Today I nipped out and bought Henry yet another new bed. This is the fourth new bed in two months that I've invested in. I say invested because the last time I bought dog beds was 1994, a very sound investment indeed as they lasted until 2010, right up until Henry decided to embark on his dog bed chewing phase at the age of about three or possibly four. The first one was chewed not long after we lost Badger, I put that one down to poor Henry missing his friend. The second one went not long after, I put that down to the same problem.
Then we had a lull, no chewing, nothing. Then he started chewing his cage - yes poor Henry in a cage, in a rented house we had no option. So the cage has somebent bits on it, but he does seem to have stopped that now after we realised the cage was right next to the cupboard containing the dog food......not sure how we didn't spot that sooner.
So, we needed new dog beds, off to Pets At Home we went and promply fell on the floor at the price of dog beds. Thinking back, I spent about £45 on the 1994 dog beds so in reality they have stabilised in price still being on average £45, the trouble is that £45 back then was considerably less to me than it is now. Then other half had a brain wave. The dog bed covers were less than £20 each, why didn't we buy two of those (less than the price of one dog bed) and then trip over to Asda and buy two Smart Price duvets to fill them with. Total price £50 for two spanking new very country life type dog beds. Henry and Molly love them, they hardly gave other half the time to make them up before they were laying upside down on them. Good dog bed investment.
So, the new dog beds weren't going to go in Henrys cage, no way. So I bought a dog cage pad type of bed, total £18. He loved it, he snuggle in it, laid on it,Molly went in the cage and laid on it, refusing to get out, it matched the carpet so lessening the impact of a giant dog cage in the living room, it was great.
Five days on he chewed it.
Two months on from that I have bought a new one, I dog bed watched for a couple of weeks and there has been no chewing at all, lets hope this time Henry's cage stays nice and smart from now on.
Next I suppose we should get new coats for them, the current ones also survive from 1994...
Saturday, 11 December 2010
Monday, 6 December 2010
I've Missed This
Hello Everyone,
I've missed blogging so much. Having said that I only realised after the blogs I follow and have negelcted over the last few months and felt how great it was to follow the lives of other people who I don't know but love to see on the web. Gosh that sounds a bit stalky dosen't it? I mean it in the nicest possible way though.
So, what has happened since I last blogged? Quite allot. After almost recovering from dislocating my knee I found myself moving house to a fab pad halfway up a mountain, the reasons for the move weren't very nice and I'll not go into it here but I found myself in absolutely lovely house, super modern and open plan - all things I thought I hated but after three weeks I loved it, super modern is super easy to clean. The dogs loved it, we were right on the doorstep to the most amazing walks at high altitude and I was out with them every night after work. Our routine had changed considerably, from being self employed for 7 years I was suddenly working for someone else - scary but quite cool, no supplies needed just turn up, do what you're told and go home. You get your pay and don't really need to worry about the tax man.
Then after a couple of months I was offered another, better job and decided to take it, we also decided to move over towards Edinburgh as we;'d both be able to get to work without spending hundreds of pounds on fuel every month, so no sooner had we unpacked than we were packing up again and moving on. This was when Badger stopped eating. We thought it was due to the move, so we didn't worry too much. Two weeks into the new house he was still bouncing between being the wonderful mad Badge and a quiet sleepy boy that we weren't used to. We wondered if it was a growing phase, he was only 18 months at this point, but after he was sick several times in one day we took him to the vets. They ran some tests, but couldnt' work out what was wrong. They kept him in, we all stayed quite positive. Until I got a call at work fromt eh vet to say his kidneys were in a bad way. I had no idea what this meant but had a fabulous explanation from David the vet. Basically, he had to undergo another test with twom possible results, one meant medication for the rest of Badgers life and the other basically meant no hope. What an awful situation! Poor Badge was on a drip in a cage and the vets told us we could visit him as ofen as we wanted to so we did. It would take a while for the results to come through so I decided to visit Badge in the early afternoon, he was very ill and wouldn't eat, I sat on the floor stroking him and trying to tempt him to eat but he just wouldn't, all he wanted to do was sleep. I started to cry and he lifted his head and licked away my tears, you couldn't have made that up, even though he was very ill he still cared, as you must have worked out by now the results weren't good, basically the vets were keeping Badge alive, there was no hope and it was the end of the road. Really there was no desicion to be made, so we lost him....
And so we continue. Henry suffered awfully after Badge died. He ended up on doogie valium, I think i needed it too as I had moved house, started a new job and lost a member of the family all in a week! Molly was fine, she seemed to have accepted that Badge wasn't coming back and just got on with the new house, she is so cool!
It took about a month for Hen to settle down and in that time Molly went from being the serious matriarch ton a playful nutcase of a greyhound who now shoots around the house like a mad thing and seems very happy, maybe the responsibility of being above a mad saluki and a border collie had got to her? Anyway life has calmed and we are looking forward to blogging again and following everybody else. x
I've missed blogging so much. Having said that I only realised after the blogs I follow and have negelcted over the last few months and felt how great it was to follow the lives of other people who I don't know but love to see on the web. Gosh that sounds a bit stalky dosen't it? I mean it in the nicest possible way though.
So, what has happened since I last blogged? Quite allot. After almost recovering from dislocating my knee I found myself moving house to a fab pad halfway up a mountain, the reasons for the move weren't very nice and I'll not go into it here but I found myself in absolutely lovely house, super modern and open plan - all things I thought I hated but after three weeks I loved it, super modern is super easy to clean. The dogs loved it, we were right on the doorstep to the most amazing walks at high altitude and I was out with them every night after work. Our routine had changed considerably, from being self employed for 7 years I was suddenly working for someone else - scary but quite cool, no supplies needed just turn up, do what you're told and go home. You get your pay and don't really need to worry about the tax man.
Then after a couple of months I was offered another, better job and decided to take it, we also decided to move over towards Edinburgh as we;'d both be able to get to work without spending hundreds of pounds on fuel every month, so no sooner had we unpacked than we were packing up again and moving on. This was when Badger stopped eating. We thought it was due to the move, so we didn't worry too much. Two weeks into the new house he was still bouncing between being the wonderful mad Badge and a quiet sleepy boy that we weren't used to. We wondered if it was a growing phase, he was only 18 months at this point, but after he was sick several times in one day we took him to the vets. They ran some tests, but couldnt' work out what was wrong. They kept him in, we all stayed quite positive. Until I got a call at work fromt eh vet to say his kidneys were in a bad way. I had no idea what this meant but had a fabulous explanation from David the vet. Basically, he had to undergo another test with twom possible results, one meant medication for the rest of Badgers life and the other basically meant no hope. What an awful situation! Poor Badge was on a drip in a cage and the vets told us we could visit him as ofen as we wanted to so we did. It would take a while for the results to come through so I decided to visit Badge in the early afternoon, he was very ill and wouldn't eat, I sat on the floor stroking him and trying to tempt him to eat but he just wouldn't, all he wanted to do was sleep. I started to cry and he lifted his head and licked away my tears, you couldn't have made that up, even though he was very ill he still cared, as you must have worked out by now the results weren't good, basically the vets were keeping Badge alive, there was no hope and it was the end of the road. Really there was no desicion to be made, so we lost him....
And so we continue. Henry suffered awfully after Badge died. He ended up on doogie valium, I think i needed it too as I had moved house, started a new job and lost a member of the family all in a week! Molly was fine, she seemed to have accepted that Badge wasn't coming back and just got on with the new house, she is so cool!
It took about a month for Hen to settle down and in that time Molly went from being the serious matriarch ton a playful nutcase of a greyhound who now shoots around the house like a mad thing and seems very happy, maybe the responsibility of being above a mad saluki and a border collie had got to her? Anyway life has calmed and we are looking forward to blogging again and following everybody else. x
Monday, 8 March 2010
Spring Has Sprung
Just to prove that Spring has sprung Henry decided to do a bit of springing himself.... 
Sunday, 21 February 2010
Busy Time
Goodness it's been mad here. First off I thought I could dance. Oh dear, despite having attended and won several awards and medals at Len Goodmans Dance School in my far off youth I seem to have lost the touch as I managed to dislocate my kneecap in the process of trying to jump and twist at the same time. Not only did my kneecap end up round the wrong side of my leg but I managed to break a bit off the bottom of my thigh bone in the landing part of the move. Absolute agony but I still managed to put the kneecap back myself without passing out.
