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The online diary
started life as a blog of my strange 'other life' with the dog. I
wanted to record some of the experiences that I had as a first-time dog
owner. To access the archive, click on the appropriate month.
The most recent articles are listed
separately.
You are most
welcome to send comments about any of the articles. Record your
comments via the Contact Me page.
COLD AND FROSTY
Tue 08 Apr
2008
Winter is not
done with us yet. Today it was a cold and frosty start. Even the puddles
on the road had frozen today! I took Beattie
out for her early morning walk down to the pound and back. There are not
too many of these old pounds left now. Ours is a red brick affair just near
the church at one corner of the old village green. In spring it is
brightened up with a display of yellow daffodils around the base.
Just near here
a barn owl came flying by this morning. These birds are not uncommon in
this part of East Anglia. I often see one quartering the marshes where I
take Beattie on one of her regular walks. It is always a delight to see
these owls in flight, particularly at night when they are caught
spectacularly in the car’s headlights.
I heard today
on the News that ospreys have been spotted again in the Lake District.
There has been a pair nesting regularly in the woods at Bassenthwaite for a
few years. A viewing platform has been established in Dodd Wood on the
other side of the lake. A and I visited it
for the first time last year. It has not yet been established whether this
pair of ospreys have returned from their winter sojourn in Africa.
But, at least
it’s a sign that summer is on the way – even if it doesn’t feel like it yet!
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Comment
from sablonneuse
It certainly looks as though Summer is going to be late here too.
Although there have been occasional warmish afternoons there's still
a good possibility of sharp frosts overnight so I haven't sown
anything in the garden yet.
BEATTIE HOLDS ALL THE CARDS
Fri 11 Apr 2008
Occasionally,
Beattie will demonstrate quite graphically
that she’s only a dog! Well, I know she’s only a dog, but it never seems
like that most of the time – she’s one of the family. I guess that most dog
owners will know what I mean.
Take last
Friday as an example. We were doing our usual walk along the river from
Somerleyton to Herringfleet. I was deep in thought about something or other
when I happened to turn around and notice that
Beattie was not with me or anywhere in sight. This did not unduly
worry me as she often has a nose in the reeds or leaves the bank for an
exploration of
the dyke. I walked back calling her name, but she did not reappear, nor
could I see her along the dyke.
After I had
retraced my steps I could hear a distinctive rustling in the reeds, but was
unable to see if it was Beattie.
Eventually, I located here right at the water’s edge, lying on her back
rolling in something unseen. This could only mean one thing – she had found
something disgusting to roll in; probably dead! The other thing that
worried me was that she was on the edge of a tidal river, even though the
tide was low and the river was not running fast.
I called her
but received no response except that the legs waved about even more
frantically! It was as if she was giving me two ‘V’ signs with her paws!!
Impasse. The trouble was that I had forgotten to bring any treats with me,
which usually brings her running. I could not walk out to where she was so
I would just have to wait until she deigned to come back to me. Looking at
the sky, it seemed that we were going to be in for a heavy shower and I had
brought no waterproof with me.
It certainly
seemed to me that Beattie held all the
cards. Then she suddenly tired of rolling in her prize and stood up and
began to gnaw at it instead! I could be in for a long wait. It was
then I had the brainwave. She loved visiting my mother (probably because
she was given treats) and I thought that if I suggested we visit ‘Grandma’,
she might think that was a better option. It was all I had. If this
failed, I had nothing to offer!
Trying to make
my voice sound bright and cheerful and not in the least desperate (which I
was) I called out, Do you want to see Grandma?’
Instant response! She came running out of the reeds most expectantly!
Triumphantly, I secured the lead on her collar and led her away.
The ploy had
worked this time, but I had bribed her out with promises of ‘Grandma’
and I had not delivered. Would she remember this in the future? I decided
that I would have to fulfil my side of the bargain and as we walked back to
the car, I telephoned my mother to ask her if we could come for a cup of tea
(and a treat)!
Postscript:
Whatever Beattie had rolled in, she smelt disgustingly of fish! When
we arrived home she went straight in the shower!
When I was at
Dog Club this week, I put the whole scenario to
AT and asked her if I had done the right thing in the circumstances.
AT’s opinion was that dogs did remember
such things so I had done exactly right in taking her to mother. Thank goodness! Back
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Comment
from sablonneuse
Beattie is definitely in charge then.
