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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.
LEADER OF THE PACK?
Mon 03 Mar 2008
Last Friday,
AT telephoned to ask whether I would like
to meet her and the dogs at Dunwich for a walk? This would be a new
experience for Beattie as she had never
been a member of a pack before and I was interested to see how she would
react to this situation.
Dunwich is a
wonderful place for dogs as there is almost unlimited space for them to roam
and lots of interesting smells for them to investigate. Added to this all
the detritus that the sea throws up and you have a ready-made doggy
paradise!
AT
was there when I arrived and she turned her group of assorted canines out of
the car. I let Beattie out and for a
minute she was engulfed by a plethora of wagging tails and hairy bodies all
trying to say hello in the way that dogs do! Beattie was rather overwhelmed
by all this unexpected interest and shrank back in alarm!
After this,
Beattie rather kept her distance from the
group although she did try to join in when AT
threw a Frisbee for her Beardie–Collie cross to retrieve. This was a grave
mistake as the other dogs had a fierce rivalry when it came to retrieval
games and Beattie was nearly bowled over in the rush to be the first to
gather up the Frisbee!
After this
episode, she took no further part in chasing games, but sought out the
company of one of the male Cavaliers that she has her eye on at Dog Club!
Unfortunately for Beattie, she was rebuffed
as she was not in season and therefore came into the category of
‘uninteresting bitch’! What a pity! Back
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A WILD DAY
Mon 10 Mar 2008
It was blowing
a ‘hooley’ today when I took Beattie out
for her morning walk to Somerleyton. As we walked down the lane to the
river, we came across a large branch that had been torn from an oak tree and
lay across our path. It’s not unusual to come across fallen branches and it
made me wonder if anyone was around when they parted company. Would you
have time to get out of the way? At any rate, there was no dead body under
this one, so all was well today! (unless, of course, the evidence had
already been removed!!)
We walked past
the Marina where the wind was cracking the mainsail halyards against the
steel masts of the boats that were moored there. No-one would want to be on
the river today – not unless you enjoyed capsizing, that is! We climbed the
bank to the river and the full force of a nor’wester nearly pushed us back!
As she was in
season, I kept Beattie on the lead. We
battled forward, Beattie’s ears streaming
back looking rather like Biggles in his flying helmet! It was then that
Beattie decided she would produce a poo. Quite unlike her to stop in the
middle of the path, but perhaps the wind had put her off today. This was
unwelcome news as I now had to find one of my nappy sacks and pick up her
poo – not an easy operation in this wind! Well. I retrieved the poo and was
just about to tie up the bag when a particularly strong gust blew the bag
inside out! Luckily for me I was not standing downwind! Well that did
solve my problem as her poo was now somewhere in the long grass down the
steep bank and I was not about to find out where!! Nobody would stray down
there ( unless they were blown off the path!)
Ah well, I
suppose it’s all part of a dog owners responsibility!! Back
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Comment
from sablonneuse
Love the new site, Derek. well done you! it was
good to catch up on Beattie's exploits and the story of the poo took me back
to the days when I tried to tame Purdey. I was walking back home (slippery
pavement due to ice) with her lead in one hand a bag of poo in the other and
she pulled me over. At least the bag stayed closed but it was difficult to
know how to save myself.
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Zoom or a Canon EOS 20D
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