Dogs.

Our faithful friends, pack fellows, family. Can't imagine life without them. We'd had to have Lottie put to sleep late on last year were bloody broken hearted, still am tbh, thanks to Google photos memories giving me a daily blub. We kept up the walks, although had the option to jib out if the weather was pants, but it just wasn't right. Me and the current Mrs P wondering what on earth we actually did before we got her. Anyhow, after only a fortnight,we thought we'd be months before we'd be up to having another one,Mrs P spotted Ciri on the Bluecross website. I melted, said to put our names down, thinking such a beauty would be snapped up, but a few days later after phone call she was ours. Life back to normal. She's got some more work to do, was very reactive to just about anything, been in kennels as some of you know for 9 months out of 15 so missed out on socialisation, but she's coming on really well. We get great satisfaction from seeing her progress, but that wasn't really the point,it was she needed a home and we were in a position to give her ours. Life without a hound would be a lot easier but where's the fun in that.

Lottie my old babe.



The madness that is Ciri.



The Boys, Bracken and Barney. Some of you might have seen Barney been towed around the shows in his Radio Flyer with the Mr B numberplate

 

Our saluki x passed away about 18 months ago and we agreed not to get another. However the local FB group keeps showing lurchers and whippets from a small local kennels and the “what if” creeps in.

I’ve resolved that a dog in the winter is great for forcing you to get out and about and keeping the Christmas weight off!! Our old dog wasn’t a great traveller and certainly not social enough for camping so that made summer more restrictive…

but then you see the little faces on the rehoming sites….

 

Proper Yorkshire mutt in the first pic Does he drink pints as well?

 

Where are his wheels? Did you get him from @Merlin Cat ?

 

I like cats better. They look after themselves, and I don’t have to walk with them in the rain to bag up their Shizzle.

 

She was a tee to taller. Didn't get her until she was 8 mind. Bracken loved his ale, used to get a right sulk on if you didn't get him a half in. Barney only liked scotch.

 

Get on and do it Andy, after a few days you'll be wondering why you hadn't got another sooner. Bracken was a saluki X, he'd didn't have any feathering along the legs or ears, in fact, he was very short haired for his breeding, but boy, did he have that saluki prance.

 

If dogs are in kennels, how do this miss socialising?

 

She was very reactive, now since we've worked on her she's just reactive. She did have contact with one dog there that was rock solid, but not daily. They've only got so much time to train each dog and also have to consider the safety of any other dog in their care. Also, socialising covers exposure to the world in general, meeting lots of different people, different situations, sounds and so on. She's coping way better than we thought she would, really confident now.

 

We both work full time and have young kids so a dog is not an option but we do get to look after and walk a neighbours Springer Spanial which my kids adore and it definitely relaxes them although not the dog as it never seems to tire. I wonder if owning dogs all your life has an increase on your life expectancy?

 

There was an article in the paper this week about an old chap who had some dementia symptoms, his daughter lived next door and loaned him one of her dogs and it was reckoned him having too take responsibility for the dogs, feeding etc was very beneficial to his condition. I think there are also studies which show because dog owners get out and walk everyday this has health benefits too, leading to longer life expectancy.

 

Sadly to say, dementia wise this isn't always so. We ended up with Lottie because her owners dementia, although at the time was too bad, he was unable to remember if he'd walked or fed her. He was being supported by 3 family members, but all agreed it was unfair for her. Wed offered to help out dog sitting, which they took us up on in the end and the 2 or 3 weeks we started out on ended up being nearly 8 years. She used to see the family regularly, being local so it was great for all concerned. She was very defensive, her owner hadn't dealt with this, but after about 6 months we'd just about got her sorted. Some of the family were afraid of her, understandably but in the end their toddlers were playing with her. She loved kids and when she was greeting people she knew she'd smile, they thought she was snarling and had done so for 7 years. Bless her.

 

Id imagine it does. Id become an old man before my time, bad back, knackered knees. I was getting into fishing when we got Lottie and on realising that she was such a townie we took her out and about, her first proper country walk was Ingleborough. She absolutely loved it and so we took out to the sticks at every opportunity. After a year or two she'd got my body into condition 15/20 miles ont tops was no problem for either of us. It was like I was 30 again. (Was 47 when we got her) Got climbing again and back caving regularly again. I've got a lot to thank that dog for.
The lurchers I'd had previous to her,I worked, so was always traipsing about with them and if not working it was at least 3 miles a day to keep in condition and develop stamina. Plus all the recall, retrieve and lure training on top to keep them up to speed.

 

I saw a woman with her young boy and their dog, walking to school yesterday. The dog was wearing a flouresant yellow dog coat with ‘Emotional Support’, written on it.
I thought most pets were that, anyway, weren’t they? Why does it have to be on a coat?
I bet his dog mates take the mickey…

 

Probably the dog wanting Emotional support.

 

It’s so that other people don’t interfere with the dog… it’s there for the benefit of the child or owner and shouldn’t be distracted by other dogs or people wanting a cuddle while the child / owner goes into melt down.