Being super cool I decided to wait until morning to go to casualty, after all it's 30 odd miles away and it was getting on for 10pm so I'd not have arrived home until the early hours so Other Half and me splinted it up and off to bed I went. This was a completely mental set of things to do as by the morning my leg was incredibly painful, very very scarily swollen and just basically agony. So off we went to the infirmary and got it sorted. By sorted I mean I have some fabulous painkillers which send me off on a trip, a massive leg brace, a pair of crutches, a tubi grip and regular two week appointments with the bone man. I'm not sure what's going to happen about the odd bit of bone that's floating about but for now I'm concentrating on getting the rest of the knee fixed.
So, in theory I have lots and lots of time to myself while I lounge on the sofa, lay in every morning drinking tea, be pampered by Other Half.........ha! Not a chance! Within four days I was taken to England for the day to do a felting course with two friends, a great day and some fantastic results, this is something I definately want to do again. Then I came down with that dreadful Scottish Winter sickness bug, I felt so ill I wondered if I was having a stroke as my head was pounding. I also had a million phone calls to make and return, this is the kind of stress that you don't really need but no-one else could do this for me.
Then, when things started to settle down, I decided one afternoon this week to play on the Wii, a very underused piece of kit that Other Half bought for Christmas that I love but forget is there. Badger is very concerned about the Wii. He is worried as we appear to be throwing things but not actually letting them go, this frustrates him beyond belief so he spends the time we are on it trying to round us up and get us to sit down and stop playing it. This particular day I was attempting to play bowling whilst laying on the sofa, a bit odd I know but I needed to rest my leg. Badger was doing his normal stressing and decided to take matters into his own hands, or should I say teeth and tried to grab the controller out of my hand sinking a large canine into one of my fingers in the process.
He didn't mean to do it! Not the biting bit, but boy it was sore, right on the tendons and a very deep albeit small hole. So off to the surgery for a tetnus jab. Thankfully the doctor was very sympathetic and placed it in my arm as it would have been cruel to put it in the usual place. The only trouble was I had a very sore finger on the end of the sore arm and it was really not helping with using my crutches. I did laugh throughout the whole thing though as looking in from outside I'd have found it really funny if it had happened to any one else.
Then a day or so after that my washing machine broke down again. This was dog related. Other Half took the ash tray from the log burner out to be emptied and trod in a dog poo in his slippers. I put said slippers in the washing machine where they promptly fell apart and I discovered they were mostly made from cardboard. Oh dear.
Being the eternal optomist I decided I could fix the machine myself, and despite having my leg in a brace I managed to get it out of it's compartment, turn it round tip it over and take the panel off. I then removed so pipes and discovered I couldn't actually physically get to the pipe I needed to get to as I couldn't bend down because of the brace on my leg. I actually stood and cried. This was no good, I need a washing machine and I couldn't fix it. I also had no money to call an engineer and in any case no engineer will come out this far into the wilderness to fix anything which was my dishwasher was still broken a year after as noone will come. What was I going to do?
I decided to text a friend who is married to a shepherd further up the track, she has a washing machine so some one must fix it for her if it breaks down.. It turned out that someone did, her husband. Brilliant! So she sent him down and he fixed the washing machine within ten minutes, what a bloody hero! I could have cried with joy. But it gets better, not only did he fix the washing machine but he fixed the dishwaher too - mega, bloody, fantastic, brilliant! I'm so happy!
Being super cool I decided to wait until morning to go to casualty, after all it's 30 odd miles away and it was getting on for 10pm so I'd not have arrived home until the early hours so Other Half and me splinted it up and off to bed I went. This was a completely mental set of things to do as by the morning my leg was incredibly painful, very very scarily swollen and just basically agony. So off we went to the infirmary and got it sorted. By sorted I mean I have some fabulous painkillers which send me off on a trip, a massive leg brace, a pair of crutches, a tubi grip and regular two week appointments with the bone man. I'm not sure what's going to happen about the odd bit of bone that's floating about but for now I'm concentrating on getting the rest of the knee fixed.
So, in theory I have lots and lots of time to myself while I lounge on the sofa, lay in every morning drinking tea, be pampered by Other Half.........ha! Not a chance! Within four days I was taken to England for the day to do a felting course with two friends, a great day and some fantastic results, this is something I definately want to do again. Then I came down with that dreadful Scottish Winter sickness bug, I felt so ill I wondered if I was having a stroke as my head was pounding. I also had a million phone calls to make and return, this is the kind of stress that you don't really need but no-one else could do this for me.
Then, when things started to settle down, I decided one afternoon this week to play on the Wii, a very underused piece of kit that Other Half bought for Christmas that I love but forget is there. Badger is very concerned about the Wii. He is worried as we appear to be throwing things but not actually letting them go, this frustrates him beyond belief so he spends the time we are on it trying to round us up and get us to sit down and stop playing it. This particular day I was attempting to play bowling whilst laying on the sofa, a bit odd I know but I needed to rest my leg. Badger was doing his normal stressing and decided to take matters into his own hands, or should I say teeth and tried to grab the controller out of my hand sinking a large canine into one of my fingers in the process.
He didn't mean to do it! Not the biting bit, but boy it was sore, right on the tendons and a very deep albeit small hole. So off to the surgery for a tetnus jab. Thankfully the doctor was very sympathetic and placed it in my arm as it would have been cruel to put it in the usual place. The only trouble was I had a very sore finger on the end of the sore arm and it was really not helping with using my crutches. I did laugh throughout the whole thing though as looking in from outside I'd have found it really funny if it had happened to any one else.
Then a day or so after that my washing machine broke down again. This was dog related. Other Half took the ash tray from the log burner out to be emptied and trod in a dog poo in his slippers. I put said slippers in the washing machine where they promptly fell apart and I discovered they were mostly made from cardboard. Oh dear.
Being the eternal optomist I decided I could fix the machine myself, and despite having my leg in a brace I managed to get it out of it's compartment, turn it round tip it over and take the panel off. I then removed so pipes and discovered I couldn't actually physically get to the pipe I needed to get to as I couldn't bend down because of the brace on my leg. I actually stood and cried. This was no good, I need a washing machine and I couldn't fix it. I also had no money to call an engineer and in any case no engineer will come out this far into the wilderness to fix anything which was my dishwasher was still broken a year after as noone will come. What was I going to do?
I decided to text a friend who is married to a shepherd further up the track, she has a washing machine so some one must fix it for her if it breaks down.. It turned out that someone did, her husband. Brilliant! So she sent him down and he fixed the washing machine within ten minutes, what a bloody hero! I could have cried with joy. But it gets better, not only did he fix the washing machine but he fixed the dishwaher too - mega, bloody, fantastic, brilliant! I'm so happy!
Friday, 29 January 2010
Badger the Hoover
Right now I'm sitting in the kitchen catching up on blogs and emails and having a nice cup of breakfast tea. This is my morning routine, it would possibly be better without my lovely wee netbook as company but that's a habit I just can't break and it is pretty much the only time I go online these days.
Badger also has a morning routine. He leaps from his bed as soon as I come downstairs, runs out the back door for a wee, runs back in for his breakfast, bombs around the living room with Henry and then joins me in the kitchen while I have my porridge. This is the bit I never realised was happening until I actually watched him this morning. He walks around the kitchen floor with his nose almost on the floor, as he does this is is audibly sniffing for anything vaguely edible. When he finds that vaguely edible thing he either licks the floor or gobbles it up and goes on his way step by step. It's one of those things that you don't really notice as it's a pace here and a pace there and he's very quiet while he's doing it, today I only realised as he was licking a patch of sticky sauce that had gone on the floor for ages. It's really quite disgusting but there is an upside to it, there is never a reason to ever sweep the kitchen floor, Badger eats every crumb that lands on it so I only ever have to mop it - Badger the self cleaning dog in more ways than one!