However, you are having some success with training her. Not like my
experience with Purdey. There was absolutely no controlling her.
SUN SEEKER
Mon 14 Apr 2008
I
thought that it was only cats that were single-minded in their pursuit of
their own creature comforts, but not so, it seems.
Beattie, too, possesses this cat-like trait
for comfort!
Yesterday, we were having breakfast in the conservatory for a change. The
weather has gradually been improving, with rising temperatures making
sitting in the conservatory for early morning breakfasts something of a
pleasure again. Beattie joined us and made
a beeline for the only patch of sun in the room – on top of the footstool!
Photo
We noticed that as the sun patch moved across the room, so did she!
A told me that the other day she had been
working in the conservatory and Beattie
came and stood by her briefcase giving A
the hard stare. It took a minute or two for A
to realise that the briefcase was in the only patch of sun and, clearly, the
unspoken message from Beattie was that it
would have to be moved, and quickly, as she was waiting to lay down! Sure
enough when A picked up the briefcase,
Beattie moved in, lay down with her head on
the floor and closed her eyes with a very contented look on her face. Once
again, she had managed to convey her wishes very eloquently!
I wonder if all
dogs are sun seekers like Beattie?
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Comment from Tracey Lilly
Lovely photos.
She obviously is very good at non verbal communication - just like
teachers!
A WELCOME VISITOR
Sat 19 Apr 2008
We have had
an unexpected, but welcome visitor to stay over the past few days –
A’s sister. For
Beattie, this is a welcome break to her
normal routine, as she loves JT. The
reasons for this may be related to her comfort as
JT allows her to sleep on her bed,
something she is not normally allowed to do! So much better than being
confined to her crate. Then, of course, she has a ready-made lap to spend
the day on, curled up asleep except when her cruel master drags her out into
the biting easterly wind that we have had to endure this week. Well, she
still has to have her walks and toilet breaks! All in all, it is a very
happy time for Beattie – and
JT doesn’t mind all the doggy devotion
either! Back
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GROOMING
Sat 19 Apr 2008
Today
Beattie had a long overdue haircut!
She had not been for about eleven weeks and she was in desperate
need of a good trim as her hair was distinctly overgrown and she
looked very tatty indeed. I drove her over to
AT where
V
had set herself up in the garage to groom a few of
AT’s dogs as well as
Beattie.
This
is an arrangement that suits them both well as
V has a place to trim
the dogs and AT has a competent dog groomer on site! It suits me as
well as V knows exactly how I want
Beattie cut – definitely not the
Bedlington show cut, but what V calls ‘a pet poodle cut’.
Beattie usually submits to this process meekly even though she is
not all that keen on it – especially today as the wind was rather
cold and after her shower she was shivering uncontrollably on the
cutting table! Mind you, she does not have any choice in the matter
as V has her securely tethered and stands no nonsense. She knows
just where to hold her to stop her squirming to avoid any unwelcome
invasion of her ‘doggy privacy’!
I left
V to it and went off to talk to
AT over a cup of tea. When I
returned half an hour the transformation was complete and she looked
very smart and so much better now that all her locks were shorn.
She looked very trim and several pounds lighter!!
Photo
Free
of the restrictions, Beattie looked happy and bounded about the
front garden. Or perhaps she was just glad to rid of all that hair!
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Comment from
sablonneuse
Lovely to catch up on all the
Beattie news. She does look chic after her haircut. All you need now
is some warm weather. If you get it before we do please send some
our way.
ST. GEORGE’S DAY
Wed 23 Apr 2008
Today is St.
George’s Day and to celebrate that fact, the ‘Scottish’ Prime Minister is
flying the English flag over 10 Downing Street! Gordon Brown wants everyone
to celebrate their ‘Britishness’ – not Englishness, mind. No that would be
too controversial from one who has not grasped the nettle and set about
solving the ‘West Lothian’ question. For the uninitiated, that is the
situation that pertains in our Parliament where Scottish MP’s can vote on
measures that affect only the English, but not vice versa as the Scots now
have their own parliament! Do you remember having to study ‘The Irish
Question’ at secondary school? Perhaps schoolchildren will be forced to
suggest answers to the ‘West Lothian Question’ a few years hence!
