Guess who turned up in France!

 There we were, minding our own business, having a nice quiet time at our place in France, and on my part mostly sleeping the day away because of the rain, when a red car came down the drive and to my utter astonishment out jumped Freddie! Luckily the sheer size of the garden was enough to keep him exercised and I was grateful they remembered his cage!

 

A bit of an update

I promised I would post on here a bit more often, so here goes. In my last post I was talking about the adventures we've had and we have been away in the motorhome quite recently, exploring apart of the country called Derbyshire. I'm not into beautiful scenery much, but I did enjoy the different smells. 

The other thing that happened recently was that Freddie, who I talked about before, came to STAY. It was only for a day or so but after he went home I was exhausted. That pup has more energy than you'd think possible. It's a good job we had his cage to put him in from time to time.

He does have a cheek, though. He doesn't seem to know or care what belongs to me! He even got into my bed, chasing his ball.

We went on a few more walks than usual while he was with us. Most of the time he was quite good, but he did run off after a strange black dog and for a while he was just a speck in the distance! We were in a big field, though, so he wasn't in danger. It rained quite hard that afternoon, so with his long silky coat Freddie looked half-drowned. You wouldn't think I was wet at all!

Here we are on our way home. Don't we look angelic? Of course, you should never be deceived by appearances! (Especially in Freddie's case.)

Where have all the years gone?

 Do you know, it's been nine years since I last posted on here? NINE! How did that happen? Obviously I have been very slack. It's not that nothing much has happened - on the contrary: life has been busy, and often bewildering. 

Where to begin? Well, for a start I am quite a lot older now - I am 14 years and 8 months, a venerable age, I'm sure you'll agree. Apparently, if I were human, I would be 96. I don't see too many 96 year old humans doing what I do, I can tell you. For instance, here's a photo of me, taken a few weeks ago, playing football in a field with some children.

It's true I do sleep a lot these days. When you're as old as me, you need to build up your strength. But when something interesting and different happens, I'm up for it. For instance, my humans recently bought a motorhome. I was a bit dubious at first, but now I have got used to it and I have realised it means somewhere different and exciting to explore. 

So here's a photo of me taken recently in some public gardens in France. As you see, old as I am, I haven't lost my looks.

 

Of course many things have happened and a lot has changed in nine years, but one very surprising thing happened which has made quite a big difference to me. My girls don't live with us any more - they have homes of their own. The older one also has a man in her life and I like him very much. But then, for some unfathomable reason, they went and got a puppy! He is a cocker spaniel called Freddie and he is quite, quite crazy. I heard them wonder whether I was as mad when I was young and they said I WAS! Surely that can't be true.  Here's a photo of Freddie when he was quite a bit younger, in his cage (he has to go in a cage sometimes to give us all a bit of peace.)

Well, I have got used to Freddie. I had to, because I realised he was part of the family. He is annoying, and I tell him off, especially when he dives under my belly or jumps on me, but he doesn't take much notice.

I'm going to try and post a bit more often in future. I must set an example to my mistress, who, I'm afraid, has been slack too. But for now, it's time to sign off.

The extraordinary ways of other dogs

Recently my humans went away for a long time. I didn't mind too much because I went to some kennels where I am well looked after by people I know and like. My people are back now and it's good to be home, on familiar territory. I can tell you, I had a great deal of sniffing and smelling to do to find out what had been going on, and, more to the point, who had been out and about, in my absence.
But I was astonished to overhear what my humans had witnessed on their travels - a swimming dog! It seems this crazy character launched himself off a rowboat in pursuit of ducks. Well! I like to chase ducks of course, but NOT in water.Nasty cold, wet stuff. I don't even like getting my feet wet if I can avoid it.

Swimming dog

Wet dog. Frankly, insane dog. 

So much excitement!

I thought life was grand as it was: playing in my garden in France in the sunshine. Then last night, most unusually, they put me in the car and off we went. When we got out I walked for a while, enjoying many different and strange smells, at each one of which I stopped and savoured, and then we were in a building with lots of people, and then ... a dear and familiar voice behind me! My girl, the small one. I was so overjoyed I nearly ate her! But of course she was pleased to see me too. I don't know why she's here, but I am not complaining. Life is very good.

Glamour, c'est moi

My mistress says I am beautiful: this picture demonstrates the truth of that, I think. This was not the word she used, however, when she discovered the holes in the carpet.

Good heavens - another dog blog!

It has come to my attention that another dog I have heard of is posting on his own blog, with the woeful story of his altered life since his mistress became a writer and therefore most of the time distracted, not to say other-worldly. You could take a look if you liked on stigreport.wordpress.com. Stig has a very fine command of the English language, despite being Welsh: it must be contagious. I sympathise with the poor fellow because my mistress also writes, and you can see what she's up to at suerussell'sblog.blogspot.com. I have to say I didn't really think about the changes in my life till Stig pointed them out, but then so much goes on in our house I have given up trying to keep up. Just recently I disgraced myself by scratching up a chunk of carpet while they were out (and I hardly ever destroy anything.) In my defence, I was confused and anxious for a time. One of my beloved girls came home - yippee! Then she went away. Then she came back, and after a day or two went away again.I just couldn't cope. A dog has to have a thick hide just to survive living with these impossible humans.