Badger also has a morning routine. He leaps from his bed as soon as I come downstairs, runs out the back door for a wee, runs back in for his breakfast, bombs around the living room with Henry and then joins me in the kitchen while I have my porridge. This is the bit I never realised was happening until I actually watched him this morning. He walks around the kitchen floor with his nose almost on the floor, as he does this is is audibly sniffing for anything vaguely edible. When he finds that vaguely edible thing he either licks the floor or gobbles it up and goes on his way step by step. It's one of those things that you don't really notice as it's a pace here and a pace there and he's very quiet while he's doing it, today I only realised as he was licking a patch of sticky sauce that had gone on the floor for ages. It's really quite disgusting but there is an upside to it, there is never a reason to ever sweep the kitchen floor, Badger eats every crumb that lands on it so I only ever have to mop it - Badger the self cleaning dog in more ways than one!
Saturday, 23 January 2010
Badger the Chicken
I've been sitting here eating my breakfast and reading blogs for half an hour or so, enjoying the peace and stillness of the early morning. Well maybe not so still, after a while I became aware of constant movment from accross the kitchen. It was one of those vague movments and sounds that is constant and your brain cancels out until it begins to irritate you. So I looked up to see Badger with his head in the chicken feed sack tucking in to mouthfuls of organic mixed corn!
Why?
First Henry and now Badger. At least Henry had the sense to stop immediately and close his mouth and pretend he hadn't been raiding the food, Badger just carried on regardless trying to scoff as much as he could.
I'm sure mixed corn is not the sort of food dogs would naturally eat so I can only assume this is a case of dog in a manger as all the dogs know the chicken feed is for the chickens and follow me out every morning to feed them so I think they are on a mission to eat all the chickens food just so the chickens can't eat it.
Dogs eh?
Completely mad.
Why?
First Henry and now Badger. At least Henry had the sense to stop immediately and close his mouth and pretend he hadn't been raiding the food, Badger just carried on regardless trying to scoff as much as he could.
I'm sure mixed corn is not the sort of food dogs would naturally eat so I can only assume this is a case of dog in a manger as all the dogs know the chicken feed is for the chickens and follow me out every morning to feed them so I think they are on a mission to eat all the chickens food just so the chickens can't eat it.
Dogs eh?
Completely mad.
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Free and Simple Pleasures
Inspired (stolen) from MBNAD's blog here are my top ten free and simple pleasures.
1. Laying in bed first thing in the morning or last thing at night and listening to the sheer and utter silence here. It reminds me of when I used to wake up on my first morning on holiday in Scotland and feeling that exquisite peacefulness and total escape that only this place can have.
2. Lounging on a comfy sofa reading a book, magazine or watching telly with a dog curled into you, bliss.
3. Laughing at and with your dogs, especially when they know they are being funny and they are grinning at you.
4. Radio 4. All of it, except the comedy in the evenings with the exception of Count Arthur Strong.
5. The expectation and running around getting the house ready and making up rooms for people to come and stay.
6.Realising how much I love my collie dog, even though I never expected to have a third dog.
7. Spending an afternoon in the garden doing non back breaking stuff with Radio 4 on and hearing the birds.
8. Sitting outside in the balminess of a summer evening.
9. Absolutlely loving my car when I've spent half a day cleaning and polishing it and realising how great it is depsite it's age.
10. Being happy with me.
There you go, that lot made me feel good just typing it. I think I could go on and on though as there are more than 10 free and simple pleasures to life, like getting all the laundry washed and ironed, espeically if it's been hanging on the line, going for long walks with the dogs, going for a trip back south to see my folks, growing plants, making compost, sweeping paths in the garden, listening to my chickens clucking when they are happy, basking in the sunshine, being warm and toasty indoors when its blowing and rainy outside, and probably one of the very best, looking at dogs layig about exhausted after they've had a long happy walk.
1. Laying in bed first thing in the morning or last thing at night and listening to the sheer and utter silence here. It reminds me of when I used to wake up on my first morning on holiday in Scotland and feeling that exquisite peacefulness and total escape that only this place can have.
2. Lounging on a comfy sofa reading a book, magazine or watching telly with a dog curled into you, bliss.
3. Laughing at and with your dogs, especially when they know they are being funny and they are grinning at you.
4. Radio 4. All of it, except the comedy in the evenings with the exception of Count Arthur Strong.
5. The expectation and running around getting the house ready and making up rooms for people to come and stay.
6.Realising how much I love my collie dog, even though I never expected to have a third dog.
7. Spending an afternoon in the garden doing non back breaking stuff with Radio 4 on and hearing the birds.
8. Sitting outside in the balminess of a summer evening.
9. Absolutlely loving my car when I've spent half a day cleaning and polishing it and realising how great it is depsite it's age.
10. Being happy with me.
There you go, that lot made me feel good just typing it. I think I could go on and on though as there are more than 10 free and simple pleasures to life, like getting all the laundry washed and ironed, espeically if it's been hanging on the line, going for long walks with the dogs, going for a trip back south to see my folks, growing plants, making compost, sweeping paths in the garden, listening to my chickens clucking when they are happy, basking in the sunshine, being warm and toasty indoors when its blowing and rainy outside, and probably one of the very best, looking at dogs layig about exhausted after they've had a long happy walk.
Wednesday, 9 December 2009
Mad Dogs
There has been much hilarity in this house over the last few weeks, mostly caused by the dogs, Henry and Badger being the main suspects.
Firstly though we had yet another episode of the toe, I took Badger for his one year check up and innoculations and we discovered two lumps in between two toes on both front feet. Not good. Still, I felt optomistic, surely the vet could just remove them and although the prospect of driving back and forth to the vet with a sore poorly dog for a couple of weeks wasn't a great thought at least it would get it sorted. The trouble was it turned out not to be quite that easy, Badger went in for a couple of X-rays and it turned out there were five or six little lumps in both front paws and this might mean having more toes amputated and it dosen't take a rocket scientist to work out that a dog can only have so many toes removed and then it would have to be a leg removed and if that's going on in both front feet then removing both front legs just wasn't an option, I'm sure you can work out what that option would be.
So we got referred to a specialist way up in Fife, to cut a long story short the fantastic lovely amazing specialist vet said that the lumps were something that happen in puppies and once they are past 12 months they should cease to form or grow and everything in Badgers feet had most probably stabilised. However they did find an absess in his foot where his toe was removed in the summer so they sorted that out, gave me some anti biotics and sent us on our way. I could have cried with relief, I honestly wondered if I was going to be bringing him home.
Since our visit to Fife Bdger has become the most happy, friendly and affectionate wee pup. He had turned into a grumpy, growly, bad tempered dog who no longer wanted to go in the car, had stopped us stroking him, would completely freak if we tried to touch his toes or legs and it was beyond me what to do with him. I think I'd describe him as smiley now!
On to the hilarity, since Badgers trip up north he has become more mischievous and has joined forces with Henry to create as much havoc in the house as possible. In order to keep this contained I've dug out lots of toys from Ferg and Bons days and Molly, Henry and Badge are like little children in a toy shop with them.
The first toy was a ball which you put treats into and it has a recordable switch where you can put your own voice and talk to the dog every time it moves the ball to get the treats out. Molly had played with this a couple of years ago but I took it away when we got Henry in case they fought over it. Amazingly she remembered what to do with it straight away, never underestimate the power of a greyhounds brain! When Molly stopped playing with it I turned the sound bit on and Henry really freaked, it was a recording from my ex and Henry never liked him much and so he pounced on the ball, it flew up in the air and the recording bit flew out accross the room and hit the wall. you couldn't have made it up in a film, you could say we won't be hearing from my ex again hahaha!
The next side splitting event came from Badger, he has a football which was an outdoor toy but has made it's way inside and Badge has slowly chewed a massive hole in it. He drags this ball around all over the place, putting it on your lap when youre wearing nice clothes, bringing it upstairs and placing it gently on your pillow and waits patiently for you to play fetch the moment you wake up and are faced with a slimey big thing right in front of you. Last night he discovered that the hole is now big enough for him to madly shake the ball and have it slap all around his head. How he does this and stays standing up or even concious I've no idea but once he'd done it the first time he kept on doing it, adding wee extras like slapping it against your legs or climbing up on the back of the sofa while youre watching tv and suddenly shaking it against your head to make you jump.
The ball got revenge though as mid shake it went right over his head and suddenly we had a football headed dog running about the house, attempting to look as though he really meant to have it on his head while trying to work out how to get it off before bumping into anything. It was so funny that we couldn't help as we were laughing too much which is probably a bit bad but it was so funny that even the though of it while I'm typing this is making me laugh.