Apparently,
English Heritage has come up with lots of ideas for celebrating St. George’s
Day. But I wonder if celebrating St. George’s Day is terribly important to
the English? You would not think so from my walk around the village with
Beattie this morning. I counted the grand
total of one flag flying from the office of the chap that sells swimming
pools! No flagpole on the church, so no chance of a St. George’s Cross
fluttering there. Even in the next village, where there is a flagpole on
the church tower, it was bare as I drove by later in the day.
No, I do not
think it is part of the English psyche. Now in Barçelona, St. George, or
St. Jordi as he is known, is the patron saint of Barçelona and it is the
custom there to celebrate his day with fun and festivities, which are shown
on local television. We were there in 2003 and in La Rambla and Plaça
Catalunya, there were booksellers everywhere with banners over their
bookstalls declaring that this was St. Jordi’s Dei. The custom in Barcelona
is for a man to buy the woman in his life a rose and the lady exchanges this
for a book that she has bought as a gift. I can remember going out in the
evening and the streets were still thronged with booksellers and flower
stalls and the revellers were everywhere celebrating.
Where would
you see that happening in England? The only time you see St. George’s Cross
flags displayed is when England are appearing in the finals of a major
football tournament. (and that will not be happening this year!)
Gordon Brown
may want us all to show more patriotism by celebrating St. George’s Day, but
it will take a lot more than showing the flag on the roof of the PM’s
residence!! Back
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Comment from
sablonneuse
I have to admit I'd
forgotten it was St George's Day, even though I usually remember
it's the day after Cath's birthday.
And I've never imagined the English celebrating anything like a
Saint's Day.
Even though France is officially secular nowadays, every village has
it's Patronal Festival and people still wish each other Bon Fete on
their 'name' day. They even mention which saint's day it is on the
daily 'breakfast' programme and in the local paper.
MARSH MARIGOLDS
Fri
25 Apr 2008
Once again, we
were treated to a very pleasant spring morning. I had to drive over to
Beccles to collect some prints that were being framed for me. I decided to
take Beattie with me and walk her at
Herringfleet. We met up with a very large Beardie as we strolled towards
the start of the marsh walk. Beattie was very respectful in the presence of
this monster (as it seemed to her). For once, she did not bark, but rolled
over on her back doing her ‘I’m just a tart’ impression! All this cut no
ice with the Beardie, who just regarded her benevolently and tried to butter
me up for a treat!
We walked out
to the old drainage mill before walking towards Somerleyton along the bank.
Since I had last come this way, the reeds had died back allowing the lovely
brilliant yellow flowers of the marsh marigold to blossom. What a picture
they made against the drab, dead reeds – a real splash of spring colour.
photo
We disturbed a
marsh harrier, which rose majestically from the cover of the reeds, off on a
mission of its own. Then a grey heron appeared, its wings flapping lazily
as it patrolled the margins of the river on the lookout for a likely meal!
Across the dyke I was treated to an aerial display by a pair of lapwings
with their wonderful, liquid ‘peewit’ calls delighting the ear.
I remembered
then that it was for days like this that I retired, when all other
‘responsible’ adults were hard at work! Yes, life was very good at that
moment.
Of course, I
did not share all this with Beattie. How
could she understand when all she knew was a life of doggy pleasure? These
times are all the sweeter because we have been there – locked up in the
classroom chafing to be away walking in the hills. I used to keep a
postcard of a Lake District view on my desk to remind me of the real world
outside when I was having a hard time! But all too often it was buried
under a pile of books that needed marking and it would go unnoticed for days
at a time!
Ah well, that
was then and this is now …
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Comment from
Viv Rainsbury
Looks like this is one little Bedlington
who is living a real dog's life. Where did you get her? They're
great for being sporting companions, best friends and bed-warmers,
aren't they? Looking forward to reading your ramblings, all the
best from everyone at Sevray Bedlingtons in Norfolk (where we don't
have too many hills ....)
Comment from
sablonneuse
You are
certainly making the most of retirement - especially with Beattie.
Enjoy. . . .
Comment from
AT
Viv -
Beattie is by one of your dogs - Champion Sevray Just Rumours I
think, though I'm sure Beattie will chip in and correct me if not!
