly started tugging at my heart strings and then I was starting to feel bad about leaving Badger on his own if I took her with me.
So I called my Mum and warned her that I might possibly be arriving with three dogs....I got my Dad as Mum was out and he was very enthusiastic about it so off we went.
The first hurdle was to get Badgers cage in the jeep, Molly and Henry would travel in the boot where there is a proper dog guard but as they all like to spring out when I open the tail gate I decided that Badger should travel in his cage in the middle of the jeep so I could have some control over getting them all in and out for wee stops.
It's not easy getting a cage in the middle of a jeep but I managed it eventually then I packed up the jeep with everything else and off we went.
The second hurdle was getting Molly and Badger along the first few miles of twisty turney roads to the motorway without them being sick. It was very early in the morning and I think I caught them on the hop as neither of them threw up, thank goodness.
This was the first long trip Badger had been on so to begin with he sat in his cage and whined while looking curiously and Henry and Molly who as soon as we got on the motorway laid down and went to sleep. After a while though Badge lay down but kept an eye open just in case.
The journey down was great, no traffic ques or anything and about half way down I turned round to check the dogs and noticed that Badger has an unusual travelling position, upside down!
He was laying in his cage completely upside down with his legs in the air! It was so funny! I tried to take a picture with my phone but I couldn't manage it while driving along and every time I stopped he turned over. Goodness knows what lorry drivers and people in buses and coaches much have thought!
Stopping in the services for the dogs to wee wa interesting, Molly and Henry know the routine well, they know it's not a walk so they do what they have to do and then we go back to the car. Badger on the other hand thought it all a big adventure and couldn't help running up to every person he saw and giving them a rapturous greeting. It took me a moment to realise that he never actually sees people apart from us and the people on the farm so it must have been big stuff for him.
Once we arrived my Dad helped me get the dogs out of the car and he absolutely loved Badger. Henry and Molly knew where they were and settled in straight away by inspecting every inch of the garden and starting to play. Badger was in his element, licking and wagging his tail and smiling with his choppy mouth.
Then we all went out into the garden and the dogs entertained us with a mad running game all around the flower and vegetable beds. Dad had made a sort of criss cross fence around some seedlings in order to keep Henry off but he ended up using the fence as a hurdle, luckily the fence went right round that bed and Henry has a long span of jumping!
We then went into the kitchen where Mum was making the dinner and the dogs did that thing of laying all over the kitchen floor just where you tread. Mum is very experienced in dog hopping and went about making the dinner stepping in and out of legs and over bodies as if they were there all the time. She also threw the odd bit of meat every now and then where it would land in the mouth of whichever dog it was aimed at without the dog having to get up.
It was true doggie heaven, very relaxed and laid back and we spent the rest of the evening talking about dogs, drinking wine and laughing.
So I called my Mum and warned her that I might possibly be arriving with three dogs....I got my Dad as Mum was out and he was very enthusiastic about it so off we went.
The first hurdle was to get Badgers cage in the jeep, Molly and Henry would travel in the boot where there is a proper dog guard but as they all like to spring out when I open the tail gate I decided that Badger should travel in his cage in the middle of the jeep so I could have some control over getting them all in and out for wee stops.
It's not easy getting a cage in the middle of a jeep but I managed it eventually then I packed up the jeep with everything else and off we went.
The second hurdle was getting Molly and Badger along the first few miles of twisty turney roads to the motorway without them being sick. It was very early in the morning and I think I caught them on the hop as neither of them threw up, thank goodness.
This was the first long trip Badger had been on so to begin with he sat in his cage and whined while looking curiously and Henry and Molly who as soon as we got on the motorway laid down and went to sleep. After a while though Badge lay down but kept an eye open just in case.
The journey down was great, no traffic ques or anything and about half way down I turned round to check the dogs and noticed that Badger has an unusual travelling position, upside down!
He was laying in his cage completely upside down with his legs in the air! It was so funny! I tried to take a picture with my phone but I couldn't manage it while driving along and every time I stopped he turned over. Goodness knows what lorry drivers and people in buses and coaches much have thought!
Stopping in the services for the dogs to wee wa interesting, Molly and Henry know the routine well, they know it's not a walk so they do what they have to do and then we go back to the car. Badger on the other hand thought it all a big adventure and couldn't help running up to every person he saw and giving them a rapturous greeting. It took me a moment to realise that he never actually sees people apart from us and the people on the farm so it must have been big stuff for him.
Once we arrived my Dad helped me get the dogs out of the car and he absolutely loved Badger. Henry and Molly knew where they were and settled in straight away by inspecting every inch of the garden and starting to play. Badger was in his element, licking and wagging his tail and smiling with his choppy mouth.
Then we all went out into the garden and the dogs entertained us with a mad running game all around the flower and vegetable beds. Dad had made a sort of criss cross fence around some seedlings in order to keep Henry off but he ended up using the fence as a hurdle, luckily the fence went right round that bed and Henry has a long span of jumping!
We then went into the kitchen where Mum was making the dinner and the dogs did that thing of laying all over the kitchen floor just where you tread. Mum is very experienced in dog hopping and went about making the dinner stepping in and out of legs and over bodies as if they were there all the time. She also threw the odd bit of meat every now and then where it would land in the mouth of whichever dog it was aimed at without the dog having to get up.
It was true doggie heaven, very relaxed and laid back and we spent the rest of the evening talking about dogs, drinking wine and laughing.
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