So that's the madness for now, will be back soon with more...
Firstly though we had yet another episode of the toe, I took Badger for his one year check up and innoculations and we discovered two lumps in between two toes on both front feet. Not good. Still, I felt optomistic, surely the vet could just remove them and although the prospect of driving back and forth to the vet with a sore poorly dog for a couple of weeks wasn't a great thought at least it would get it sorted. The trouble was it turned out not to be quite that easy, Badger went in for a couple of X-rays and it turned out there were five or six little lumps in both front paws and this might mean having more toes amputated and it dosen't take a rocket scientist to work out that a dog can only have so many toes removed and then it would have to be a leg removed and if that's going on in both front feet then removing both front legs just wasn't an option, I'm sure you can work out what that option would be.
So we got referred to a specialist way up in Fife, to cut a long story short the fantastic lovely amazing specialist vet said that the lumps were something that happen in puppies and once they are past 12 months they should cease to form or grow and everything in Badgers feet had most probably stabilised. However they did find an absess in his foot where his toe was removed in the summer so they sorted that out, gave me some anti biotics and sent us on our way. I could have cried with relief, I honestly wondered if I was going to be bringing him home.
Since our visit to Fife Bdger has become the most happy, friendly and affectionate wee pup. He had turned into a grumpy, growly, bad tempered dog who no longer wanted to go in the car, had stopped us stroking him, would completely freak if we tried to touch his toes or legs and it was beyond me what to do with him. I think I'd describe him as smiley now!
On to the hilarity, since Badgers trip up north he has become more mischievous and has joined forces with Henry to create as much havoc in the house as possible. In order to keep this contained I've dug out lots of toys from Ferg and Bons days and Molly, Henry and Badge are like little children in a toy shop with them.
The first toy was a ball which you put treats into and it has a recordable switch where you can put your own voice and talk to the dog every time it moves the ball to get the treats out. Molly had played with this a couple of years ago but I took it away when we got Henry in case they fought over it. Amazingly she remembered what to do with it straight away, never underestimate the power of a greyhounds brain! When Molly stopped playing with it I turned the sound bit on and Henry really freaked, it was a recording from my ex and Henry never liked him much and so he pounced on the ball, it flew up in the air and the recording bit flew out accross the room and hit the wall. you couldn't have made it up in a film, you could say we won't be hearing from my ex again hahaha!
The next side splitting event came from Badger, he has a football which was an outdoor toy but has made it's way inside and Badge has slowly chewed a massive hole in it. He drags this ball around all over the place, putting it on your lap when youre wearing nice clothes, bringing it upstairs and placing it gently on your pillow and waits patiently for you to play fetch the moment you wake up and are faced with a slimey big thing right in front of you. Last night he discovered that the hole is now big enough for him to madly shake the ball and have it slap all around his head. How he does this and stays standing up or even concious I've no idea but once he'd done it the first time he kept on doing it, adding wee extras like slapping it against your legs or climbing up on the back of the sofa while youre watching tv and suddenly shaking it against your head to make you jump.
The ball got revenge though as mid shake it went right over his head and suddenly we had a football headed dog running about the house, attempting to look as though he really meant to have it on his head while trying to work out how to get it off before bumping into anything. It was so funny that we couldn't help as we were laughing too much which is probably a bit bad but it was so funny that even the though of it while I'm typing this is making me laugh.
So that's the madness for now, will be back soon with more...
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Timberdogs
Today I decided to chop some of the logs that I bought a few days ago. If it's a nice winter or autumn day, chopping logs is quite a nice occupation, it's all sort of rustic and homely and gives you an immensely good feeling when the logs are all stacked up by the fire. Strangely, when I have lots of coal, lots of logs and lots of oil in the tank I feel quite wealthy, it's a good feeling, no matter how much money there is in the bank.
So, while chopping the logs the dogs have to of course get involved. This means hanging around me, sniffing logs I'm picking up and then progressing to sniffing the big log that's used for chopping on and then even more dangerously, sniffing the log that is being chopped. They then all hng around me while I piled as many chopped logs into my arms and took them inside to stack beside the fire. Whilst stacking them, all three dogs watched intently as every log went down and the next was places beside it. I was then followed back outside to start the process all over again.
It's funny how dogs watch your every move with such instense interest sometimes. I was once told that although us humans spend quite allot of time watching and learning about our dogs, we will never equal the amount of knowledge the dogs have about us, they watch us all the time and know our every move even before we know it, that's how while thinking about taking them out for a walk as soon as you've finished washing up will mean that you'll come accross the dog bouncing about wanting to go out as soon as you've pulled the plug. Dogs are fab, really fab and although mine sometimes drive me nuts they all look angelic laying in front of the log burner which is currently roaring away with the chopped logs and a bit of coal inside.
So, while chopping the logs the dogs have to of course get involved. This means hanging around me, sniffing logs I'm picking up and then progressing to sniffing the big log that's used for chopping on and then even more dangerously, sniffing the log that is being chopped. They then all hng around me while I piled as many chopped logs into my arms and took them inside to stack beside the fire. Whilst stacking them, all three dogs watched intently as every log went down and the next was places beside it. I was then followed back outside to start the process all over again.
It's funny how dogs watch your every move with such instense interest sometimes. I was once told that although us humans spend quite allot of time watching and learning about our dogs, we will never equal the amount of knowledge the dogs have about us, they watch us all the time and know our every move even before we know it, that's how while thinking about taking them out for a walk as soon as you've finished washing up will mean that you'll come accross the dog bouncing about wanting to go out as soon as you've pulled the plug. Dogs are fab, really fab and although mine sometimes drive me nuts they all look angelic laying in front of the log burner which is currently roaring away with the chopped logs and a bit of coal inside.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Chicken Feed
Yesterday while cleaning out the chicken house I noticed Henry was being unusually quiet. Whenever I do anything with the chickens they tend to hang around me like a big chicken gang which Henry really wants to join.
After half an hour I went back into the garden to do something else and saw Henry emerge from the store where the sack of chicken corn is kept. What made him look so suspicious was that he was trying to keep his mouth very still while little bits of corn fell out the sides! He honestly looked like a wee boy who had been caught eating sweets and was trying to look like he wasn't eating anything. When I went into the store he'd tucked in to about an eighth of a sack.
Now why on earth would a dog want to eat chicken feed? I do feed him honest, even though he is a skinny dog, but chicken feed? I just can't see anything remotely attractive in it for a dog apart from the fact that the chickens eat it so therefore Henry wants it.
What I do know is that this is going to make for some interesting poop scooping later...
After half an hour I went back into the garden to do something else and saw Henry emerge from the store where the sack of chicken corn is kept. What made him look so suspicious was that he was trying to keep his mouth very still while little bits of corn fell out the sides! He honestly looked like a wee boy who had been caught eating sweets and was trying to look like he wasn't eating anything. When I went into the store he'd tucked in to about an eighth of a sack.
Now why on earth would a dog want to eat chicken feed? I do feed him honest, even though he is a skinny dog, but chicken feed? I just can't see anything remotely attractive in it for a dog apart from the fact that the chickens eat it so therefore Henry wants it.
What I do know is that this is going to make for some interesting poop scooping later...
Saturday, 17 October 2009
Blog Holiday
Sorry I've not posted anything for so long. It's been a mad few weeks and it was quite nice to take a blog holiday, until yesterday when I decided to catch up on all the blogs I followed and I realised how much I miss this and all of you.
On the toe front Molly has recovered very well. It wasn't an easy ride, she couldn't go out for three weeks and Molly is the kind of dog who watches the clock for the minute she is going for a walk and then leaps up and bugs you until you take her. However we made it through and she is now on shortish walks that are getting longer so very soon she will be up to speed and back to normal.
Over the last few weeks Henry's sense of humour has increased greatly. I had some shopping delivered one day and while putting it away I went to answer the phone, once off the phone I put some washing in the tumble dryer and carried on putting the shopping away. It wasn't until later that day that I discovered the bread wrapper, a container for a ready meal and a packet of toilet rolls at the bottom of the garden.