Comment from
Viv Rainsbury
Yes, our Penfold
is Beattie's dad. I suspect, though, that she gets her pioneering
instincts from her Mum - Penfold is (not to put too fine a point on
it) bone idle! He does love his walks, though, usually on the beach,
but is equally at home watching wildlife programmes on the telly.
OFF COLOUR
Mon 28 Apr 2008
Beattie had an off day yesterday. I
knew something was not quite right when I took her out first thing.
She spent quite a bit of time trying to walk on three legs whilst
she was bringing her back leg up to her neck to try to scratch an
itchy place. It did not look a particularly easy manoeuvre to
complete, and the fact that she kept repeating the action made me
think she had not succeeded in her task (whatever that was!)
Older
readers might remember the story of Eeyore performing a similar move
when he has so surprised to be wished ‘Happy Birthday’ by Piglet in
the Winnie-the-Pooh story. Just in case you missed it, here it
is again!
‘Balancing on three legs, he began to bring his fourth leg very
cautiously up to his ear. ‘I did this yesterday,’ he explained, as
he fell down for the third time. ‘It’s quite easy. It’s so as I
can hear better … There, that’s done it! Now then, what were you
saying?’ Winnie-The-Pooh p.76
She
repeated this action at regular intervals and I searched for what it
was that was causing her the discomfort, without any success.
By the
afternoon, she was becoming quite lethargic, quite unlike her, and I
was a bit concerned. She even took herself off to her crate, which
is something she only does now if she is in trouble! I knew then
that there was a problem.
A came home from a lace making weekend
in the late afternoon and received very little response from
Beattie. She conducted her own
fingertip search and, eventually, discovered the problem.
Beattie had picked up a tick on the
side of her face. That’s why she was trying to reach it with her
back leg! I fetched the tick-removing tool and soon had it out.
But she remained in her rather sorry state all evening and by the
time we went to bed; I had decided to take her to the vet to see if
there was any other problem. A
remembered that she had been like this last year when she picked up
a tick. I hoped that a night’s sleep would cure her...
This
morning, Beattie had recovered and was
her normal self; with no more three legged balancing acts to witness
– thank goodness!
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Comment from
sablonneuse
Poor Beattie. Can
ticks cause illness in animals as they can in humans? It's a good
thing she was able to feel it and alert you because I've been told
people can't feel a tick embed itself.
This is the second time
that Beattie has been ill after picking up ticks. derek
THE NOSE
Tue 29 Apr 2008
Beattie is very ‘ground orientated’,
as are a lot of dogs. By this I mean that she will often be out
walking with her nose to the ground, very intent on following some
scent or other. If she is off lead, she will sometimes take off
quite suddenly and it is at those times that I feel rather anxious,
not knowing how far this scent will take her. My nervousness stems
from the time when she was much younger and she ran off on one of
our walks and I only caught up with her about half a mile later in
the company of two sweet old ladies! I had run after her all the
way. Not good for my health, that sort of thing!
Was
out for a walk around the village at lunchtime today. Suddenly, for
no apparent reason that I could see,
Beattie hared off, her nose twitching with excitement. Of
course, she very soon came to a stop when she reached the end of her
extender lead, but she continued to pull hard determined to continue
her forward progress. She had obviously sniffed that something or
someone was up ahead, as yet unseen as the road bent away to the
right.
As we
came around the corner, I could see the reason for her excitement.
SH was further up the road walking her
two Bedlingtons, P and
R. Now she could see them,
Beattie began to pull hard on her lead
and I had no option but to follow. We had soon made contact and
there was the usual ritual of dog greeting, especially
P and
Beattie. R is rather more aloof
and I suspect there is more than a hint of sibling rivalry there!
SH told me that
R had just had a successful mating, so
her second litter would not be all that long in arriving.
For
Beattie, who knows nothing of such
things, she had achieved her aim and was just enjoying spending some
time with her mum!
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Comment from
sablonneuse
I didn't realise
that dogs had such a sense of 'family' if they no longer lived
together. They say that mother cats get fed up with their
offspring after a few months and 'disown' them. Our twins (cats)
have always been close but still like their independence. All
our cats greet each other with a good sniff and seem to check the
garden by nose to see if anyone else has wandered into their
territory.
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Photographs taken with a Fuji MX-2900
Zoom or a Canon EOS 20D
Copyright © 2008 Derek Cockell All Rights
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