Then last week I made a chocolate cake, this is a rare event for me and I'd made it really chocolately and put lots of chocolate findant icing on the top. While waiting for the icing to set I put it right at the back of the kitchen work surface - this is somewhere that is relatively dog proof, until now - and went off to do something else. After a couple of minutes I heard a crash in the kitchen and shot through to see what was happening. Henry had climbed on one of the chairs, knocked a load of plastic containers off the work surface and pulled the cake to the edge. Not only that but he had licked the lovely fondant icing completely off of one half of the cake. Needless to say the cake ended up being a dog treat over the course of the next few days, I'm not sure what this teaches them but after all that hard work I wasn't going to throw it in the bin!
On a good note, Henry has stopped barking madly at the chickens. I can't remember if I said that I got four lovely Lavender Araucana hens, they are very beautiful and posh, in fact they are too posh to lay an egg so have become more pets than functional. For the first few weeks Henry barked at them non stop but thankfully now he has begun to get used to them and only barks if they are right by the fence. I think there is no doubt he'd have a chicken dinner if he could get through the fence but at least the barking has stopped.
Badger is doing well too, he had a bath last night which is a major event, but he is now adorable and fluffy and so cute looking. He's still a pest though with all his collie-brained habits like never ever keeping still but at least he is a clean pest now!
Well I'd better get on and go to work and I promise not to take a blogging holiday again for a while.x
On the toe front Molly has recovered very well. It wasn't an easy ride, she couldn't go out for three weeks and Molly is the kind of dog who watches the clock for the minute she is going for a walk and then leaps up and bugs you until you take her. However we made it through and she is now on shortish walks that are getting longer so very soon she will be up to speed and back to normal.
Over the last few weeks Henry's sense of humour has increased greatly. I had some shopping delivered one day and while putting it away I went to answer the phone, once off the phone I put some washing in the tumble dryer and carried on putting the shopping away. It wasn't until later that day that I discovered the bread wrapper, a container for a ready meal and a packet of toilet rolls at the bottom of the garden.
Then last week I made a chocolate cake, this is a rare event for me and I'd made it really chocolately and put lots of chocolate findant icing on the top. While waiting for the icing to set I put it right at the back of the kitchen work surface - this is somewhere that is relatively dog proof, until now - and went off to do something else. After a couple of minutes I heard a crash in the kitchen and shot through to see what was happening. Henry had climbed on one of the chairs, knocked a load of plastic containers off the work surface and pulled the cake to the edge. Not only that but he had licked the lovely fondant icing completely off of one half of the cake. Needless to say the cake ended up being a dog treat over the course of the next few days, I'm not sure what this teaches them but after all that hard work I wasn't going to throw it in the bin!
On a good note, Henry has stopped barking madly at the chickens. I can't remember if I said that I got four lovely Lavender Araucana hens, they are very beautiful and posh, in fact they are too posh to lay an egg so have become more pets than functional. For the first few weeks Henry barked at them non stop but thankfully now he has begun to get used to them and only barks if they are right by the fence. I think there is no doubt he'd have a chicken dinner if he could get through the fence but at least the barking has stopped.
Badger is doing well too, he had a bath last night which is a major event, but he is now adorable and fluffy and so cute looking. He's still a pest though with all his collie-brained habits like never ever keeping still but at least he is a clean pest now!
Well I'd better get on and go to work and I promise not to take a blogging holiday again for a while.x
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
More Toe Problems
You couldn't have made this one up. We have more toe problems in our house.
Time it's Molly, gorgeous, peaceful, silky, loving Molly who does nothing wrong, is never irritatingly bouncy or loud and just wants to be my friend. She was out for a walk with Other Half and tried to catch a mouse in the hedgerow. As she pounced she yelped and Other Half noticed her toe was at a funny angle so he brought her home and when I looked at it I decided it must be dislocated so we put it back into place and called the vet. No answer, hmmmmm, we called again and still no answer so I called her medical emergency line and they said to call the vet. Aggggghhh! I tried the vet one more time, got no answer and decided to assess the situation.
There was no blood, she seemed quite calm and un-bothered by her toe, and although she was hopping it wasn't stopping her from moving about and scrounging in the kitchen so I decided to strap it up, doing what the vet had done to Badgers toe, popping bits of cotton wool in between her toes, wrapping more cotton round her foot and bottom part of her leg and then bandaging over the top of that, except I didn't have any cotton wool so we had to use extra soft toilet roll instead.
Other Half had the job of taking Molly to the vet the next morning and it turned out that she had broken her toe. This was a bit of a shock to say the least espcially as we'd manipulated it back into place! So she had to stay in for the day and get it set and cast. Poor Molly, she is the most careful, dainty greyhound you'll ever know.
After work I ran down to the vet and collected her and was greeted with some hilarity about our bad luck with toes, and out came Molls hoping along with a great big dressing on her leg, ot bothering about it one little bit. She hasn't even tried to chew it, she's that good so here's hoping I won't have another lampshade dog for another six weeks.
In the meantime she is to have absolute rest, this should be fairly easy, she is a greyhound, lazing around is their speciality, especially when her bed is in front of the log burner.
So here we go again, back and forth to the vet but hopefully this will be an easier ride, fingers crossed. x
Time it's Molly, gorgeous, peaceful, silky, loving Molly who does nothing wrong, is never irritatingly bouncy or loud and just wants to be my friend. She was out for a walk with Other Half and tried to catch a mouse in the hedgerow. As she pounced she yelped and Other Half noticed her toe was at a funny angle so he brought her home and when I looked at it I decided it must be dislocated so we put it back into place and called the vet. No answer, hmmmmm, we called again and still no answer so I called her medical emergency line and they said to call the vet. Aggggghhh! I tried the vet one more time, got no answer and decided to assess the situation.
There was no blood, she seemed quite calm and un-bothered by her toe, and although she was hopping it wasn't stopping her from moving about and scrounging in the kitchen so I decided to strap it up, doing what the vet had done to Badgers toe, popping bits of cotton wool in between her toes, wrapping more cotton round her foot and bottom part of her leg and then bandaging over the top of that, except I didn't have any cotton wool so we had to use extra soft toilet roll instead.
Other Half had the job of taking Molly to the vet the next morning and it turned out that she had broken her toe. This was a bit of a shock to say the least espcially as we'd manipulated it back into place! So she had to stay in for the day and get it set and cast. Poor Molly, she is the most careful, dainty greyhound you'll ever know.
After work I ran down to the vet and collected her and was greeted with some hilarity about our bad luck with toes, and out came Molls hoping along with a great big dressing on her leg, ot bothering about it one little bit. She hasn't even tried to chew it, she's that good so here's hoping I won't have another lampshade dog for another six weeks.
In the meantime she is to have absolute rest, this should be fairly easy, she is a greyhound, lazing around is their speciality, especially when her bed is in front of the log burner.
So here we go again, back and forth to the vet but hopefully this will be an easier ride, fingers crossed. x
Monday, 24 August 2009
New Arrivals
Henry, Molly and Badger have four new friends, they are one hen, one bantam hen and two bantam hen chicks. All the bantams are beautiful lavender aracaunas and the hen is a white aracauna. I've been after some aracaunas for about two years as they are the chickens who lay blue eggs which you very occasionally find in Tescos for an extortionate price and of course if I see them I have to buy them however much they cost because they are so lovely to look at. Aracaunas are also very hardy which is handy as it's very bleak here in the winter and you'd need to be a tough bird to withstand it.
So off I went at dusk last night to a wee small holding to collect my birds and instantly felt very bad as all the chickens there were housed in deluxe coops, one even had double glazing! Our coop is small and basic but I suppose it does the job although I think a few alterations might be in line before the winter comes in. After we'd caught the chickens, well, after I'd watched the lovely lady who I bought them from catch them, I trundeled home with them chirping in a box in the boot. It was such a lovely noise and quite funny as every time I hit a bump the hens made a sort of egg laying noise.
Once I got home I then had the tricky job of getting the birds from the box into the coop without any getting out to be lost into the night, this was harder than I thought as they refused to move and due to space restrictions I couldn't really get hold of them properly. However after a while I had them all locked up for the night.
Then this morning the alarm went off. I lay there groaning that it was early and decided to treat myself to 15 more minutes and after a couple of those minutes suddenly remembered the chickens. Oh no! Who's ridiculous idea was it to get chickens? I'd never get a lie in again! I dragged myself out of bed and still in my jammies pulled on a big fleece and wandered outside, all three dogs following and wondering why they weren't getting breakfast yet.
As soon as I opened the coop door out popped all the birds and they started pecking at the food I'd put down while making satisfied chicken noises. I have to say it was such a nice noise and a lovely sight to finally have chickens here that it was very worth while loosing that exra 15 minutes in my bed.
I shall of course report on our first egg.
So off I went at dusk last night to a wee small holding to collect my birds and instantly felt very bad as all the chickens there were housed in deluxe coops, one even had double glazing! Our coop is small and basic but I suppose it does the job although I think a few alterations might be in line before the winter comes in. After we'd caught the chickens, well, after I'd watched the lovely lady who I bought them from catch them, I trundeled home with them chirping in a box in the boot. It was such a lovely noise and quite funny as every time I hit a bump the hens made a sort of egg laying noise.
Once I got home I then had the tricky job of getting the birds from the box into the coop without any getting out to be lost into the night, this was harder than I thought as they refused to move and due to space restrictions I couldn't really get hold of them properly. However after a while I had them all locked up for the night.
Then this morning the alarm went off. I lay there groaning that it was early and decided to treat myself to 15 more minutes and after a couple of those minutes suddenly remembered the chickens. Oh no! Who's ridiculous idea was it to get chickens? I'd never get a lie in again! I dragged myself out of bed and still in my jammies pulled on a big fleece and wandered outside, all three dogs following and wondering why they weren't getting breakfast yet.
As soon as I opened the coop door out popped all the birds and they started pecking at the food I'd put down while making satisfied chicken noises. I have to say it was such a nice noise and a lovely sight to finally have chickens here that it was very worth while loosing that exra 15 minutes in my bed.
I shall of course report on our first egg.
Saturday, 22 August 2009
Well Done Badger
Yesterday we went to the local agricultural show. After some thought I decided that Henry and Molly would be better staying at home but that we'd take Badger as he hasn't been anywhere in the car since his multiple expeditions to the vet which have made him hate the car - can't blame him really as every time he went in it for two months somebody hurt him at the other end.
We dosed him up with anti-sickness/nerves pills, took them all for a walk to wear out Hen and Moll and let the pills take effect for Badge then off we went. Once we were there I realised this was the first time Badger had been anywhere with crowds and lots of noise so I was a bit worried it might not have been the right thing to do but he coped with it as if he goes off to agricultural shows every week.
We wandered around for a bit to begin with and then started to meet people we knew, in fact the whole day turned into one big social event as everywhere we turned we bumped into someone else we knew and it was great having a good catch up with everyone from the village and surrounding farms.
Then there was an annoucment about the dog show and I suddenly thought why not enter Badger? So off I trotted, paid my 5op entry fee and stood in the middle of the field with Badger in the puppy class trying to look as though I did this sort of thing all the time (ok I know I did it a month or so ago with Hen but that was the first time since I was about 14!). Badger took an instant dislike to a very beautiful blue coated, blue eyed dog who was fairly close to us so I edged away before anyone of importance could hear this lovely cute pup growling like a wolf.
The judges made us walk round and round the ring and then run up and down - this was the hard bit as Badge pulls like a train when he's on the lead and I've got a dodgy knee so it could all have ended up in the infirmary. Then we had to stand in a big circle while they decided who had won, and guess what? It was Badger!!! So I guess that means we officially have the best pup in the area so I'm busting with pride for him, and this makes up for all the problems and stress we've been through with him in the last few months.
Well Done Badger!
We dosed him up with anti-sickness/nerves pills, took them all for a walk to wear out Hen and Moll and let the pills take effect for Badge then off we went. Once we were there I realised this was the first time Badger had been anywhere with crowds and lots of noise so I was a bit worried it might not have been the right thing to do but he coped with it as if he goes off to agricultural shows every week.
We wandered around for a bit to begin with and then started to meet people we knew, in fact the whole day turned into one big social event as everywhere we turned we bumped into someone else we knew and it was great having a good catch up with everyone from the village and surrounding farms.
Then there was an annoucment about the dog show and I suddenly thought why not enter Badger? So off I trotted, paid my 5op entry fee and stood in the middle of the field with Badger in the puppy class trying to look as though I did this sort of thing all the time (ok I know I did it a month or so ago with Hen but that was the first time since I was about 14!). Badger took an instant dislike to a very beautiful blue coated, blue eyed dog who was fairly close to us so I edged away before anyone of importance could hear this lovely cute pup growling like a wolf.
The judges made us walk round and round the ring and then run up and down - this was the hard bit as Badge pulls like a train when he's on the lead and I've got a dodgy knee so it could all have ended up in the infirmary. Then we had to stand in a big circle while they decided who had won, and guess what? It was Badger!!! So I guess that means we officially have the best pup in the area so I'm busting with pride for him, and this makes up for all the problems and stress we've been through with him in the last few months.
Well Done Badger!
Friday, 14 August 2009
Second Day Off
Well I have another day off today hurrah! I woke up at 7am, well actually Molly woke me up with her teeth chattering and dancing around next to the bed, being very insistant that I get up, so I got up and Henry and Badger instantly sprang to life like a switch had been switched and we all bumbled down the stairs. I say bumbled as Henry shoots down the stairs as if they don't actually exist, Badger somehow slides his front paws down the stairs while his back legs propel him and Molly makes both front paws step on each stair in turn while her back paws step on every other stair. In the middle of all this is me clambering down while hanging on to the banisters for grim death hoping I wont loose my footing - yes I have tried to make them all go down in front of me but they wouldn't listen.
After letting them all out and waiting for them to come back in I promptly went back to bed. This is very rare for me, once I'm up I'm up but today I decided to treat myself to an extra 3 hours of sleep, bliss. Even more bliss was having Henry curled up beside me, a practice which is banned when Other Half is in. Molly eventually decided that lazing around in bed was not good enough and she shot up the stairs and jumped on me to wake me up, she also tries to paw you when shes being very insistant so I scrambled out of bed trying to avoid getting clawed in the head while both Molly and Henry barked at me, I was certainly well awake by then.
So what will I do with my day off? I think I'll see if my friend fancies a walk around the castle grounds with our dogs, her dog is coming to stay on Saturday which will mean four dogs running around the house. Her dog is Badgers sister, Rosie and she is lovely, very different to Badge, shes more sleek and has pointy ears and she's wriggly and affectionate and very fast!
First things first I'm just going to move very slowly and enjoy having no rush to get anywhere or do anything, after all I'm back to work tomorrow and Sunday when all of you are lazing around...
After letting them all out and waiting for them to come back in I promptly went back to bed. This is very rare for me, once I'm up I'm up but today I decided to treat myself to an extra 3 hours of sleep, bliss. Even more bliss was having Henry curled up beside me, a practice which is banned when Other Half is in. Molly eventually decided that lazing around in bed was not good enough and she shot up the stairs and jumped on me to wake me up, she also tries to paw you when shes being very insistant so I scrambled out of bed trying to avoid getting clawed in the head while both Molly and Henry barked at me, I was certainly well awake by then.
So what will I do with my day off? I think I'll see if my friend fancies a walk around the castle grounds with our dogs, her dog is coming to stay on Saturday which will mean four dogs running around the house. Her dog is Badgers sister, Rosie and she is lovely, very different to Badge, shes more sleek and has pointy ears and she's wriggly and affectionate and very fast!
First things first I'm just going to move very slowly and enjoy having no rush to get anywhere or do anything, after all I'm back to work tomorrow and Sunday when all of you are lazing around...
Thursday, 13 August 2009
Lovely Day
It's been gorgeous here all day. Just the sort of day to wear summer clothes, an event which if you live in the far north dosen't happen very often. If actually coincided with the unveiling of a spray tan that I had done during a girls night at my friends house last night. I came home thinking I looked all tanned and glam only for Other Half to burst out laughing at me. Rather insulted I trotted off to the bathroom and got an almighty shock, all you could see were my teeth and eyeballs standing out bright white against my somewhat Irn Bru'd skin. It did look rather funny I have to say, but thankfully most of the colour was the bit that washes off after the chemical bit has cooked you so I look far more normal today.
As well as sunshine, it was also my day off so I've spent it working in the garden, mowing the lawn three times as it's not been done for over six weeks due to rain and work stopping play, I also did some work while sitting at the garden table, again another rare occurence due to low temperatures, rain, wind and midges, thankfully none of them were around today.
Molly lazed on her bed outside all day long, alternating between the sunny bit and the shady bit as she got too hot and Henry and Badger spent most of the day wrestling, playing tug of war with bits of rope, play fighting and generally acting up like two little boys, oh and Badger decided to spend the entire time I mowed the lawns trying to round me and the lawnmower up, then when I spotted a long lost bone and flung it out of the way he decided the lawn mower was actually trying to eat his things and decided to attack it at every opportunity, not the best pastime for a puppy so I had to do a bit of shouting, then while I was distracting the boys, Molly snuck off her bed, grabbed the bone and took it back and guarded it for most of the rest of the day, good on you Molls!
Then early evening I took the dogs for a stroll along the lane while drinking in the niceness of it all, the farmer is mowing the silage, and still is at nearly 11pm and the swallows were singing as they flew about. I made two new discoveries this week, I didn't realise that big beech trees had blossom on that smells heavenly, nor did I realise that thistles smell lovely when they come into bloom. Usually I'm walking too fast or am contemplating too much to notice these things, or Henry will see a hare and start his howling barking and dancing around to try and get to it.
Now all the dogs are lazing around the living room, jostling for space in front of the log burner or takign up far too much of the sofas. A good day had by all I think.
As well as sunshine, it was also my day off so I've spent it working in the garden, mowing the lawn three times as it's not been done for over six weeks due to rain and work stopping play, I also did some work while sitting at the garden table, again another rare occurence due to low temperatures, rain, wind and midges, thankfully none of them were around today.
Molly lazed on her bed outside all day long, alternating between the sunny bit and the shady bit as she got too hot and Henry and Badger spent most of the day wrestling, playing tug of war with bits of rope, play fighting and generally acting up like two little boys, oh and Badger decided to spend the entire time I mowed the lawns trying to round me and the lawnmower up, then when I spotted a long lost bone and flung it out of the way he decided the lawn mower was actually trying to eat his things and decided to attack it at every opportunity, not the best pastime for a puppy so I had to do a bit of shouting, then while I was distracting the boys, Molly snuck off her bed, grabbed the bone and took it back and guarded it for most of the rest of the day, good on you Molls!
Then early evening I took the dogs for a stroll along the lane while drinking in the niceness of it all, the farmer is mowing the silage, and still is at nearly 11pm and the swallows were singing as they flew about. I made two new discoveries this week, I didn't realise that big beech trees had blossom on that smells heavenly, nor did I realise that thistles smell lovely when they come into bloom. Usually I'm walking too fast or am contemplating too much to notice these things, or Henry will see a hare and start his howling barking and dancing around to try and get to it.
Now all the dogs are lazing around the living room, jostling for space in front of the log burner or takign up far too much of the sofas. A good day had by all I think.
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
Dog Stress
Well what a few weeks we have had here.
Poor Wee Pup Badge has been in the wars.
First I thought he had something in his pad and it was causing it to swell and be a wee bit sore. Then the pad looked a bit 'wrong' so he went in to the vet to get it looked at a bit more closely. That meant a biopsy but best be safe than sorry. The biopsy came back saying that although it wasn't anything sinister, he had a calcifying lump in his pad and it would be rather painful and the best solution was amputation of his toe. Well this was rather a shock to say the least, strangley though, there was a three legged dog in the waiting room of the vets and he seemed to be ok so I guessed three toes would be a walk in the park in comparison.
So that was the first 10 days of visits to the vets every couple of days to get dressings changed, and the walk in the park was begining to turn into a long distance trek.
Then we discovered the same type of lump in between his pads on the other front foot, oh no! But the vet said she could take them out without any amputations required and I asked her to do that at the same time even though I knew it would be hard going for a few days but at least it would cut down on the number of operations Badger had to have and hopefully shorten the recovery time.
So off we went to the vet one morning about three weeks ago and I went off to work. I then whizzed from work to the vet to pick Badge up and he was quite rightly feeling very sorry for himself but everything had gone to plan and he would be alright, huraahh!
What I didn't bank on was quite how much hard work getting Badge back to alright was going to be, especially when I've been quite busy at work. Every two days I've had to bomb home from work, then bomb down to the vets to get his dressings changed. This in itself doesn't seem so bad but put that together with Other Half being away at the time and me having to do everything around the place and look after three dogs as well as work and work being ten miles down winding twisting roads in one direction and the vets being 18 miles down winding twisting roads in the opposite direction things start to get a little complicated and exhausting, not to mention somewhat expensive when the petrol station is 10 miles in an entirely different direction.
Anyway, we are finally through all of that and I will come back later and tell you more but Badger has finally come out of his bandages, and last night got all of his stitches out (and there were loads) and he is now on the road to recovery. It will be a long one as he has become a bit tetchy and growly and has even tried to bite the vet on several occasions all of which I'll have to sort out while he is still (just about) a pup so that he dosen't grow up into a dodgy scary collie.
The maddest thing about the whole episode though is that even despite everything he has been through he still drags me INTO the vets and greets everybody he sees in there as if they are his long lost friend, even though just about every time he sees them they do something to hurt him - amazing!
Poor Wee Pup Badge has been in the wars.
First I thought he had something in his pad and it was causing it to swell and be a wee bit sore. Then the pad looked a bit 'wrong' so he went in to the vet to get it looked at a bit more closely. That meant a biopsy but best be safe than sorry. The biopsy came back saying that although it wasn't anything sinister, he had a calcifying lump in his pad and it would be rather painful and the best solution was amputation of his toe. Well this was rather a shock to say the least, strangley though, there was a three legged dog in the waiting room of the vets and he seemed to be ok so I guessed three toes would be a walk in the park in comparison.
So that was the first 10 days of visits to the vets every couple of days to get dressings changed, and the walk in the park was begining to turn into a long distance trek.
Then we discovered the same type of lump in between his pads on the other front foot, oh no! But the vet said she could take them out without any amputations required and I asked her to do that at the same time even though I knew it would be hard going for a few days but at least it would cut down on the number of operations Badger had to have and hopefully shorten the recovery time.
So off we went to the vet one morning about three weeks ago and I went off to work. I then whizzed from work to the vet to pick Badge up and he was quite rightly feeling very sorry for himself but everything had gone to plan and he would be alright, huraahh!
What I didn't bank on was quite how much hard work getting Badge back to alright was going to be, especially when I've been quite busy at work. Every two days I've had to bomb home from work, then bomb down to the vets to get his dressings changed. This in itself doesn't seem so bad but put that together with Other Half being away at the time and me having to do everything around the place and look after three dogs as well as work and work being ten miles down winding twisting roads in one direction and the vets being 18 miles down winding twisting roads in the opposite direction things start to get a little complicated and exhausting, not to mention somewhat expensive when the petrol station is 10 miles in an entirely different direction.
Anyway, we are finally through all of that and I will come back later and tell you more but Badger has finally come out of his bandages, and last night got all of his stitches out (and there were loads) and he is now on the road to recovery. It will be a long one as he has become a bit tetchy and growly and has even tried to bite the vet on several occasions all of which I'll have to sort out while he is still (just about) a pup so that he dosen't grow up into a dodgy scary collie.
The maddest thing about the whole episode though is that even despite everything he has been through he still drags me INTO the vets and greets everybody he sees in there as if they are his long lost friend, even though just about every time he sees them they do something to hurt him - amazing!
Friday, 26 June 2009
Well Done Henry!
I decided to enter Henry into a local dog show, I had absolutely no idea how we would do but as Henry is such a fun dog I thought it would at least be a good time out with him. And guess what happened?...........
He won Best Lurcher, and came second in Best Rescue and Most Appealing Eyes. I honestly can't believe it, and I certainly can't stop smiling for him. This makes it all worth while and I'm so pleased I have him.
To celebrate Henry did a super fast circuit of the garden with Molly.
On a different note, whilst eating my breakfast this morning, I look out of the window to see this:
Other Half invested in an inflatable hot tub and I think Badge was after a quick dip!
He won Best Lurcher, and came second in Best Rescue and Most Appealing Eyes. I honestly can't believe it, and I certainly can't stop smiling for him. This makes it all worth while and I'm so pleased I have him.
To celebrate Henry did a super fast circuit of the garden with Molly.
On a different note, whilst eating my breakfast this morning, I look out of the window to see this:
Other Half invested in an inflatable hot tub and I think Badge was after a quick dip!Monday, 22 June 2009
Puppy Dog Tails
Dogs. Don't they do the most disgusting things sometimes? I've just watched Badger eat a slug. It took me some time to realise that it was a slug and by the time I worked out what it was he shlurped it up and it was gone. Eughhhh!
Today Badger is beautiful, his coat is lovely and shiney and clean, in fact very clean. Probably the cleanest it's ever been. That's because he has had three baths since last Tuesday.
The first bath was just routine maintenance, Badger spends allot of time rolling around on the ground with Henry and then as much time as possible relaxing on the furniture. This means that half the ground ends up on the sofa so a bath was in order.
Badger likes a bath which is a good job really.
The second bath was on Saturday. We'd been out to the zoo in Edinburgh and left the dogs in the house, Badger in his cage where he always goes if we go out. Coming home is always interesting since we got Henry as we never know if he has left us a welcoming gift on the carpet so we always enter the house with our noses first.
When we got in, we detected the signs of a bad smell, but we couldn't find anything. Henry and Molly bounced around and shot outside into the garden. As we went into the living room the smell got worse and once I let Badger out of his cage it became apparent where it was coming from. It turned out he had had an upset tummy and had an almighty accident in his cage.
That was not good, as he'd tried to get rid of the poo by digging up the fleecey blankets which sort of spread it about even more. It also meant he got poo on his paws and as he spends quite allot of time scratching, he'd got it all over his coat.
I don't know if anyone reading this has been to Edinburgh Zoo but it's basically build on the side of a mountain. It's exhausting. Honestly, if it wasn't for the animals it would be a day spend climbing. So coming home to a dog cage full of poo wasn't ideal.
So poor Badge ended up in the bath again.
The third bath happened the very next morning. By this time we realised that the new food we were feeding the dogs wasn't really agreeing with them, except Badger was sleeping in a confined space so yet again we had a rather smelly mess to clear up and yet again an even smellier dog to bathe.
We've changed the food back and all three dogs systems seem to have recovered, so I can only describe this as a lesson learned in buying different dog food, shampoo, conditioner (yes honest, he's very hairy is Badger) and disinfectant.
Oh and my legs still ache...
Today Badger is beautiful, his coat is lovely and shiney and clean, in fact very clean. Probably the cleanest it's ever been. That's because he has had three baths since last Tuesday.
The first bath was just routine maintenance, Badger spends allot of time rolling around on the ground with Henry and then as much time as possible relaxing on the furniture. This means that half the ground ends up on the sofa so a bath was in order.
Badger likes a bath which is a good job really.
The second bath was on Saturday. We'd been out to the zoo in Edinburgh and left the dogs in the house, Badger in his cage where he always goes if we go out. Coming home is always interesting since we got Henry as we never know if he has left us a welcoming gift on the carpet so we always enter the house with our noses first.
When we got in, we detected the signs of a bad smell, but we couldn't find anything. Henry and Molly bounced around and shot outside into the garden. As we went into the living room the smell got worse and once I let Badger out of his cage it became apparent where it was coming from. It turned out he had had an upset tummy and had an almighty accident in his cage.
That was not good, as he'd tried to get rid of the poo by digging up the fleecey blankets which sort of spread it about even more. It also meant he got poo on his paws and as he spends quite allot of time scratching, he'd got it all over his coat.
I don't know if anyone reading this has been to Edinburgh Zoo but it's basically build on the side of a mountain. It's exhausting. Honestly, if it wasn't for the animals it would be a day spend climbing. So coming home to a dog cage full of poo wasn't ideal.
So poor Badge ended up in the bath again.
The third bath happened the very next morning. By this time we realised that the new food we were feeding the dogs wasn't really agreeing with them, except Badger was sleeping in a confined space so yet again we had a rather smelly mess to clear up and yet again an even smellier dog to bathe.
We've changed the food back and all three dogs systems seem to have recovered, so I can only describe this as a lesson learned in buying different dog food, shampoo, conditioner (yes honest, he's very hairy is Badger) and disinfectant.
Oh and my legs still ache...
Friday, 19 June 2009
Good Boy Badger!
I'm very pleased with Wee Pup Badger.
Last night I took him to Henry's dog training club for the second week in a row. Henry wasn't very pleased about this as he adores going to dog club, its like a dog social club and very friendly, all the dogs get to know each other and all the humans talk about nothing but dogs, that to me is great.
I decided to take Badger as he is getting increasingly wild. He's only 8 months but because we live on a farm in the middle of nowhere he rarely goes on a lead, has absolutely no traffic awareness cos he never sees any, he also never sees any other dogs apart from Henry and Molly and the farm dogs. He spends his days rolling around play fighting with Henry and ignoring me. I decided it was time to take him in hand and add a bit of training.
So last week we went along and it was a nightmare. As we walked into the hall Badger started growling. He didn't stop growling until we got into the car to come home. It was terrible, he was grumpy and determined not to do anything I asked, I think this was made worse by him being on a lead for the whole hour. Still, I didn't give in, I eventually got him to walk to heel, well just, and when it came to the fetch excercise he came into his own and loved it. By the end of the hour I felt we had made a eeney weeeney bit of progress which was confirmed by Badger as he howled in the car all the way home!
Badgers exploits in week one made me all the more determined to have a well trained dog so off we went again last night. To my amazement as soon as he got out of the car Badge dragged me to the door of the hall! He went in full of gusto with no growling and said an enthusiastic hello to a puppy labrador. He also tried to jump all over the labradors owners but we are moving one step at a time here.
In the class Badge struggled a bit with walking to heel due to wanting to desperately speak to the dog in front, but we actually managed to get him to sit at one end of the hall while I walked nearly to the other end and called him, and just to add some icing to that one, instead of running straight past me he actually sat in front of me when he came! Brilliant!
I can't say how pleased I am, I had begun to worry a bit with his growling and rebelling but I thnk with a bit of practice and persistance he will be ok.
The only problem is that I think he has adopted me as his owner, he lays on the floor by my feet while i'm on the computer and every evening he snuggles up with me on the sofa - Other Half isn't happy, but then he isn't the one taking Badge to dog club.
Oh and he howled in the car on the way home again last night, it's so funny!
Last night I took him to Henry's dog training club for the second week in a row. Henry wasn't very pleased about this as he adores going to dog club, its like a dog social club and very friendly, all the dogs get to know each other and all the humans talk about nothing but dogs, that to me is great.
I decided to take Badger as he is getting increasingly wild. He's only 8 months but because we live on a farm in the middle of nowhere he rarely goes on a lead, has absolutely no traffic awareness cos he never sees any, he also never sees any other dogs apart from Henry and Molly and the farm dogs. He spends his days rolling around play fighting with Henry and ignoring me. I decided it was time to take him in hand and add a bit of training.
So last week we went along and it was a nightmare. As we walked into the hall Badger started growling. He didn't stop growling until we got into the car to come home. It was terrible, he was grumpy and determined not to do anything I asked, I think this was made worse by him being on a lead for the whole hour. Still, I didn't give in, I eventually got him to walk to heel, well just, and when it came to the fetch excercise he came into his own and loved it. By the end of the hour I felt we had made a eeney weeeney bit of progress which was confirmed by Badger as he howled in the car all the way home!
Badgers exploits in week one made me all the more determined to have a well trained dog so off we went again last night. To my amazement as soon as he got out of the car Badge dragged me to the door of the hall! He went in full of gusto with no growling and said an enthusiastic hello to a puppy labrador. He also tried to jump all over the labradors owners but we are moving one step at a time here.
In the class Badge struggled a bit with walking to heel due to wanting to desperately speak to the dog in front, but we actually managed to get him to sit at one end of the hall while I walked nearly to the other end and called him, and just to add some icing to that one, instead of running straight past me he actually sat in front of me when he came! Brilliant!
I can't say how pleased I am, I had begun to worry a bit with his growling and rebelling but I thnk with a bit of practice and persistance he will be ok.
The only problem is that I think he has adopted me as his owner, he lays on the floor by my feet while i'm on the computer and every evening he snuggles up with me on the sofa - Other Half isn't happy, but then he isn't the one taking Badge to dog club.
Oh and he howled in the car on the way home again last night, it's so funny!
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